Gino's Podcast

I’ve been in the United States for almost six years now. I’ve spent most of it in New York City and Washington, DC. Living here after growing up witnessing the slow-motion collapse of Lebanon, gave me a very specific kind of peripheral vision. I see the gears of the system grinding everywhere, and what scares me is that capitalism has become so dominant that we literally cannot imagine an alternat...

Hezbollah has shown us exactly who it is, over and over again. While Lebanese homes lie in ruins and lives are lost, the militia rushes to defend Iran’s regime, kill Iranian protesters, and drag Lebanon into wars it never chose. This is not resistance. It is foreign domination, and it is long past time Lebanon reins it in. Get full access to Gino's Blog at ginoraidy.substack.com/subscribe

Papal visits to Lebanon have always been moments when the country pauses (briefly) to look at itself through an external moral lens. In a region where political positions are often treated as existential identities, the Pope’s presence carries symbolic weight. It forces competing factions to recalibrate how they present themselves, both internally and to the world. If you don’t believe me, read th...

There is an ugly little theatre trick Hezbollah has been playing for years. Act one, they make sure the audience is petrified. Act two, when their stunt collapses, they step forward with a wet hand to the chest and expect applause. The trick relies on two things. First, the party’s monopoly of force inside Lebanon. Second, people’s habit of folding when power demands it. Now the trick has a new pu...

When I sat down with Dean Fuleihan, the Lebanese American public servant whom Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani has chosen as his first Deputy Mayor, the conversation immediately felt personal. The first thing he did was thank me for pronouncing his last name the way it is said in Lebanon. He smiled and said, “You pronounced my name the way it is pronounced in Lebanon. It is Fuleihan.” It was a small mom...

I was asked recently what my politics are, and it unexpectedly made me pause. Like many of you, I assume my beliefs, hopes, and dreams are second nature. No need to restate them. No need to explain. It is obvious to my community what my politics are, right? But if I am honest, the journey that brought me here was messy, full of contradictions, heartbreak, and the occasional misplaced hope. Six yea...

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I had landed in New York City’s JFK just a few months before, after being forced to leave Lebanon after four illegal detentions, multiple assaults in the streets of Beirut and two outstanding military court summons. Israeli settlers were stealing Palestinian homes, and a bunch of people in Brooklyn decided to meet up near Grand Army Plaza to show solidarit...

This is my endorsement for the Beirut Madinati coalition running in the 2025 Beirut Municipality elections this Sunday, May 18. Let me take you back to 2016. That was long before the Thawra and probably the first time many of you heard of me or the work I do. It was during the garbage crisis, when Lebanon became a global punchline. Rivers of trash flowed through our streets, forests, and actual ri...

The saddest thing about the failed smear campaign against change MPs and independent media outlets like Megaphone and Daraj is how lazy it was. For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around why the elites who enriched themselves before the Thawra chose to just copy-paste a right-wing conspiracy theory from the 2010s about George Soros. Then, it finally made sense, and in today’s...

I will be diving deeper into the smear campaigns and why they failed so spectacularly on Monday’s episode! In the meantime, Dr Mohamad Farida, from the Depositors Union, took a break from advocating for the amendment in ongoing parliamentary sessions, to give us all an update. Get full access to Gino's Blog at ginoraidy.substack.com/subscribe

This has been my longest running topic on this blog. The OG readers will remember. I started in 2011, and a lot of us feel it is gonna happen, it’s just a matter of time. We’ve done the hard part. The taboo is gone. Public opinion has shifted. Cannabis is no longer a dirty word in Lebanon — it’s a reality. People talk about it openly, joke about it online, and most importantly, no one’s pretending...

Lebanon’s greatest weakness has always been our attachment to problematic leaders who promise much but deliver chaos, sectarian division, and stagnation. These leaders—each idolized by some but despised by many—reflect our vulnerability to charismatic figures who exploit our fears and insecurities. Today, I've simplified Lebanon's recent history into the struggle between its minorities, highlighti...

A conversation with Makram Rabah, Assistant Professor of History at the American University of Beirut. In this episode, I sit down with historian and AUB professor Makram Rabah to discuss the slow, generational change unfolding in Lebanon. We break down the myths of instant transformation, the role of elections, the military tribunal system, and Hezbollah’s shifting influence. For the full episode...

Sometimes, it feels like nothing happens for a very long time. But Lebanon is not in one of those times. Right now, events are unfolding so quickly, and the sheer volume of noise from all sides them makes it easy to miss the massive shift in the balance of power that’s taking place beneath the surface, if one wasn’t paying close attention. The recent developments are not just the usual dishonest p...

Power in Lebanon isn’t about track records, courageous leadership, or bold vision. It’s about leverage—the ability to obstruct, disrupt, or threaten effectively. If you can halt parliamentary sessions, shut down the airport, or flood the streets with armed supporters, you hold power. This dangerous metric rewards destruction over construction and has kept Lebanon in a perpetual state of crisis. As...

Let’s start with the obvious: a lot of people attended Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral, nearly five months after he was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on Dahieh. But the funeral was more than just a farewell—it was also an opportunity for a badly battered Hezbollah to demonstrate that it still had support. Now, we can debate whether the turnout was a referendum on Hezbollah or simply a reflectio...

Maybe you’re not exactly like me, but when I fall in love with something, I tend to get a little obsessed. Whether it’s a book, a movie, a series, a music genre, or a niche area of expertise, I want to know everything—the lore, the culture, the creators, the nuances—and figure out if and how it fits into my life or worldview. Growing up, I’d weave Tolkien into my life—my fashion, my interests—just...

One of the most memorable books I read last year was Barbara F. Walter’s How Civil Wars Start. She identifies eight key factors that often trigger civil conflicts. Lately, I’ve noticed many of these factors surfacing in Lebanon—especially in the aftermath of Hezbollah’s humiliating defeat in its latest war with Israel and the collapse of the Assad regime next door. Once so dominant, Lebanon’s de f...

You can watch the full 90+ minute interview above. I also cut a few clips that resonated with me the most—whether it’s his immediate promise to do everything possible to regain the trust of young Lebanese, most of whom want to leave Lebanon if they haven’t already (or were forced to leave, like me). He also spoke about missed opportunities, which really resonated with me, as I’ve written about tha...

Mabrook! I want to start today’s article and episode by thanking everyone who has worked tirelessly over the past six weeks to achieve what many Lebanese thought was impossible: a president, a prime minister, and a cabinet made up—mostly—of the right men and women, in the right positions, at the right time. I know many of you are here because of Yassin Jaber, so let’s start with that. Yes, he was...

I had to jump on here and share some insights about the cabinet formation, as many of you seem to be buying into the widespread campaigns from nearly every side against Nawaf Salam—the easiest target for the mafia and militia omertà in power. What’s Happening Behind the Scenes Negotiations. That’s how politics work when it’s not just one man forcing everyone else to fall in line, like before. I’m...

What a wild three weeks—it’s been nonstop, and not just for Lebanon. My take on the cabinet formation hasn’t changed, but there’s a clear disconnect between Nawaf Salam’s approach and the expectations of many who backed his appointment as a step toward real change. In this Monday’s episode, I’ll break down why we feel stuck, why it doesn’t have to be this way, and what Nawaf Salam and Joseph Aoun...

I’m a staunch critic of Hezbollah—one of the many reasons I was forced out of Lebanon. In the lead-up to Joseph Aoun’s election as president and Nawaf Salam’s appointment as prime minister, I resumed my activism and campaigning at full force. Both were my top picks, and I’m extremely happy about the outcome. But while it’s a massive step forward, it’s just one step on a long and difficult road. My...

Thanks for reading Gino's Blog! This post is public so feel free to share it. It’s been a tumultuous week for Lebanon. As Israel claimed the lives of 22 Lebanese civilians returning to their towns, areas previously under occupation were liberated with the support of the Lebanese Army. Notably absent during these events was Hezbollah, which remained silent as civilians and soldiers fell to Israeli...

“It was 2018 in Beirut. The October 17, 2019, uprising was still months away. The Ponzi scheme that would steal our money from the Central Bank—masterminded by Riad Salameh and benefiting the corrupt political elite—hadn’t imploded yet. COVID hadn’t struck. The war in Syria seemed to have settled, with Assad clinging to power thanks to Nasrallah, Putin, and Khamenei.” Read the rest here . Get full...