Spinning circles

Lebanon is in a sticky situation. The Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act (HIFPA), a United States law targeting Hezbollah, places Lebanon between Hezbollah and a loaded gun. It is the latest fire encroaching on the Lebanese economic house and comes on top of domestic catastrophes, such as the garbage and political crises, as well as the turmoil roiling throughout the region. All of these are troubles that are, in theory, throwing our national economy back to the stone age that Israel wanted to send us to nearly ten years ago. The worst thing about HIFPA is that Lebanese leaders could have done much to protect the house from the political firestarters across the Atlantic. In a roundabout way Lebanon has almost done so. The banking sector has complied with central bank regulations for anti money laundering and counter terrorism financing, and the government has adopted laws to satisfy international standards