{"id":39085,"date":"2015-03-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/39085\/lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status"},"modified":"2023-08-11T03:57:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T03:57:02","slug":"lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/39085\/lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon Demoted To &#8220;Maybe-Afghanistan Of The Middle East&#8221; Status"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During a ceremony held in Habtour Grand Hotel\u2019s main ballroom, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam accepted a demotion granted by heads of state and romantic authors alike to demote the Republic of Lebanon from \u201cParis of the Middle East\u201d to \u201cMaybe-Afghanistan of the Middle East\u201d status.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/39085.png\" width=\"100%\"><br \/>  (Image via <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/photos\/french-president-francois-hollande-left-shakes-hands-lebanese-photo-091942082.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Yahoo News<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>  This was seen as a huge hit to morale and status, both class status and that of the Facebook variety, since it compromised the integrity of thousands of Facebook users who had enthusiastically shared the outdated saying. <\/p>\n<p>  \u201cThis demotion has been a long time coming,\u201d shared one of the attendees, \u201cwe have been studying Lebanon\u2019s case very closely and could not in clear conscience continue to consider it the Paris of the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>  Throughout the conference, there was plenty of talk backstage as to how Lebanon gained this reputation in the first place, many citing foul-play. \u201cThe only thing Lebanon and Paris have in common is long civil wars, that\u2019s it,\u201d exclaimed an anonymous head of state, \u201cWith Afghanistan, I can see the similarities: widespread poverty, an increase in religious extremism, and dysfunctional governance hindered by militias. But with Paris, what is the similarity? The wide-spread availability of a cr\u00eape? Unacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>  Good news rang through the ballroom when French President Francois Hollande stated that he would be willing to allow the Lebanese Republic to keep the title, with only a slight adjustment. Lebanon would have to forfeit being likened to Paris, and agree to being associated with a less glamorous and much more ghetto area in France, such as Marseille.<\/p>\n<p>  \u201cMarseille was recently recognized as the most dangerous city in France, and one of the top ten most dangerous cities in all of Europe. Considering these statistics, we are comfortable with the phrase, \u201cLebanon is the Marseille of the Middle East,\u201d said Hollande.  <\/p>\n<p>  \u201cFurthermore, we are investigating claims that Lebanon has never been the Paris of the Middle East and anybody who deems it that has never been to Paris, or the Middle East,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p>  <b>Disclaimer for the slow and un-funny: This was a satirical blog post. That means: nothing about this article is real.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During a ceremony held in Habtour Grand Hotel\u2019s main ballroom, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam accepted a demotion granted by heads of state and romantic authors alike to demote the Republic of Lebanon from \u201cParis of the Middle East\u201d to \u201cMaybe-Afghanistan of the Middle East\u201d status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":418531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-39085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"authorship":[102],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lebanon Demoted To &quot;Maybe-Afghanistan Of The Middle East&quot; Status<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During a ceremony held in Habtour Grand Hotel\u2019s main ballroom, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam accepted a demotion granted by heads of state and romantic authors alike to demote the Republic of Lebanon from \u201cParis of the Middle East\u201d to \u201cMaybe-Afghanistan of the Middle East\u201d status.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/39085\/lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lebanon Demoted To &quot;Maybe-Afghanistan Of The Middle East&quot; Status\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During a ceremony held in Habtour Grand Hotel\u2019s main ballroom, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam accepted a demotion granted by heads of state and romantic authors alike to demote the Republic of Lebanon from \u201cParis of the Middle East\u201d to \u201cMaybe-Afghanistan of the Middle East\u201d status.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/39085\/lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beirut.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-04T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-11T03:57:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/39085.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"669\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"377\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/39085\\\/lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/39085\\\/lebanon-demoted-to-maybe-afghanistan-of-the-middle-east-status\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Lebanon Demoted To &#8220;Maybe-Afghanistan Of The Middle East&#8221; 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