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Lebanon Hurtles Toward Collapse

Largely Maronite Christian, it's capital Beirut was once known as "the Paris of the Middle East". A long decline seems to be reaching a low-point.

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by Anonymousreply 13August 4, 2020 6:19 PM

The Times Of Israel. Now there's a non-biased source.

by Anonymousreply 1August 3, 2020 11:58 AM

And yet the OP fails to notice the 1 million children in Israel living in poverty.

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by Anonymousreply 2August 3, 2020 12:07 PM

Any eldergays here remember when it before the wars and destruction? Was Beirut truly a beautiful, cosmopolitan city comparable to Paris?

by Anonymousreply 3August 3, 2020 12:08 PM

Another convenient excuse for Israel to annex Lebanon?

by Anonymousreply 4August 3, 2020 12:10 PM

R4 not a bad idea

Yes i remember in the mid 60's Beirut was beautiful.

Israel whataboutism WIL NOT work on this thread. Sorry

by Anonymousreply 5August 3, 2020 12:15 PM

The crazies at R1 and R2 need to take their anti-psychotics. This story has zero to do with the Israeli-Arab conflict.

by Anonymousreply 6August 3, 2020 12:22 PM

^^^ And no one "failed to notice" anything.

by Anonymousreply 7August 3, 2020 12:24 PM

What was Beirut like in the mid-60s? And how about before? Had it been nice for decades? I always think of Kahlil Gibran's stories when I think of Lebanon in the early 20th century and wish I could have visited there.

by Anonymousreply 8August 3, 2020 12:26 PM

Beirut was really the Geneva of the Middle East, i.e. a regional banking/gambling capital for wealthy Gulf Arabs and European hangers-on sited on a picturesque body of water. It was never and is certainly not now "largely Maronite Christian," the two main ethno-religious groups were historically Sunni Muslims and Greek Orthodox/Melkite Catholics. Maronites didn't start coming down from northern Mount Lebanon until they were massacred by the Druze in the 1860s, at which point France (who had intervened in the Druze-Maronite clashes on behalf of the Maronites) helped develop Beirut into a major port to compete with Saida in the south and Tripoli in the North. If there was any group who could be said to have lost the 1975-90 Civil war, it was certainly the Maronites, who fled abroad in higher numbers than Sunni or Shia muslims. There has not been an official census carried out since 1932 lest the government's delicate sectarian balance topple.

by Anonymousreply 9August 3, 2020 12:36 PM

I don’t know about the mid 60s, but I visited last October with a friend and we loved it. Great cocktail bars and restaurants, and we went on a fascinating walking tour of Beirut. And a great day trip out to Baalbek and the Temple of Bacchus, and the wine-making region. The economy was in trouble then too but it’s obviously really bad now.

by Anonymousreply 10August 3, 2020 12:39 PM

Lebanon is not largely Maronite Christian.

Lebanon is majority Muslim with a significant minority population of Maronite Christians

by Anonymousreply 11August 3, 2020 12:41 PM

Bomb Bump

by Anonymousreply 12August 4, 2020 6:05 PM

The timing of that article is odd, no?

by Anonymousreply 13August 4, 2020 6:19 PM
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