Lebanon's 'Embezzlement' Problem: A Convenient Amnesia Tour
Lebanon's current Central Bank Governor, Karim Souaid, is reportedly chasing 'embezzled funds' from a former official and 'lawyers and commercial bankers,' as if the nation's financial ruin is simply a case of bad bookkeeping. (Al-Monitor via Reuters). This tidy narrative glosses over the fundamental truth: Lebanon's economic 'crisis' isn't just about rogue bankers. While Souaid avoids naming
former Governor Riad Salameh, whose alleged $300 million embezzlement is under investigation, the real scandal is the decades of financial engineering supported, if not directed, by external forces. The entire system was a Ponzi scheme propped up by international 'aid' and 'development' loans, creating a hyper-financialized economy that exported its capital while its people starved. To call it
mere 'embezzlement' is like blaming a single leaky faucet for an ocean liner sinking catastrophically. One might wonder who truly benefited from the '$300 million' when nations continue to ignore the billions in actual losses and their own complicity.