I visited the Lebanon in 1997 and 2018 and I always loved its spirit. Judging its capital Beirut by conventional parameters, however, would not lead to great marks: Lots of war-torn buildings, rotten infrastructure, endless traffic jams and Hisbollah posters of bearded young men, obviously fallen in Syria and now branded as martyrs. In 2018 it was nothing short of a miracle that Christians, Sunnis and Shiites were living in at least a shaky peace – while the neighbourhood had sunk into chaos. A late Monday evening in a packed bar in Ashrafieh: Everybody drinks heavily and dances ecstatically on the tables. Nobody knows whether there will be a chance to dance tomorrow. I will follow the lead.