{"id":29191,"date":"2025-05-09T15:21:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T13:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/?p=29191"},"modified":"2025-05-09T15:21:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T13:21:28","slug":"the-perfect-illustration-of-the-human-comedy-of-the-human-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/iran-2\/the-perfect-illustration-of-the-human-comedy-of-the-human-tragedy","title":{"rendered":"The perfect illustration of the human comedy. Of the human tragedy."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In September 1975, a 12-year-old boy accompanies a Saudi prince\u2014destined to become the King of Saudi Arabia\u2014to Mecca, a place forbidden to non-Muslims. “After all these years, I\u2019m still moved by what I saw there in terms of devotion and what I experienced in terms of human solidarity<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

This spiritual moment contrasts sharply with the chaos of the Lebanese civil war, which had broken out just a few months earlier. How did a boy born into a Franco-Lebanese Christian family find himself at the heart of Islam\u2019s most sacred site?<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t fully grasp the stark contrast faced by this very young activist of the Guardians of the Cedars (a radical Christian militia), who had gone on pilgrimage to Mecca just months earlier<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

This duality\u2014faith and violence\u2014runs through my story, offering an intimate perspective on a Middle East where identities collide. “This complexity I lived through\u2014of Lebanese Maronites harboring eternal hatred toward Palestinians, of Sunnis who despise their Shiite brothers, of Lebanese Muslims convinced that the Palestinian cause is also their own<\/em>\u2026”<\/p>\n

In 1978, at age 15, I met Ayatollah Khomeini in Neauphle-le-Ch\u00e2teau, and later accompanied him on his triumphant return to Tehran in 1979. “Khomeini, to me, is the most emblematic figure of the 20th century. He revealed this to me in his own way\u2014even though all of his actions, starting in 1979, seem to suggest otherwise<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

What remains of the revolutionary hope embodied by Khomeini, seen through the eyes of a teenager? Why was this young man, barely out of childhood, a witness to such a decisive moment? “How I wish the world\u2014especially today\u2019s Iran\u2014could take interest in the other version of him that he once revealed to me<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A reader\u2019s testimony:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I closed the book in the middle of the night.<\/span>
\nThere is something chilling in this account that echoes the narrative thread of my own life up to 2025, and that of so many Lebanese, Iranians, Israelis, Palestinians, and others.<\/span>
\nWhat is the secret behind the events that punctuate this life we either suffer through painfully or live through joyfully?<\/span>
\nA Levantine Youth is the perfect illustration of the human comedy. Of the human tragedy. One that endures.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Buy it:<\/u><\/h2>\n

France:\u00a0FNAC<\/a><\/p>\n

Switzerland:\u00a0PAYOT<\/a><\/p>\n

Lebanon:\u00a0ANTOINE<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada:\u00a0Les Libraires<\/a><\/p>\n

AMAZON<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In September 1975, a 12-year-old boy accompanies a Saudi prince\u2014destined to become the King of Saudi Arabia\u2014to Mecca, a place forbidden to non-Muslims. “After all these years, I\u2019m still moved by what I saw there in terms of devotion and what I experienced in terms of human solidarity.” This spiritual moment contrasts sharply with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":29199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[648942631,648941288],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran-2","category-saudi-arabia"],"yoast_head":"\nThe perfect illustration of the human comedy. 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The offering of this giant on the stock market was in fact the cornerstone of the Prince's politics,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Saudi Arabia"","block_context":{"text":"Saudi Arabia","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/saudi-arabia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Saudi_Arabia.png?fit=553%2C553&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Saudi_Arabia.png?fit=553%2C553&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Saudi_Arabia.png?fit=553%2C553&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29067,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/oil\/saudi-arabia-is-rising-for-good","url_meta":{"origin":29191,"position":3},"title":"Saudi Arabia is rising for good","author":"Michel Santi","date":"April 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Saudi Arabia is pumping less oil and embarking on massive spending (cities of the future, major sporting events). The most important statistic to watch is its balance of payments, which\u2014as you can see from this chart\u2014turns negative in 2024. From being a lender to the world, it has become a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil"","block_context":{"text":"Oil","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/oil"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SA.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SA.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SA.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SA.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SA.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13794,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/saudi-arabia\/the-saudi-blockade-a-blessing-for-qatar","url_meta":{"origin":29191,"position":4},"title":"The Saudi blockade: a blessing for Qatar?","author":"Michel Santi","date":"March 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Qatar is an island. At least, it has become one, but not without gradually forging new alliances and trade routes that will influence the balances in the Middle East in the long term. This is how, more than nine months after feeling the wrath of Saudi Arabia, Qatar has now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Saudi Arabia"","block_context":{"text":"Saudi Arabia","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/saudi-arabia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Qatar.jpg?fit=1200%2C473&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Qatar.jpg?fit=1200%2C473&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Qatar.jpg?fit=1200%2C473&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Qatar.jpg?fit=1200%2C473&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Qatar.jpg?fit=1200%2C473&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13733,"url":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/saudi-arabia\/the-moment-of-truth-for-saudi-arabia-and-petrodollars","url_meta":{"origin":29191,"position":5},"title":"The moment of truth for Saudi Arabia and petrodollars","author":"Michel Santi","date":"March 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"At the end of the Second World War, the enormous reserves of American gold - the largest in the world at the time - allowed this metal to construct a new world order centred around the dollar. The Bretton Woods Conference held in 1944 formalised the consecration of the greenback,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil"","block_context":{"text":"Oil","link":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/category\/oil"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michelsanti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ibn_saoud.jpg?fit=377%2C437&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29205,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29191\/revisions\/29205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michelsanti.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}