And in the republic, we've actually been dealing with the legacy of our sectarian state.
Quite simply, this is potentially the greatest danger to Lebanon's people – not to mention the sovereignty of its sectarian state – since the 1975-90 civil war.
We've reached a point, through blood and tears, where we know what's wrong with having a sectarian state with, for example, a state church headed in turn by Charles and William and George.
For most of their two millenniums, the popes were rulers of a large sectarian state, managers of a civil service, military strategists, occasionally battlefield generals, sometimes patrons of the arts and humanities, and, importantly, diplomats.
It says they portray a group with an organised military structure with a clear political strategy to set up a Sunni sectarian state – and one with several of the hallmarks of a corporate entity.
The Houthis deny that they have separatist ambitions, but their Yemeni opponents say they want to create a sectarian "state within a state", much as Hizbullah, the Shias' party-cum-militia, has in southern Lebanon.The Houthis have also clashed recently with northern followers of Salafism, a puritanical brand of Sunni Islam, and with supporters of Yemen's powerful Islamist Islah Party.
Mr Shafiq, who was speaking as protests continued in Cairo over the outcome of Mubarak's trial, said the Muslim Brotherhood aimed to create a "sectarian" state.
Bush's legacy was a corrupt, authoritarian, and sectarian state, friendly with Iran and Syria, Washington's prime adversaries in the Middle East.
The international community and the Israeli strategic establishment know that a sectarian state is incompatible with democracy, nor can a democratic state institutionalize discrimination against its citizens.
