{"id":8334,"date":"2020-12-22T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=8334"},"modified":"2020-12-22T00:01:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T04:01:02","slug":"france-24-the-interview-former-top-lebanese-finance-official-we-are-becoming-the-somalia-of-a-few-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2020\/12\/22\/france-24-the-interview-former-top-lebanese-finance-official-we-are-becoming-the-somalia-of-a-few-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"France 24, The Interview: &#8220;Former top Lebanese finance official: &#8216;We are becoming the Somalia of a few years ago'&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/France24Lebanon-1024x368.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8335\" width=\"565\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/France24Lebanon-1024x368.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/France24Lebanon-300x108.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/France24Lebanon-768x276.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/France24Lebanon-1200x432.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 565px) 85vw, 565px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p> &#8220;<em>Alain Bifani resigned suddenly at the end of June from his position as  director general of Lebanon&#8217;s finance ministry, a post he had held for  20 years. The former top official had\u00a0supported an IMF-backed recovery plan for\u00a0the heavily indebted country, but\u00a0this was blocked by the  political elite. Speaking to FRANCE 24, <strong>Bifani says the plan was\u00a0about  &#8220;having those\u00a0who benefited most from the system contribute\u00a0most&#8221;. He  says its failure will lead to more &#8220;huge inequalities&#8221;\u00a0and warns  that\u00a0Lebanon is &#8220;going towards some kind of a Somalia [of]\u00a0a few years ago&#8221;.&#8221;      <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to both Mr. Mark Perelman and Mr. Alain Bifani for this informative interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could and when will Lebanon be saved from itself? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From where to start to fix a country&#8217;s corrupt systems? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How could we protect the Lebanese people from their own politicians?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Mr. Bifani said as an answer to a question, corruption at the high top levels of governance is not just a Lebanese problem. Indeed, this problem spills beyond its borders, affecting the rest of the world.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Bambi, it is deeply disturbing to see a beautiful country like Lebanon with resourceful citizens (i.e., resilient, entrepreneurs\/risk-takers in business\/life, creative, productive, and open to the world) in such a BAD shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This being said, it is also refreshing to listen to a former politician (whom Bambi is seeing for the first time) being that transparent in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Best wishes to Lebanon in re-inventing its economy whilst embracing the MUCH needed financial reforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May Lebanon also know how to commit to love and peace in the world over criminality and stupid self-destruction! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tv-shows\/the-interview\/20201217-former-top-lebanese-finance-official-we-are-becoming-the-somalia-of-a-few-years-ago\">https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tv-shows\/the-interview\/20201217-former-top-lebanese-finance-official-we-are-becoming-the-somalia-of-a-few-years-ago<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>         <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Alain Bifani resigned suddenly at the end of June from his position as director general of Lebanon&#8217;s finance ministry, a post he had held for 20 years. The former top official had\u00a0supported an IMF-backed recovery [&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\/8334"}],"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=8334"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8342,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8334\/revisions\/8342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}