I have received two main objections to my Guardian piece: that I am letting Lebanese parties (including Hizbullah) off the hook; and that I am unfairly blaming international shipping which is a business that provides prosperity etc etc 1/

I absolutely think that the ultimate and final catalyst of the explosion is the incompetence and malfeasance of Lebanese parties. No question in my mind about that. But I was asked to write about the shipping angle. 2/

And I whole-heartedly believe that the Lebanese parties/authorities/bureaucracies/state institutions wouldn't be so utterly and absolutely venal and incompetent if their corruption and incompetence in EVERY arena weren't supported by international capital/regional powers. 3/

On everything from unequal capital flows to offshoring Lebanon's wealth, to lack of accountability (both domestic & external) on the ordinary business of government, both international capital and regional powers have had a hand. 4/

The system operates the way it does because despite internal dissent it has been allowed to operate that way because of external support - whether from a regional or global power, or from global capital. The latter is the point of the article. /fin