In August of last year, the Beirut Port explosion evinced the tragedy of Lebanon’s demise — yet another misfortune in a country already felled by rampant corruption, institutional paralysis, and gross financial malfeasance.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the U.S. is going through one of the most critical periods in its history, and that its institutions are truly in danger – some of them have been damaged in a way that is going to be very difficult to repair."
Australian leaders are caught between competing sirens. It is in neither China’s nor the United States’ best interests to make Australia choose — and, for Australia, perhaps the best choice is neither.
In a distinctly ironic and deeply tragic parallelism, despotic regimes are instrumentalising George Floyd’s death to hold a mirror to a Janus-faced America – an America whose avowed principles of justice and liberty have fallen afoul of their victims both abroad and at home.
"The Palmyra Hotel is the story of every Lebanese living through the country’s ups and downs – from its Golden Era to what are now some of its worst days. And now more than ever, the Palmyra Hotel is a looking-glass for me. It is the perfect symbol of cross-cultural communication over time."
