Lebanon Riots -- What's Really happening in Lebanon ?

Lebanon is a small country of 10,400 square kilometers. With a population of 6,100,000, and falling. [fewer babies and people are immigrating to the WEST], and five major religious and ethnic groups. The 36% are Christians, the 29% Sunni, the 28% Shia, the 5.2% Druze, and the 18,500 battle-trained Shia pro-Iranian militia in Beirut and the south. Lebanon has been plagued with economic woes and riddled with political chaos since the end of the civil war in 1990. But it was these recent months that have put the economy in imminent and inevitable collapse. The past months also yielded myriads of different new taxed products and services, which angered the populace even more. A massive fire in Lebanon’s heartland also took place two days before the revolution began decimating what was left of Lebanon’s greenery there. The last straw was when the government proposed a 0.20$ tax on calls per day on WhatsApp, a widely popular app that is universally used domestically. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. The straw that broke the camel's back it's, of course, the tax that had to be imposed on WhatsApp, what is essential for the Lebanese given the importance of the diaspora; but it's also other measures, it is also the increase in VAT. It is also the fact that there is no electricity, there is no water, there is no free access to health services. Finally, all that was added, and it exploded. Everyone takes for his rank, that is to say: the political class is totally discredited, and what the protesters are asking it is a total change of political class. It must be said that it is a big problem, the Lebanese political class is a big problem because it has been there for years, there have been no changes. It serves her interests and the interests of everyone's community. Young people especially, but not only, no longer support this system. There is a sort of pact, which has been passed, and that allows all communities, especially to the most important, that is to say to the Maronite communities among Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, to have levers of power. All that is not written, it's not in the constitution it is not even written in the National Pact of 1943. The rule is that the President of the Republic is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is Sunni, and the Speaker of the House is Shiite. And this, whatever the demographic evolution of the population. Hezbollah was born in the early 80s, during the Israeli invasion, and Hezbollah first wanted to establish an Islamic republic in Lebanon. And then little by little, he eased himself, and he went totally into the system. So today, which is pretty paradoxical, it's Hezbollah that does not want to change the system. So Hezbollah has an alliance with the President of the Republic Michel Aoun, which is about fifteen years old. He flatly denounced the protesters, and you've seen that among the people who are most challenged on the street, you have Hassan Nasrallah, who is the leader of Hezbollah, which is something totally new. The quarrels of the region are empty in Lebanon. It's a tradition, and it's been around for a very long time. Hezbollah is a creation of Iran, so that's a way for Iran to interfere in Lebanese internal affairs, and as Iran and Saudi Arabia are in conflict, if not military, at least open political, well, there are Saudi reactions, and we saw for example that a year ago Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has resigned while he was in Saudi Arabia, all for reasons of quarrels with Iran. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has had considerable and tragic consequences in Lebanon: it's the installation of the Palestinian armed resistance in the 70s. Because of the Fedayeen, the Palestinian armed movements wanted to fight Israel, it led to Israeli retaliation in Lebanon, destabilization, and finally, it was one of the consequences of the civil war that erupted in 1975. As for Syria, we find Hezbollah. Syria first imposed its hegemony in Lebanon for 30 years. And then she left in 2005; she is allied to Iran and so she is allied with Hezbollah which is the emanation of Iran in Lebanon. But in a general way, Lebanon managed to keep clear of the Syrian conflict, not to mention the fact that Hezbollah sent several thousand men to fight in Syria. But it was in Syria, and it did not spill over in Lebanon. On the humanitarian level, Lebanon suffers a considerable weight: it's the refugees. So it's not as much as in Turkey, but it's still, says, around a million refugees in Lebanon. That is, with the Palestinian refugees, in Lebanon, about 30% of the population who are refugees, which is absolutely considerable. What was Lebanon before 75? In Lebanon in 1975, there were a lot of banks, that's why it was sometimes called "Switzerland of the Middle East." But at the same time, it is a bridgehead for trade to the Gulf countries, The lines of trucks left the port of Beirut, were crossing Syria, crossing Iraq, went to the Golf, went to Saudi Arabia, sometimes even went to Jordan. It's over. Golf countries now, of course, have an infrastructure which is considerable, and it is unthinkable that Lebanon recovers this regional place. So what to do? But that there is no reflection, the political class does not propose anything today. Today Lebanese nation-wide have joined protesters all over in demand for an overthrow of the current government as well as the confessional system as a whole. These demands stretch due to the government and state's inability to provide the most basic of economic necessities such as; electricity, water, infrastructure, education, healthcare, political reforms, economic reforms, etc. Lebanon has always faced political turmoil, domestically, regionally, and internationally. We have always been in a state where certainty was never guaranteed for the shifts and balances in the economic and political domain. The situation has been sharply deteriorating ever since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, eight and a half years ago. Even though the politicians that are currently in reign in the form of the current ruling government as well as the opposition parties along with the whole confessional system which is a form of consociationalism with a sectarian facade that is the root to the entire problem, however, it is the desensitization, political apathy, sectarian, quasi-tribal nature, the actions and inaction of the Lebanese nation which has led Lebanon to where is it today, in chaos, to say the least. This is however not discrediting other factors which have contributed to the downfall of the nation and the country as a whole, such as external forces which have come in the form of; invasions, incursions, military occupations, assassinations, bombings, a battlefield for two of its neighbors to fight in, and that is keeping it short. Since independence, the country has been marked by periods of political turmoil interspersed with prosperity built on its position as a regional center for finance and trade. The country's 1975-90 civil war, which resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities, was followed by years of social and political instability. Sectarianism is a crucial element of Lebanese political life. Neighboring Syria has historically influenced Lebanon's foreign policy and internal policies, and its military occupied Lebanon from 1976 until 2005. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia has taken over the SOUTH and parts of Beirut, and this foreign ‘body’ inside Lebanon, is a disease that continually destroys any economic or social future that Lebanon once had. So, now- this small country, run by a low-quality government, a very ‘light’ economy, no oil, and continuously abused from within by her torn social and religious fabric [poor & rich; religions 1,2, 3, or 4, riots or civil disturbances, and a population that is fleeing -out], needs HELP. Lebanon is falling apart. Politicians are robbing the country and destroying the economy. Hezbollah, an armed militia, took power and is now stronger than the government. ISIS is in the east. Newly, crazy taxes have been imposed on people. 50% of the population are now refugees. Lebanon has a myriad of problems : #1-religion/political issues. #2-no president for two years. #3-weak army and Hezbollah being more powerful and disrupting the country. # 4-government: lack of health care./ lack of public transportations./ politicians stealing money and not paying taxes./internet is super slow./Phones Calls, messages are so expensive. #5-people don’t follow the rules. #6-there’s a garbage problem now. #7-almost all beaches are not public, and only a few of them are clean. #8-illegal constructions. #9-no 24/7 electricity. (we have two types of electricity powers: government’s power and private companies - we pay for both so we could have 24/7 electricity). #10- lack of organization in almost everything. #11-enemy at the south: Israel. and another enemy on our east: Syria. #12- Syrian and Palestinians refugees. everything related to the government is super bad; this is why Lebanon’s private institutions are way better than the public institutions. The leading problem is corruption, which is infested in almost all public institutions and is affecting their performance. We have 70 billion dollar debt and the same political class for decades. The resulting sub-problems from this main problem range from the high cost of living to blackouts and food safety issues, among others The second problem is the neighbors. We have an enemy at the south (Israel) and an enemy on our east (Syrian regime and ISIS). They both threaten the local instability in many ways and for decades. Electricity is intermittent at best. You actually have to get electricity from some other distributor along with electricity supplied by the government because it never covers 24h. Corruption is rife. Corruption is a significant obstacle for companies operating or planning to invest in Lebanon, as well as for the people living there. You can get almost anything “your way.” You can get away with pretty much everything when you have a connection within the system. Public debts: Gross public debt stands at $71.65 billion (April 2016), with Lebanon's debt to GDP ratio reaching an alarming 139% level, positioning it as the 4th highly indebted country in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. Confessionalism. Along with the civil war and the corruption of internal and external political actors, confessionalism is what hurts Lebanon more than anything else. Despite that, defining the confessionalist system as the sole reason for Lebanon’s suffering is too naïve. Finally, running a state-within-a-state, Hezbollah. Although Hezbollah made efforts in previously protecting Lebanon and avoiding its occupation, there must not be an independent military. Or, by the very least, it must not be stronger than the government. Get a grasp, government. Which also brings me to the point that the Lebanese government has always been way too weak, it needs to be, by the very least, able to enforce its own rules.






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