HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch

By Franklin Lamb*

25 Jun 2018 – TRANSCEND Media Service

 “You could qualify for U.S. and Western aid to salvage Lebanon or you can cede what’s left of your country’s sovereignty to Iran. But you cannot do both.”
— A US Congressional staffer after his boss recently introduced legislation to cut off all aid to Lebanon until it “cleans its house of Iranian militia and restores Lebanese sovereignty.”

Franklin P. Lamb

Increasingly these days on Beirut’s streets of Hamra and across much of Lebanon one hears a Sanskrit like mantra that: “Lebanon was never a real country, it is not now a real country and will not be a real country during the lifetimes of its current citizenry.”It’s become a bit of a truism worth some contemplation.

A couple of days ago there was reportedly bit of a kafuffle at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri Airport, which fortunately did not come to blows. It occurred as travel weary Lebanese and tired international travelers arrived in Beirut for the beginning of tourist season and queued for the normally long wait to have their passports stamped.