The moment you set foot outside the airplane doors, you hear shouting: “Mr. Hassan, Mrs. Khoury, Dr. Khalid ”! These are not the names of lucky bingo players on a Sunday afternoon, nor are they Oscar Award nominees or Nobel Prize Laureates. They are even better. They are the fortunate ones who can wield influence or “Wasta” as better known in the Middle East. The goal is to leave the airplane before the rest of the passengers, take a short cut through the side stairs, and end up at the carrousel to pick up the luggage whilst the rest of the lot is still lingering at passport control. This being a mild illustration of ‘Wasta’, which in extreme cases, could go as high as getting someone off the hook, literally! The system is a culmination of corruption, personal recognition, and access to decision-makers, that is indispensable for forging ahead in Virtual (not third or fourth) World Countries or the “VWCs”.

In VWCs the political elite governs through a simple matrix, where citizens (we would not bother calling them nationals) are viewed as mere clients. Well behaved and well-intended clients nonetheless, who pay taxes (almost regularly and almost in full), abide by the rules and kowtow to the principle of intermediation. This principle posits that the government -a loosely used terminology that defines all that is not directly owned by the politicians or their business cronies- has no direct connectivity to the people (or clients) and vice versa, except through the auspices of the political elite. Intermediation is necessary to vet those who seek or need the services of the State starting from employment, to licensing, to healthcare and education, to setting off excessive taxation, to bidding for public contracts or becoming a cadet at the military academy. Theoretically, all service and/or job seekers have equal and undeniable rights in the VWCs but said rights cannot be effectively enforced except via the mandatory interjection of the political elite. Otherwise, said rights could be unintentionally compromised, or unwillingly diminished or, in some unfortunate instances, accidentally lost. So why take the risk and press one’s rights? Why swim against a tsunami and not a simple tide? The easy path is to go to a provincial or regional or -better- a national figure in the political arena, physically genuflect, declare allegiance, and then beg for what is one’s right in the first place.  Nothing virtual about such countries, except the so-called undeniable, sacred rights of citizens that are routinely and uselessly asserted in every law, constitution or chart, be it in a VWC or in the world at large.

The pernicious consequences of such system of intermediation is more corrosive than meets the eye. It is already appalling to have to beg for one’s rightful access to basic services and opportunities. It is twice as scandalous that one can get such rights (and more) whether one is entitled to them (or not) through the very same intermediation system. In other words, one should not be shocked at ‘lobbying’ -to use a well-known terminology applicable in developed markets- albeit, at an excessive rate in VWCs. All multinationals or other interest groups pressure politicians from Capitol Hill to Brussels to ease certain rules, scrap certain tariffs, and look favorably on a sector, a segment or a particular company. However, such lobbying -irrespective of its moral underpinning- is legal. Meaning that the parties who are seeking a favorable treatment are entitled to it, or to a version thereof. That is not necessarily or even required, in the case of VWCs.

So, a young aspiring officer who fails every physical or mental test could still be considered for a position of command to defend the nation. A corrupt, inept engineering firm could still win a bid to rebuild most of the infrastructure of the State from telecom to airport safety and from port terminals to public parking spaces. A senile,