Neck of the woods

Good news and glad tidings. The Future Bloc of Sa’ad Hariri believes that it is time for its non-leading leader to return to Lebanon. Now they say that Hariri has long had an “unstoppable” urge to go home. Sa’ad Hariri has promised to return to Beirut! Although he is being coy and refuses to set the day and hour. Yet, finally he is arriving, he will rise, he will underwhelm again. Not exactly Napoleon Bonaparte returning from the island of Elba; if anything more like Napoleon landing at the island of Saint Helena.
Hariri (fils) has been spending the past couple of years between Paris and Riyadh. Mostly Paris, with occasional sorties into Riyadh whenever another elderly prince ‘kicks the bucket’, or whenever he needs more cash. Media reported this past summer that the Saudi king ‘gifted’ him with US$4 billion to help him fix his finances. Only a few months before that the king had gifted him with $2 billion. I wonder where the Saudi king gets all that cash from? How does he get his Wahhabi Congress to approve all these billions in gifts for a dandy who lives mostly in France. I wonder how the poor average Saudi, barely making it, feels about all this money, his money, being gifted by the king (Hariri is also a Saudi citizen).

Hariri has two distinctions: (1) the first prime minister of Lebanon with a Saudi-style goatee (saksooka, baaa or whatever). The goatee is a souvenir of his Saudi connections; I hear from one unreliable source that the princes threatened to withdraw his Saudi citizenship and freeze his money if he shaved it. Also, (2) he was the first PM to spend a year or more abroad while in office.
Oh, he has another distinction that has changed the face of at least northern Lebanon. His bloc has reportedly for a few years financed and encouraged Salafi groups to sprout around Tripoli. Now they are causing some serious sectarian trouble.
Cheers
mhg
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