Can Lebanon's lack of success be blamed on Israel?

submitted by radicalcentristNational Centrism from self.debatealtright

I just had a thought the other day.

If you look around in Western countries, Lebanese people tend to be alright. Even though they don't belong in White homelands, compared to other non-whites, they are quite successful, don't cause any trouble/rioting, and in general they assimilate into Western society.

All these things are good traits, so how come their home country of Lebanon isn't some kind of regional power like Switzerland or Singapore is?

Keep in mind, Lebanon was once called the "Paris" of the Middle East. It's also the only Arab country that once had a majority Christian population. But even with these factors, the GDP per capita is only $5,000, which actually makes it worse than mutt countries like Brazil and South Africa.

Thus, can Lebanon's lack of success be blamed on its neighbor? Israel has invaded Lebanon many times, which also lead to the Palestinians Muslims flooding their borders and pushing Islam on the Christians. Even up until 2006, Israel continued to drop bombs on Lebanon but they actually failed to defeat Hezbollah, on top of inflicting heavy damage on the IDF.

So the Lebanese race has potential, but can they actually compete against the West, or are they doomed to send their best immigrants to achieve a better life?

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[–]lokke767 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

To a large extent it can. Israel has been sabotaging its neighbors since its inception. The long-term goal of a large portion of the Israeli elite is to depopulate the entire Levant to open up space for Greater Israel. They will settle the land with orthodox and chasidic Jews who breed like rabbits and have explosive growth rates and a level of ethnocentrism and fanaticism that is unparalleled by any group on the face of the earth. The same phenomenon is going on in America BTW, with large swathes of NY and NJ threatened by unstoppable, roachlike chasidic expansion. Just look up Lakewood, NJ. It's alarming shit.

Speaking of Lebanon, another factor that plays a role in its sorry state is the fact that it's a nonviable multicultural entity with no religious or ethnic unity. Lebanon shows us how a Muslim minority in a Christian country can quickly become a majority through a combination of higher birth-rates, intimidation tactics and civil war. The Lebanese diaspora is overwhelmingly Christian BTW, mostly people who escaped persecution by the emerging Moslem majority. They also tend to be based. Lebanese Christian money plays an important role on the identitarian French right-wing for example.

[–]JuliusCaesar225Nationalist + Socialist 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You can't judge a home country based on their immigrants.

[–]radicalcentristNational Centrism[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

After several generations and when regression to the means kicks in, it does.

The Japanese have been in Western countries for hundreds of years, and they still perform just as well as their home islands. Compare this to African immigrants, where after one generation, they go back to being savage.

Lebanese people are genetically Arab, but prior to Israel messing with them, Lebanon was seen as being Paris adjacent.

[–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The problem is the culture of corruption and multiculturalism.

They might be majority Christian but they have big religious minorities which bitch and whine and fight for crums for themselves rather than engaging in solidarity and making the country better. Multiculturalism in much of the world means you are going to get treated differently by members of your own group and other in all kinds of situations Westerners don't have to worry about. You can't get given different prices in shops, different treatment in hospital, etc. This has a huge knock on effect on societal trust which then means people don't want to work for the common good.

Then corruption. Again in the West we whine about corrupt elites but in a corrupt society you can be asked to bribe just for walking down the street the wrong time of day. It's everywhere and it's oppressive. You see people succeeding only because they've paid the right people and you give up and stop trying. The people at the top siphon money out of the country so investment falls and things don't get fixed.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/06/breaking-curse-corruption-lebanon