Posted on 08/03/2020 10:28:22 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
BEIRUT (AP) — Power cuts that last up to 20 hours a day. Mountains of trash spilling into streets. Long lines at gas stations.
It may seem like a standard summer in Lebanon, a country used to wrestling with crumbling infrastructure as it vaults from one disaster to another.
Only this time, it’s different, Every day brings darker signs Lebanon has rarely seen in past crises: Mass layoffs, hospitals threatened with closure, shuttered shops and restaurants, crimes driven by desperation, a military that can no longer afford to feed its soldiers meat and warehouses that sell expired poultry.
Lebanon is hurtling toward a tipping point at an alarming speed, driven by financial ruin, collapsing institutions, hyperinflation and rapidly rising poverty — with a pandemic on top of that.
On Monday, the country’s foreign minister resigned, warning that a lack of vision and a will to implement structural reforms risked turning the country into a “failed state.”
The collapse threatens to break a nation seen as a model of diversity and resilience in the Arab world and potentially open the door to chaos. Lebanese worry about a decline so steep it would forever alter the small Mediterranean country’s identity and entrepreneurial spirit, unparalleled in the Middle East.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I hope Klingers family is Ok
Sad story. Lots of good Lebanese folks here where I live.
It was until Hezbollah and Iran took over.
That’s because it was 80% Christian.
All that mooslims touch eventually turns dysfunctional and rotten.
When Christians ran Lebanon it was known as the Switzerland of the Middle East.
When it was mostly Christian, it was much nicer. In fact, Beirut used to be called the “Paris of the Middle East”.
Demographics Does Make a Difference.
I thought it had already collapsed after Hezbollah and Iran took over of it. & I’m not being sarcastic.
Well now it’s really on the brink.
Suicide rate among educated professionals is very high.
Yet another failed state in the Middle East.
a nation seen as a model of diversity and resilience in the Arab world
***********
Only prior to the PLO migrating there after being thrown out of Jordon. From that point on it has been a basket case.
Hezbollah and Iran have done nothing but exacerbate its problems.
When the country was mostly Druze and Christian, the Lebanese got along just fine and Beruit was considered the jewel of the Middle East and a model of Muslim-Christian harmony. Then non Druze Muslims moved in and the rest is history.
And the other 20% were Druze Muslims.
This is only new and news to new people. Lebanon has been in this same condition for at least 40 years.
Watch as Syria and Russia takes over. A move south would give Putin and Assad more power. Rebuild Christian Churches and break Hezbollah control. Make a deal with Israel and Lebanon could flower as a cultural center of Greater Syria and a vacation spot for Russians.
Ok let Russia/Syria have it. How do you get rid of the butt-boi throwers?
yep, back when it was a christian nation.
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