Joshua Hammer writes about Lebanon’s predicament today as it stands at a critical crossroad. He notes the “alluring, sensual Lebanon” of wine, jet setters, and beaches, and, he describes the other side of Lebanon: the Lebanon “riven by rivalries” among its leading religio-political sects: Maronites, Shiites, Sunnis, and Druze, each a part of what he calls “Lebanon’s darker identity,” a nation of proxies marching to the orders of larger regional and global players: Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Hammer provides summaries of the horrific civil war that tore Lebanon apart in the 1970s and 80s and the more recent political crisis the country is still trying to extricate itself from.
at Smithsonian.com and in the July 2008 issue of Smithsonian (pp. 32-41): Joshua Hammer, “Precarious Lebanon.”
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