Lebanon is hurting.  Badly.  Even before Covid-19, the government was as corrupt and incompetent as ever, the economy was in a downward spiral, half the country lived in poverty, the currency had already lost over 60 percent of its value, electricity was spotty, the infrastructure was falling apart, and people were starving.  Police brutalized anti-government protesters, and tons and tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut, killing almost two hundred people.

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Then Covid-19 walloped the country, which had one of the world’s highest rates of infections and deaths.

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The World Bank gave Lebanon, now a failed state, a humanitarian aid loan, where money was to be directly distributed to the Lebanese people, but it looks like the government found a way to steal some of that money as well.  There is other money available, but it cannot be dispersed because the government will not agree to even the most minimal of reforms.

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This is awful.  The United States needs to support the Lebanese people as they fight against their corrupt and incompetent government.  It’s not only the right thing to do, but our support may also stop Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from playing Daddy Warbucks over there.