No sane person can review the situation in Lebanon between the past and the recent present without concluding that Lebanon is teetering between two conditions with no third option: either a comprehensive revival, reform, and reconstruction, or the descent into disintegration and extinction. As former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian put it: the complete absence and fading of the political entity of Lebanon.
The current state of deterioration is neither easy nor simple, persisting for at least five years. This began with the eruption of the financial and economic crisis, which has stripped away the facade and exposed the vulnerabilities of the crumbling republic, placing it on the path to fragmentation and oblivion, and obliterating the wealth and savings built by generations of Lebanese from the Intra Bank crisis in 1966 until the recent past.
This financial and economic catastrophe was followed by an even greater disaster, represented by the explosion of the Beirut port, which is still under investigation with no clear direction. Most troubling is that the political forces responsible for orchestrating the ongoing financial and economic slaughter against Lebanon and its people continue to engage in the same behaviors and violations without accountability. On the contrary, they have become even more ferocious, characterized precisely by "recklessness," aggression, and brutality toward the afflicted citizens, abandoned to their fate, their rights lost and their money seized.
It is astonishing that the failures and shortcomings do not only affect the dominant political forces involved in the massacre committed against the Lebanese people. Rather, the shortcomings also extend to those forces that are supposed to confront and revitalize the country. The alarming and astonishing reality is that Lebanon is now in the hands of a clique of savages, criminals, and those involved in embezzlement and theft, with no deterrent force attempting to breathe life into the country or defend its rights.
The brutality of the dominating political and sectarian forces has reached a point where they do not inquire about or acknowledge the victims. The reason for this sharp rhetoric, which may seem surprising to some, is that the financial and economic disaster that befell Lebanon and the Lebanese people (October 2019) is now approaching its fifth anniversary, and no serious reformative steps have been implemented, despite parliamentary elections that replaced a significant portion of the parliament, which has yet to pass any serious reform laws to address the consequences of the massacre inflicted on the Lebanese.
What has occurred is an attempt to erase and conceal the blood of the victims, which was left to be devoured by predators or absorbed by the earth, leaving no trace of them or what transpired. The overarching catastrophe involves the complicity of all, without exception, each in their own way.
The parliament, responsible for issuing and approving the necessary and urgent reform laws to address the financial and economic crisis and prevent its recurrence, has not made any serious effort and is fundamentally incapable of performing its primary function: electing a new president to replace the late General Michel Aoun, who led the country into the depths of hell and closed the door tightly behind it.
It is true that there is a viewpoint suggesting that the focus should be on electing a president first, because the parliament is the electoral body for the presidency. However, the grim reality is that the esteemed parliament has neither elected nor desires to elect the anticipated president, nor has it made even the slightest necessary steps toward legislating laws that protect citizens from a repeated financial and economic crisis in the coming years. No reform plan has been proposed, approved, or put forward to avoid the past and prevent its recurrence.
In reality, merely discussing matters in this manner has become a failed and unjustifiable initiative. A cursory review of the minimum reasons and facts surrounding what transpired reveals that the political forces and their privileged leaders currently in decision-making power are the ones responsible for and culpable in the crisis that the Lebanese people find themselves trapped in. How can we expect a remedy from the perpetrator of a crime to rectify what results from the very crime they committed?
There are various narratives regarding what happened, one of which states that banks lent money to the government, and the government spent it, leading to the catastrophe... etc. However, a minimal examination reveals without doubt that the bank owners are the same state leaders, and most political officials are bank owners who spent the depositors' funds and acted upon them.
In this case, the protection surrounding former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh becomes comprehensible and its motivations transparent, as he provided services to the state mafia leaders who requested him to implement and secure the policies they imposed. Through financial policies and engineering, he ensured them significant revenues, spending and financing them with depositors' money.
In other words, the leaders of the political forces holding decision-making power tasked "Lebanon's Madoff" with securing their expenses, excesses, and protecting their wealth in banks, which subsequently fled abroad with the onset of the crisis under his supervision. Most political forces and decision-makers participated in the making of the massacre and the disaster that befell Lebanon. The innocent few can be counted on fingers.
The frightening reality is that after nearly five years of the catastrophe, we have made little progress toward addressing it except through illusions and empty rhetoric cloaked in impotence and conspiracy. A simple comparison between the steps taken after the Intra Bank crisis and their speed, versus today's nonexistent laws and actions, shows that we will not emerge from the abyss. We are heading deeper into the inferno.
Most alarmingly, this country, afflicted by its rulers and those responsible for it, could evaporate and be erased from the map if the madmen of Israel—a significant number—decide they can evade the grip of the illusion and myth of international pressures. Should the war in Gaza in Palestine conclude while Lebanon remains outside it, untouched by widespread involvement, the only thing that can revive it is a comprehensive and complete reconstruction and reform from all angles and aspects... if the possibility of achieving it is available!
