{"id":19718,"date":"2022-05-31T11:57:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=19718"},"modified":"2022-05-31T12:35:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T15:35:34","slug":"lebanon-who-needs-principles-in-politics-when-shenanigans-to-protect-mafia-and-militia-are-more-rewarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2022\/05\/31\/lebanon-who-needs-principles-in-politics-when-shenanigans-to-protect-mafia-and-militia-are-more-rewarding\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon: Who needs principles in politics when shenanigans, to protect mafia and militia, are more rewarding?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/LebanonWorrisome-2-1024x288.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19719\" width=\"447\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/LebanonWorrisome-2-1024x288.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/LebanonWorrisome-2-300x84.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/LebanonWorrisome-2-768x216.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/LebanonWorrisome-2-1200x337.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 447px) 85vw, 447px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope in Lebanon did not last long since its last May 15 Parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope of change with some new faces of independent, and highly skilled, elected politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope of economic reforms and accountability to end corruption and bring justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope of the end of sectarianism and ghosts of strife or wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is Bambi saying all the above? Well, she just learned from journalist Roula Douglas&#8217; re-tweets that the new Lebanese Parliament elected the same (highly corrupt) &#8220;dinosaur&#8221; for the seventh times in a row as President of Parliament. What a joke. Should we sarcastically laugh or cry &#8220;<em>dam albna<\/em>&#8221; (cry the blood of our heart, as they say in Lebanese Arabic)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How sad for Lebanon. There too, like in Canada, politicians like to use beautiful words. Bambi read that someone said: It is a big day for democracy in Lebanon. He is right: it is a BIG day. Mabrouk! Not for democracy&#8230; but rather for STUPIDITY :(.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"541\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RoulaMay31-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RoulaMay31-1.jpg 624w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RoulaMay31-1-300x260.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RoulaDouglas_May3Better-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RoulaDouglas_May3Better-1.jpg 624w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/RoulaDouglas_May3Better-1-300x271.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, look at where Lebanon is now in terms of economic distress: Yes # 1 on the list before (in order) Belarus, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"773\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Roula-Dougla-May3Better-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19739\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Roula-Dougla-May3Better-1.jpg 624w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Roula-Dougla-May3Better-1-242x300.jpg 242w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>To conclude this post on a musical note (even if the heart does not feel like singing), one melody comes to Bambi&#8217;s mind while thinking of the people of her birth country. It is <em>Mawtini<\/em> [<em>My Homelan<\/em>d] interpreted by the moving Ms. Talia Lahoud and sub-titled in English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"&quot;Mawtini - \u0645\u0648\u0637\u0646\u064a&quot; (My Homeland) an arabic song to all the countries around the world??\u2764\ufe0f?\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7coB8DU0xgo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hope in Lebanon did not last long since its last May 15 Parliamentary elections. Hope of change with some new faces of independent, and highly skilled, elected politicians. Hope of economic reforms and accountability to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19718"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19749,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718\/revisions\/19749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}