...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers..., French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.
Le Drian also said in a statement that La Belle France is taking similar measures for people involved in corruption in Lebanon.
Premier-designate Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
has not been able to form a cabinet six months after he was chosen for the post amid deep disagreements between him and President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
One of the main points of difference includes Aoun’s rejection of Hariri’s plan to choose some Christian members of the new government.
The Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, which is headed by Gebran Bassil, who is also Aoun’s son-in-law, has also accused Hariri of trying to orchestrate a majority for his own supporters.
Hariri was nominated in October to form a cabinet after Hassan Diab’s government resigned in the wake of the Beirut port blast, which killed 200 people and damaged large swathes of the city.
Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history following decades of widespread corruption. Since late 2019, the local currency has lost 90% of its value, and more than half of the country's population now lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.
With the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, Gay Paree has been working on creating a sanctions regime for Lebanon that could ultimately see asset freezes and travel bans.
However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
that is likely to take time. As part of efforts to raise pressure on key Lebanese actors, La Belle France intends to stop issuing visas to certain officials, diplomats have said.
"On a national basis, we have started to implement restrictive measures in terms of access to French territory against personalities involved in the current political blockage, or involved in corruption," Le Drian said in remarks alongside his Maltese counterpart.
Le Drian gave no names and it was not clear if the actual measures were already in place.
"It’s not just words in the air," said a French diplomat.
They (Lebanese officials) can reassure themselves that it’s not just threats."
Two diplomats said a list of names had been put together and people were being made aware.
"We reserve the right to adopt additional measures against all those who hinder the way out of the crisis and we will do so in coordination with our international partners," Le Drian added.