Watching Beirut Die

For a lot of Americans, I think "Beirut" is synonymous with "war zone" and has been for the last thirty years or so.

That's absolutely the case. But even among Lebanese, it's so.

I find this to be very interesting. My ex is Lebanese- both parents grew up there, most family still there. When I expressed concern about a planned annual trip there to visit grandparents and other family, I was met with defensiveness and the following statement repeated often: "Lebanon is the Switzerland of the Middle East". My point of view that this may not be the safest place for a vacation was resented mightily.

This was in 2001 if I'm not mistaken.

Did anyone see the excellent op/ed piece by Michael Young in the New York Times yesterday? Young is one of my favorite writers in the region; I never miss his stuff in the Beirut Daily Star.

[Jenise]

Skye, so what we've established is that small as Lebanon is, it's big enough for there to be very divergent points of view about the same thing. Which also means that Lebanon is just like every other place on this earth.