Thanks to Ms. Roula Douglas (journalist) for re-tweeting this informative yet not surprising article in the New York Times about the unprecedented LOW level of immoral behaviour of Lebanon’s officials.
The article is signed by Mr. Ben Hubbard with contributing reporting by Ms. Hwaida Saad and Mr. Kareem Chehayeb.
Please take a look at that tweet in question at the very end of this post. Mr. Hubbard’s words are very strong.The picture he chose to share is even more powerful.
How can Lebanese officials get to sleep at night?!
The irony is that many of them resigned following the blast… Yet, they are still working (or at least getting paid) as members of the caretaker government (except the latest PM who perhaps had the decency of resigning for good after having tried to form a government, but they made him fail and made Mr. Macron’s initiative fail?).
Anyhow, if you can understand anything in Lebanese politics, you deserve an award for your intellectual achievement. Bambi does not even try to make sense of all the shenanigans. She just knows about the following key milestones of 2019-2020: First, the financial/economic crash (October 17, 2019), followed by the Beirut surrealistic blast August 4, 2020) and its devastating impact. Of course, there is also the coronavirus pandemic (since February, 2020) and its economic toll, which occurred on top of the crash of the banking sector that has been already paralyzing Lebanon’s economy. Add to this the geopolitical fragility of this tiny Mediterranean country along with political malice, which is in turn completely paralyzing democratic processes (no new government since August, 2020… and a complete takeover by Iran, through Hezbollah et al., which is toxicly and shamelessly aligned with Iran’s ideology/military interests in the region over Lebanon’s interests).
The end result of all the above is “a catastrophe” to borrow the words of one of Bambi’s friends.
To give you an example of the economic catastrophe of all the crises mentioned above, including the destroyed port/large part of the capital, an imported jar of Nutella (that many kids adore eating) used to be affordable to their parents. With the hyperinflation, its price became worth US$19 only seven months ago (according to Lebanese media, namely 961). It is now the equivalent of US$50, according to the friend cited above. Can you imagine? To give you an idea, here you can get the same product at just CAD$4.67, at least from Walmart in Moncton. Yes, it is on sale, if you happen to still enjoy eating it like Bambi.
This being said, Bambi will end this post with the article of Mr. Hubbard (to see it, please right click on the picture. You may have to open it in a separate tab). Thanks to him and his team of contributing reporters. As for the people of Lebanon, Bambi would like to send them all a virtual heart, praying that they will start their rising journey as soon as they hit the rock bottom!
Beirut Explosion Investigation Arrests
