A tale of three cities

The recent Lebanon war could be interpreted at many levels, but perhaps its most significant impact was how it came to damage Lebanon’s capitalist culture—a culture of openness, relatively unhindered exchanges, and faith in the regenerative qualities of the market. A decade ago, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt neatly encapsulated the dilemma of postwar Lebanon, caught between two alternatives: he had wondered whether the country would lean the way of Hanoi, by which he meant, would it embrace the armed militancy of Hizbullah? Or would it go the way of Hong Kong, and yield to the buoyant capitalism of Rafik Hariri, whose vision was for Lebanon as a financial and trade entrepôt, where competition would be peaceful and victory measured in dollars? Geographical isolation Between 1992 and 2005, Lebanon was able to juggle that contradiction. Because of Syrian rule, the country was compelled to be both Hanoi and Hong Kong. This