Thanks for the inquiries. I am still in DC; flying later tonight. Realized that I have to travel from now on with computer technology. I compared notes about blogging with Juan Cole and he made me feel guilty. He says that he makes it a point to blog daily; for that, he travels with gadgets, including a highly gadgety phone from which he can blog. Realized that he was the first blogger on Middle East affairs. I had assumed that it was Michael Kramer, but he corrected me. Cole started a year and a half before I started. So much to tell. I usually like to travel light, and did not want to add materials to my traveling equipments, especially that I carry a sack of potatoes wherever I travel, not to mention that potato brushes that I need to carry with that. Could you imagine carrying or eating potatoes without carefully brushing them? What did people do before potato brushes were invented. So much news: some I am not at liberty to disclose. Michel `Awn continues his excellent adventure in DC. He made a loud speech at Neyla's (one of my favorite restaurants in Georgetown; try the lentil soup, but I the Lebanonese ambiance there). `Awn said (according to those who were present) that he would not allow to turn Lebanon into a Saudi-Hariri sheikhdom. Ya. Leave it to him and he will turn it into a neo-con Sheikhdom. Fat chance on that one too. Another presidential aspirant from Lebanon was in town: Nayla Mu`awwad who collected a cool $ 2 million for her empty foundation. Guess who attended the event? The most politically unsavory characters from the world of the neocons in DC, including Paul Wolfowitz. Is it not sweet how much Wolfowitz cares about Lebanon these days, in addition to his daily attention to poor people around the world? How does he find the time? She now says that Syria killed her husband; I knew her when she used to accuse Michel `Awn of that crime. Only a few years ago she pulled the Syrian ambassador in DC from his elbow to tell him that she is "eternally indebted to Hafidh Al-Asad." She had excellent ties with the unsavory symbols of Syrian mukhabarat, in Lebanon and in Syria. Those were the days. I was surprised to find that Seymour Hersh is so closely following developments in Syria and in Lebanon. He knows so much about the Hariri corruption; I just hope that he gets to publish that soon. Very soon. I can confirm this: Sa`d Hariri pressured As-Safir to ban Ibrahim Al-Amin from writing ANYTHING on the Mehlis report. This is the new Lebanon. More later.