In Lebanon, the country itself has never been the highest reason. The confessions, foreign powers, money, family, everything is more important than the existence of the state. The country is an illusion, and it takes creative people to keep this alive.
A country is being created
„I was searching for Algeria in History, but I couldn´t find it“. This sentence from a historian I can´t tell could have said the same about Lebanon. Where has this country been in the past? Has there ever been, before the French created the country of the cedars, a state in this area?
The country shall, according to the will of the French, be a christian state in the muslim dominated Middle East. For that, they cut it of from Syria, the biggest area of the Levant. Many saw this as a mistake, as Damascus is the dominant city of the region and Lebanon just a small coast-state without any strategic depth. As such, it has no other option than focusing on trade, finances, smuggling and hospitality. With out any economic backbone, the country has to look at its abilities as a trading people of the Mediterranean.
Even the idea, to install the country as a refuge for Christians didn´t work out well. Today, they are in numerical decline and don´t have the majority anymore. It´s obvious that the division of power will continue to move to the Muslim population, so that Christians, Sunni and Shia all get their fair share of power.
In the end, it will take a lot of effort to unite the country, and it´s not clear now if this gonna work out.
Simon Dierich 