Seen in isolation, the situation of Lebanon at the onset of 2022 is that of a country which is still in the depths of a mindboggling crisis. The national crisis of everything is singularly encompassing and to be grasped by the human mind needs no historic denominator, geographic comparison, or even numerical quantification of GDP contraction, annual inflation rates, currency depreciation, or increases in inequality, unemployment, and poverty. A walk through Beirut and a journey into other urban centers and outlying villages is enough to nurture a sense of unspeakable economic shock, common suffering, and utter dismay at this national tragedy being born and raised in the presence of corrupt and self-absorbed leaders. A religious founder walking the hills of the region was once purported to ask his listeners “is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” Observing Lebanon, one might
