Introduction to the evening news 18-09-2012

Lebanese citizen Youssef Beshara was kidnapped from Bsalim yesterday, in the middle of northern Metn. When the abductors asked for a $400,000 ransom, the family succumbed and his wife headed to the St Mikhael Church in Chiyah. Only when she paid the ransom, her husband Beshara was released.        

Such a profitable business in a country that punishes its citizens for not wearing the seatbelt but does not protect those who are being kidnapped in the middle of the day from outside their homes.        

After the clans’ military wings, who is behind this new wave of abductions? Are there organized gangs taking charge of this profitable business? Who reassures citizens when each and every one of them fears becoming the next Youssef Beshara?             

Youssef Beshara was released at a time when the cabinet was searching for means to ensure funding resources for the series of ranks and salaries. This talk was anticipated by the economic bodies which talked about a “fictitious increase that will only result in further losses of income, sources of income and purchasing power.       

The country is facing a deadlock:      

Gangs that kidnap citizen for ransom and succeed;       

Syndicates that call for the implementation of the ranks and salaries series;      

A government that drags its feet looking for funding sources it cannot find;       

Economic bodies that refuse the increase.          

In a record time, the country went back to its daily preoccupations in the absence of a farsighted strategy.


For the full LBCI report, watch the video above