Kleptocracy is a government whose corrupt leaders use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misusing  government funds at the expense of the wider population.

Kleptocrats are rulers who implement highly inefficient economic policies, expropriate the wealth of citizens, and use the proceeds for their own glorification or consumption.

Lebanon is a classic case of kleptocratic government – corruption in Lebanon takes the form of the political elite. Corruption in Lebanon has old roots …

The Palace of my Beloved

I will build for you each night
A palace luminous
With whole blocks of emerald
And diamond stones.
Shall it be skyblue as your eyes,
Or green as your wishes:
Be, and the palace too shall be.

Said Akl is a Lebanese poet