If You're Going to Lebanon this Summer

If you're going to Lebanon this summer,

Remember that Hezbollah has "granted" the country a temporary reprieve from the coerced compulsion to liberate Palestine. Of course, it did the same in 2006, but that reprieve was short-lived as Hezbollah tried to liberate Palestine by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers, which led to a month-long war of destruction and an emergency evacuation by boat of all westerners and Lebanese holders of dual citizenship.

Hezbollah has removed all the giant portraits of the Iranian Mullahs and other wannabe liberators of Palestine from the Airport Road, so as not to offend your eyes and the other visitors. But don't worry, if you are a lover of Hezbollah, rest assured that the portraits will be back once the season is over.  Now, only one giant portrait has resisted the shame, and that is Nabih Berri's, the dinosaur Speaker of Parliament in power since 1993. 

Nevertheless, as you exit the airport you'll have to negotiate utter chaos, garbage, and anarchic driving in the area leading in and out of the airport, which is under control and the surveillance of Hezbollah. Order and the rule of law seem to be counter to Islamic fundamentalists who prefer the rule of God. By relinquishing order and law to the purview of God, Muslim radicals leave everything into God's hands. For example, there is no need to properly sort and process trash for regular orderly pickup; just dump it right where you stand, and God will take care of it. Respect for pedestrians? What's the point? Their lives are in God's hands, not mine, so I drive like a maniac. 

Note that Maronite Catholics and other Lebanese Christians are not that much better; they too rely heavily on God's plan in their daily lives. Instead of protesting, they pray to the numerous saints that this sick country keeps producing at alarming rates. A few weeks ago, the Vatican beatified two Lebanese monks en route to sainthood. Strange how the worse a country is, the more saints it produces, and vice-versa. Civilized countries, Christian as they may be, rarely produce saints. It must be that the Vatican recuperates desperate people by sedating them with saints to attenuate their suffering. 

If you travel into the Christian hinterland of the Lebanese mountains, you'll also see garbage lining up the roads - garbage such as plastic bags, bottles, household trash "naturally" decomposing by the roadside, waiting for the rains to sweep all of it down the ravines and the gorges to the rivers in the valley, and from there to the sea. I recently took a trip from somewhere in the hills east-northeast of Beirut to the town of Zahle in the Bekaa Valley, and the magnitude of the trash and litter along the roadside is stunning. It has become an integral part of the landscape. I suspect most of the littering in this country is the grateful contribution of the Syrian refugees, not to mention the thefts, murders and other practices these Syrian victims of the Assad regime have brought with them.

Now, where you see clean streets and roads is a symptom of the class structure in Lebanon. Where rich people dwell, where the local political bosses live, or where the local bishop resides... those have to be clean. Municipality workers and garbage collectors will take good care of the upper class. For example, in a village that I recently visited the roads were dug up 2-3 meters deep, supposedly to install a sewage pipe system. Then according to the Municipality Chief, who is a shill for the feudal family that dominates here, the contractor in charge of installing the pipes failed for some reason to complete the project, so he refilled the trenches throughout the village and went home without re-paving the streets. The villagers and visitors have to drive and walk on rubble, potholes and such, except when the feudal boss or the local bishop decide to pay a visit to the village to rally - and pay for - votes in the recent elections. Suddenly, the main artery in the village was asphalted prior to the boss's visit, but not the side roads. Similarly for high-visibility tourism areas (downtown Beirut, Byblos, etc.), and embassy row (example, in Rabieh where many embassies and ambassador residences are located)... Those will have sparkling streets. But for the rest of us, it's Leonard Cohen's song in which "Suzanne will show you where to look among the garbage and the flowers". 

If you go to the beach resorts, know that the real estate on which they are built is public property stolen by affluent and politically-protected proprietors in collusion with dirty politicians. The law in Lebanon forbids the exploitation of public land, especially along the seashore. All civilized nations comply with international law stipulating the public nature of seashores, and guarantees ease of access by all citizens to them. But not in Lebanon. Dirty corrupt politicians have in the past suspended laws of that nature for 24 hours, enough time for their Mafiosi developers to purchase the land, after which the politicians revoke the suspension. Result: The land becomes the property of the developers who proceed to build their resorts right on the water front, between the sea and the highway, which blocks the view of anyone traveling on the highway. They naturally extort huge fees from tourists when their resorts are in operation. For example, valet parking is a form of extortion: You have no choice. There are no self-parking facilities. You have to surrender your car to the operators in exchange for exorbitant fees. The phenomenon of valet parking in Lebanon is tied to the megalomania of the Lebanese who like to think of themselves as Hollywood VIPs.

You'll also notice that filthy rich Lebanese - many of whom have made their money with all manner of corruption such as bribes, kickbacks and so on - will drive huge $50,000-SUVs with 4-digit plates and darkened windows: The message to other drivers is 'do not mess with me'. When these criminals go to their fancy beach resorts, they of course take their maids with them. But the rules of the resort stipulate that the maid - often from Africa, Bangladesh, Ethiopia..- with dark complexion is forbidden from swimming in the pool of the resort, lest her skin color stain the clear white water of the pool.

Be careful what you eat. The meat they serve you may have expired (they re-do the labels) or may not even be beef or lamb but from related bovine, ovine, or equine (e.g. donkey) species not regulated as edible, the vegetables you consume may be laced with chemicals or irrigated with sewer-contaminated water, the agriculture industry being poorly, if at all, regulated. To wit, on June 22, 2022, the Information Bureau of the Public Health Ministry issued the following statement: "After registering 50 cases of raw meat-related food poisoning in the Bekaa Valley, the Health Service performed tests in four butcher shops located in Saadnayil and Riyaq and two shops in Rachaya. The tests revealed that the meats sold in these shops were 'contaminated'. As a result, the butcher shops were ordered shut per warrant from the Attorney General. Thirty-seven cases required hospitalization..."

Finally, and this is the irony of Lebanon, emigrants and expatriates, who fled the country because of the nauseating corruption and incompetence of the ruling class, keep sending money to their resident relatives. In so doing, they keep the rotten economy artificially afloat, which the ruling class exploits by saying that things are just fine. If the expats stop sending money, their relatives suffer but the decaying economy is exposed. Yet, it is morally impossible to ask the expats to stop sending money. And the endemic malaise continues, as it has for 30 years.