Lebanon Faces Dire Crisis after the Elite Plundered the State for Decades, Exacerbating Inequality

Jul 9, 2021 • Lebanon is days away from a “social explosion,” according to the country’s prime minister, amid what the World Bank has described as one of the worst economic depressions in modern history. The country’s currency has lost more than 90% of its value, unemployment has skyrocketed, and fuel prices have soared. Most homes and businesses, and even hospitals, only have power for a few hours each day, and pharmacies are running low on medicine. The U.N. has warned over three-quarters of households in Lebanon do not have enough food or money to buy food. Lebanon is also facing a massive political crisis following the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut last August, which killed over 200 people, injured 7,000 and left more than a quarter-million Beirut residents unhoused. Nisreen Salti, an economics professor at the American University of Beirut, says “the entire system crumbled” in Lebanon due to decades of structural inequality. “The business and political class that benefited from the system was able to plunder the economy for 20-odd years,” Salti says. We also speak with Middle East scholar Ziad Abu-Rish of Bard College. He says the economic crisis and the port explosion, for which there have been no major prosecutions, both reveal the impunity with which the country’s elites operate. “Part of the problem is the total lack of accountability,” Abu-Rish says.

Lebanon Economic Crisis among World's Worst in 150 Years | DW News

Jun 28, 2021 • Inflation has driven Lebanon's currency to historically low values in recent weeks. The crash of the Lebanese pound is playing its part in the country’s grave economic crisis, which has left half the population living below the poverty line.

Fire and fury have hit the streets of Beirut. Lebanon is descending fast into an economic crisis that the World Bank says will likely rank among the world's worst of the last 150 years. Where some streets witness protests, others host long lines of cars queuing for a share of Lebanon's insufficient supply of gasoline.

Shortages are pushing up the costs of many essentials. The price of subsidized bread has been hiked five times this year alone. Citizens are also getting much less for their money because of record inflation.

The Lebanese pound has been trading at an all-time high on the black market - at over 10 times its official rate against the US dollar.

The crisis is largely the result of three decades of financial mismanagement by successive governments, following Lebanon's civil war. But it's been made even worse by a global pandemic, and the billions of dollars of damage caused by last year's deadly blast in Beirut port.


‘This is the end of times’: Lebanon struggles to find political path through its crisis »

More Than 3 Million Lebanese Face Poverty

More than three million Lebanese - almost half the population - are facing a tough Ramadan. The monthly cost of iftar, or the meal to break their fast, now costs 2.5 times the minimum wage. The World Bank says food prices there have become the highest in the region. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr has more from Beirut, Lebanon.

The Guardian View on the Beirut Blast: A Tragedy within a Crisis

THE GUARDIAN: The world owes solidarity to a people exhausted by decades of corrupt and negligent government

Beirut has come to know the sound of explosions too well in its recent past, but none looked or felt like the blast that laid waste central districts of the city on Tuesday. The devastation is on a scale more usually wrought by earthquakes. The port at the heart of the Lebanese capital was annihilated. Shock waves ripped the facades from every building in neighbouring districts – and behind every shattered window are shattered lives. There are not enough hospital beds or a reliable supply of electricity. Infrastructure for storing and importing many of the city’s essential goods has been destroyed, making scarcity of food an imminent threat. A vast crater at the site of the detonation scars the coastline, but deeper still are the wounds to a nation that was already reeling from economic crisis, debilitated by pandemic and weary from political chaos and corruption. » | Editorial | Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Beirut Explosion Destruction Captured in Drone Footage

Aerial video captures the devastating impact of the explosion that left dozens dead and thousands injured in the Lebanese capital. The full scale of the blast is yet to be felt as rescue efforts continued the morning after the explosion flattened much of the city's port

Huge Explosion Rocks Beirut with Widespread Damage and Injuries | ITV News

The Good Struggle: Life In a Secluded Orthodox Monastery

The Good Struggle: High up in the mountains of Lebanon, an unexpected community thrives within the confines of a Greek Orthodox Christian monastery. This beautiful short doc offers rare insight to their almost silent way of life.

“There were more before but not all could endure and prove their ability to stay in the monastery,” says a member of the Greek Orthodox Christian community. Theirs is a simple life that revolves around religious ceremony and the daily rituals of craft work and growing, picking and preparing fresh food.

Lebanon Turns to Russia amid Israeli Threat

The President of Lebanon has vocally condemned Israel’s seizure of the Golan Heights in Syria, calling it “a black day for the world.” Meanwhile Lebanon and Russia are drawing closer together diplomatically. Yulia Shapovalova reports. Then RT America’s John Huddy joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the reaction at the United Nations and the strategic importance of the Golan Heights. Then former Pentagon official Michael Maloof weighs in on the geopolitical implications and the possibility of the annexation sparking a wider conflict.

Full Interview: Lebanon PM Hariri on the Syrian War, Putin as an Ally, and Hezbollah

Saudi Arabia's Purge: A Quest for Media Control? - The Listening Post

Saudi Arabia Kidnapping World Leaders Now

The Saudis aren’t playing around. Cenk Uygur, the host of The Young Turks, breaks down the kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister.

‘Saudi Arabia Backfires on Itself by Forcing Lebanese PM Hariri to Resign’ – Expert

The Lebanese prime minister has announced he’s putting his surprise resignation on hold, after the president asked him to reconsider. RT talked to Jamal Wakeem, professor of history and international relations at Lebanese University in Beirut.

Hard Bargaining: Lebanon Prime Minister Returns and Suspends Resignation

Lebanon's PM Hariri Defers Resignation for Dialogue

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has promised his supporters that he will stick with them and defend his country, more than two weeks after announcing, while in Saudi Arabia, that he was stepping down.

Hariri is now back in Beirut, where he has agreed to delay his resignation after a request from Lebanon's President Michel Aoun to allow more dialogue.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut.

Saudi Arabia's Purge: A Quest for Media Control? - The Listening Post

Lebanon: President Aoun Accuses Saudi Arabia of Detaining Former PM Saad Hariri

What Is Happening In Saudi Arabia? - Marwa Osman on The Corbett Report

The Lebanese Prime Minister has "resigned" on Saudi tv. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has rounded up a dozen other princes in the House of Saud in a startling move that threatens to upset the kingdom. Reports saying that King Salman will step aside for the crown prince abound. What the hell is happening? Joining us to help sort through the rubble of this incredible week is Marwa Osman, a political analyst and commentator in Beirut.

Saudi's 'War on Lebanon' Backfires

After being accused of forcing him to resign, Saudi Arabia's apparent detention of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has boosted support for Hezbollah, says author and professor Amal Saad

New Saudi Power Grab Follows Big Losses

Rami Khouri of the American University of Beirut and Harvard Kennedy School analyzes the Saudi kingdom's arrest of elite figures at home and its apparent role in the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri

The Link Between Saudi Prince's Power Grab and DC Corruption

The power moves by the Saudi kingdom at home and in Lebanon were made easier by buying influence in powerful circles of Washington, DC, says The Intercept's Ryan Grim