Incompréhension complète du système libanais et de ses tares dans cet édito de David Ignatius. On a l’impression qu’il relaie les demandes de l’élite économique et du système bancaire réclamant un énième pansement. L’idée que le Hezbollah est le principal bénéficiaire de la corruption au Liban est tellement absurde...
Syria is lost. Let’s save Lebanon. - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-us-should-double-down-on-support-for-lebanon/2019/10/16/846f9a18-f028-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html
In return for deepening its support, the United States should demand some urgent reforms. Lebanon needs a modern telecommunications regulatory authority, as a first step toward privatization of the largely state-owned telecommunications sector that could raise $6 billion. It needs to privatize its inept state-run electricity company, too, which could save up to $2 billion.
Lebanon’s sectarian political system now divvies up the spoils in these two key sectors, along with about 100 other small state-owned enterprises. Hezbollah probably gets the largest share, but all the other sects and factions take their cuts. It’s a rotten system, and it’s long past time for change.
The chief enemy of a strong, sovereign Lebanon is Hezbollah, which profits from chaos. It follows that a stronger Lebanon will, over time, weaken the Shiite militia. Bankrupting Lebanon to pressure Iran, as some U.S. officials suggest, would be one more act of folly for a Trump administration that has made far too many mistakes in the Middle East already.