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Breaking: Lebanon government collapses, sort of

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Breaking: Lebanon government collapses, sort of

“Today we follow the will of the people and their desire for real change.”


Lebanon’s PM Diab announces government’s resignation amid popular outrage over Beirut blast

[ Editor’s Note: We call this government collapse by the domino effect. First one minister resigns, then two, then four, and it forces the prime minister to fold his tent. But there is also the motivation that it will take them out of the line of fire on blame for the event.

New elections had already been called for, so everybody knew the current government was a caretaker, but they will be out a little faster now. It remains to be seen how many get recycled.

The government leaving is so hapless, it still does not have a clue that aging fertilizer in a dock warehouse could not have blown up the city without being soaked with diesel or kerosene, which a two minute scan of wikipedia would have clued them in on.

This shows that Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government did not want to know, meaning someone down the line would be found as a scapegoat, or its staff talent was bankrupt, with patronage people having all the important slots, so there was no one that really knew anything, or whom to call who might know.

At VT we get calls all the time for input, including at the country level. That’s where a lot of our sources are. We help them when they need it, and they are on call for us when we do. Correspondence, skyping and phone calls go on all day and into the night.

Although the government has resigned, people have to remain as a placeholder, as someone has to keep the doors open and coordinate the foreign aid and cleanup efforts. This is really an effort to diffuse the protesters, and might not be successful.

There is the problem of making sure that the foreign aid is not looted by those people needing money to afford to relocate.

This resignation event changes nothing really. A new government has to be formed among the same competing factions who formed the last one, all fighting to protect the interests of their constituents.

In a way, Lebanon is not really a country at all. It is a place where gangs in suits have a council that fights over who gets to exploit running what parts of the country, so its factions will economically be in good shape. As Gordon often says, “It’s a nasty world out there… Jim W. Dean ]

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Infrared, colorized through Corel to bring out detail, submitted (we are in contact with the photographer)

– First published … August 08, 2020 –

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab has announced resignation of his government following a similar move by several ministers, and amid angry protests in the country that followed the devastating blast of August 4 in the Beirut port.

Speaking to people in a live televised address on Monday, Diab first blamed the explosion on mismanagement resulting from “endemic corruption” in the country.

“Today we follow the will of the people in their demand to hold accountable those responsible for the disaster that has been in hiding for seven years, and their desire for real change,” he said, adding, “In the face of this reality … I am announcing today the resignation of this government.”

“May God save Lebanon, may God save Lebanon, may God save Lebanon.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Diab slammed certain corrupt political actors for undermining his government’s efforts by distorting truth.

He said his government “tried to create change to meet demands of the Lebanese people, adding, “we are with the people in calling for trying those responsible for this crime.”

Diab also denounced those who are trying to take advantage of the Beirut blast for their own political gain.

According to a televised announcement later on Monday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun has accepted the resignation of the prime minister’s government, asking it to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed.

After months of a power vacuum in the small Mediterranean country, Diab’s cabinet formed in January to combat alleged corruption and mismanagement, and to revive Lebanon’s collapsed economy.

Before Diab announced the government’s resignation, four cabinet ministers had already quit their posts.

Over 60 still missing as Lebanon rejects bid to 'dilute truth'

The catastrophic explosion, the biggest ever to hit the Middle East, killed at least 158 people. Some 6,000 were injured.

Dozens of people are still missing, and at least 300,000 people have been displaced as a result of the colossal blast, which leveled the whole port and a large section of central Beirut and turned successive apartment blocks into masses of debris and twisted metal.

A large supply of confiscated explosive material that had been stored in a warehouse at the city’s port for the past six years is suspected to have caused the massive explosion, whose mushroom-shaped cloud has drawn comparisons with the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago.

Clashes between Lebanese security forces, protesters continue for 2nd day

Thousands demonstrated across the capital on Saturday and Sunday, accusing authorities of incompetence as they occupied many ministries and tried to break into the parliament. Televised footage showed a fire breaking out at the entrances to the parliament square in central Beirut.

Protesters demand root-and-branch change in a political system which is suspected of being ‘inept,’ ‘corrupt’ and ‘dominated by sectarian interests and family dynasties.’


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Jim W. Dean is Managing Editor of Veterans Today involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. Read Full Complete Bio >>>

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