"“My plane was full of Lebanese flying home, and when it landed we all shouted ‘Beirut’ and clapped,”" How annoying. How annoying. This is why things Lebanonese start to irritate me as soon as I enter the MEA counter at whatever airport in Europe. At least they don't allow smoking anymore: so you don't have to watch them puffing on their cigars. Also, the reporter said: "But there is a corollary to this ritual of return: much of the middle class — including many of its best and brightest — no longer live in Lebanon." I hate this expression: "best and brightest"? How do you measure that? Does that refer to people with degrees and families they call "good"? And this classist notion is what terrifies Jumblat. He keeps lamenting that Lebanon will be left to the poor and "uncivilized." (thanks Mal.)