Have you lately made any risqué appearances? Given speeches calling for peace with new or old enemies, offered daring toasts about the virtue of national unity, hugged your neighbor from a different sect, or made a proposal to strengthen the authority of the state, raise taxes or, unimaginably, have a new cabinet? Luckily, one is not likely to get shot at for doing any of these things in Lebanon today. A company that sells bulletproof clothing in the Americas trumpets that this protective gear has become a must not only for “politicians in general” but also for war correspondents, traveling missionaries, university and school teachers (and students), business owners, convenience store clerks and taxi drivers. One has to concur on high-profile politicians, business magnates and journalists in the field. When dispatching a team to Aleppo a year ago for an in-depth reportage and pictorial of the north Syrian city’s emerging
