The shocking thing about the latest legal maneuverings in Lebanon is how blatant they were in their illegality and partisanship; no one any longer even hides their attempts to subvert the rule of law.

Lebanon last week joined an exclusive club of countries — the others being Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, South Sudan and Venezuela — who lost their UN voting rights for being at least two years in arrears with their contributions.

Women have made huge global strides in securing greater rights, respect and opportunities, despite theocrats in states such as Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iraq doing their utmost to reverse this arrow of history.

An attempted coup in Germany? Last week, we were stunned to hear news reports of more than 130 raids conducted by 3,000 police and special forces across 11 German states. Among those rounded up were a former MP, a prince, a lawyer, a pilot and a celebrity chef.

During last week’s Manama Dialogue, I was struck by some unusually strident statements from Western officials regarding the geopolitical threat emanating from Iran.

As a symptom of how detested Iran’s mullahs have become, “turban tossing” is a viral trend. Videos showing people creeping up behind clerics and knocking off or stealing their turbans and running away have been viewed millions of times.