The Beirut Banyan

On the role of a television host, mediation techniques, interview styles vs panel discussions and how to navigate tension during a debate.

With Albert Kostanian - host of LBCI's Vision 2030. Taped live at the information-communications department of Saint Joseph University with the audio-visual support of Rita El Bacha.

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

And follow us on Facebook, Instagram & X @thebeirutbanyan

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:58 Role as a host

6:08 Mediation techniques

10:15 Making the guest shine

14:24 Tension, temperature & tone

19:59 One on one vs panel

22:43 Questions vs topics

28:48 Hosting a podcast

30:19 Student Q&A

On losing one's sense of belonging, meaning of home, childhood friends and a brother to war.

With Hassan Merhi - author of Love During Revolution.

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

And follow us on Facebook, Instagram & X @thebeirutbanyan

An episode covering the BIEL displaced encampment, public vs private property disputes, the former Normandy trash dump and Solidere's reconstruction efforts in retrospect.

We also discuss missed opportunities and alternatives to Solidere, post-civil war urban landscape beyond the company's zoning, gradual urban decay over the past fifteen years, competing narratives over resistance and the existential security threat Hezbollah's weapons pose to Lebanon.

With landscape architect and urbanist Sarah Yassine.

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

And follow us on Facebook, Instagram & X @thebeirutbanyan

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:26 Tent vs govt

1:42 Displacement & choice

4:50 Public vs private property

7:32 A series of mistakes

12:10 Normandy trash dump

14:29 Solidere

17:42 Encountering Hezbollah pre-2019

21:17 Doubting the resistance narrative

27:34 Alternative to Solidere

34:34 Killing Lebanon

36:23 Precedent

43:05 Security threat to the country

44:13 The last fifteen years

53:13 Govt responsibility

56:25 Constant state of war

An episode covering Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon on May 25, 2000, loosened state capture 26 years later despite Hezbollah's continued armament, diplomacy at play on multiple tracks, what a pending regional deal with Iran looks like and containment towards their regime means for Lebanon.

With PolyBlog founder George Wardini.

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & X:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:45 It could have been a great story

3:38 May 25, 2000

6:48 The way Israel withdrew

9:46 Game over

11:34 BIEL encampment

13:37 “Celebration” & semantics

16:28 Hezbollah needs the state

18:15 Inheriting security

20:53 The army’s role

23:07 Nawaf Salam vs state capture

26:21 Israel’s fight in Lebanon

28:10 The worst end of the stick

31:03 Hezbollah today

34:43 The Iranian regime

37:53 Containment

41:19 Regional deal’s contours

44:43 Taboos are broken

47:17 Lebanese that fled to Israel

52:28 Iran and Hezbollah vs Israel and Hezbollah

54:02 Potential fallout from regional deal

An episode discussing competing narratives over Lebanon's national interest, an ideological divide over Hezbollah's weapons, covering economics in times of conflict and preconditions before any consideration for peace with Israel.

With L'Orient Le-Jour economic journalist Stephanie Bechara.

Check out Stephanie's Substack piece "The cause I came home to":

https://substack.com/home/post/p-194594679

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & X:

@thebeirutbanyan

And check out our website:

www.beirutbanyan.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

3:32 The Lebanese cause

6:21 Lebanon destroyed

9:55 Intentions when defending Hezbollah’s weapons

12:59 Iran in the name of Palestine

15:32 Shyness defending Lebanese interests

18:34 Extremism

19:23 Ideological divide

23:33 Engagement

31:53 Economic coverage everwhelmed by war

36:03 Financial and economic literacy

42:22 Economic consequences due to recurring conflict

45:08 The security component impacting investment

48:41 Prospects for peace with Israel

56:35 Fabric of the country

A story about displacement, refuge and love.

Reflecting on growing up in a refugee camp, the outbreak of civil war, Israeli invasion, post-war redevelopment, downtown reconstruction, renewed conflict and what was and remains Beirut.

With architect Al Hamed. Commemorating the start of the civil war on April 13, 1975.

Videography by Alexy Chidiac. Music by Marc Codsi. Translation by Amira Kazoun. Make sure to watch the video version:

https://youtu.be/Nm0I7Ir827I

A re-release of "The Time Line" with audio corrections, added sections and subtitles in both English and Arabic.

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

LIVE at Union Marks with Bashshar Haydar & Michael Young.

Taped live on Saturday, 28 February - hours before learning of Ali Khamenei's fate.

A discussion covering security arrangements with Israel, questions surrounding normalization efforts and potential fallout from a forced peace deal.

The episode also covers Iranian leverage towards ceasefire efforts between Lebanon and Israel, and the future of Hezbollah as the Iranian regime fights for its survival.

Part of the REMAINING photo exhibition discussion series for the Lokman Slim Foundation at the Abroyan Factory / Union Marks in Burj Hammoud

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:35 A forced peace with Israel?

5:41 Normalization process & consequences

10:45 Polling on recognition of Israel

13:40 Zones of influence & destabilization

16:02 What does Israel want from Lebanon?

19:38 Giving the Israelis security arrangements

22:42 Assurances for Israeli withdrawal

24:42 The Israeli ‘dream’ today

27:28 Respecting agreements

30:39 The risk of not pushing for peace

34:32 Beirut Arab Summit 2002

37:01 Palestinian statehood

40:11 American pressure

42:29 Consequences of regional war with Iran

49:05 Disarmament of Hezbollah on the horizon?

51:05 Ceasefire & Lebanese side of the border

54:19 Threats only getting worse

LIVE at Union Marks with Ammar Abd Rabbo, George Azar & Patrick Baz.

Part of the REMAINING photo exhibition discussion series for the Lokman Slim Foundation at the Abroyan Factory / Union Marks in Burj Hammoud

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

7:54 Tribute to Selma Merchak Slim

14:36 Ammar Abd Rabbo - Slim family

39:07 George Azar - Civil war checkpoint

44:22 George Azar - Corniche El Mazraa

45:37 Patrick Baz - Refugees vs villagers

48:10 Patrick Baz - Afghanistan

52:11 Patrick Baz - Irag wedding

55:15 Ammar Abd Rabbo - Hama

59:43 Ammar Abd Rabbo - Damascus

1:02:43 George Azar - Port blast

1:08:45 George Azar - 'The Smurfs'

1:13:33 Ammar Abd Rabbo - Port blast protest

1:15:21 Ammar Abd Rabbo - October 17 protest

1:17:38 Ammar Abd Rabbo - Macron

1:19:11 George Azar - Intifada and women

1:21:52 George Azar - Gaza

1:25:32 Patrick Baz - Intifada and Israeli army

A conversation on events unfolding in Iran and Lebanon with Saeedeh Marvi.

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

LIVE at Union Marks with the director and cast of A Sad and Beautiful World

Part of the REMAINING photo exhibition discussion series for the Lokman Slim Foundation at the Abroyan Factory / Union Marks in Burj Hammoud

The podcast is only made possible through listener and viewer donations.

Please help support The Beirut Banyan by contributing via PayPal:

https://www.paypal.me/walkbeirut

Or donating through our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/thebeirutbanyan

Subscribe to our YouTube channel and your preferred audio platform.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

@thebeirutbanyan

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

2:16 Cyril Aris - director

14:16 Mounia Akl - Yasmina

23:05 Hasan Akil - Nino

33:18 Nadyn Chalhoub - Leila

37:00 Tino Karam

53:07 Audience Q&A