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Offshore Gas Key to UK Interest In Lebanon

In a bid to increase its political sway in the country, as well as take advantage of offshore gas reserves in Lebanese waters, the UK has sent its foreign secretary to meet with Lebanon’s prime minister, writes Nasser Chararah.
Palestinian children who were living in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp before fleeing Syria, hold up banners during a protest in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Beirut January 17, 2013. Banners read, "The International Committee of the Red Cross is the conscience of the international community towards refugees" (R) and "Why the international community miserly to some places, and generous in some others?".  REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: SOCIETY IMMIGRATION POLITI

Historically, the Lebanese have been more inclined toward francophone rather than anglophone culture. France colonized Lebanon in the early 1890s, and oversaw the planning of its big entity by appending its four districts to Mount Lebanon, which was called small Lebanon. This led to deep interaction among the new Phoenician generations living on the ancient bank of the Mediterranean Sea, which extends to its new bank — Europe, at the heart of which is Paris.

Beirut does not have an intimate relationship with London, as it does with Paris. But in the last few decades, the flowers of francophone culture began to wither in Lebanon. Anglophone culture established a rapidly growing presence at the expense of francophone culture. The reason is the rise of the US model of culture and lifestyle (not politics) in the Levant, rather than the British model.

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