Comment 1: That’s how Middle Eastern dictators love their American presidents: weak, clueless and irrelevant. Furthermore, and the Cairo Speech which appeased the regional officialdom notwithstanding, Obama’s “street creds” in the region have always been low due to his abandonment of the Freedom Agenda. The rhetoric of the Bush Administration might have offended the sensibilities of our peoples at times, but they did love it when their rulers squirmed. Obama’s policies, on the other hand, have painted too many smiles of contentment and ridicule on the faces of our autocrats. The meek are not always blessed. Continue reading “Unblessed Stand the Meek!”
Month: June 2010
Clash of Affirmations!
Comment 1: If you want to build something then what you affirm counts more than what you reject, and the more specific your project is, the more viable it could be.
Comment 2: Global power alignments in absence of credible global leaders and in the midst of rising and clashing populisms and a nuclear arms-race is no ground for optimism and does not augur well for the immediate future.
Development and Authoritarianism
Comment 1: Countries like South Africa, India, Malaysia and Indonesia that invest in education, technology and development can overcome much of their internal problems and shortcomings and emerge as real world powers in relatively short span of time. Meanwhile Arab countries focus on resistance ideology, importing technology and repelling indigenous talent. Authoritarianism is our plague. Continue reading “Development and Authoritarianism”
Of Guilt and Hypocrisy!
Comment 1: Even decorum can be approached with ideological passion, and that the desire to remain above the fray, to remain pure, can often be quite hypocritical. For change cannot be wrought out from High Heaven, that’s why “gods” always had interlocutors on the ground and why they often descended there themselves. Change can only be wrought out from within the fray, at the risk of ending up with a guilty conscience. Continue reading “Of Guilt and Hypocrisy!”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 