Once Lebanon was the jewel of the Middle East, a combination of Las Vegas and Switzerland. It was neutral, libertarian, multicultural, wealthy, and civilized. Its banks held billions in oil wealth.
Lebanon had a substantial Arab Christian population which sold alcohol, and the nightclubs were open into the wee hours. Its situation was always somewhat complicated and dicey but mostly they did well.
As this article in the Times of Israel reports, those days are long past. I won't itemize its current difficulties, suffice it to say that the author cites reasons it is headed for something not unlike the Stone Age. The name I'd give where Lebanon is headed is "failed state." The enormous explosion in Beirut a year ago didn't help.
It is sad to see an apparently successful country slide into chaos and penury. It makes you wonder if it could happen here.
