Lebanon and the Long Reach of Syria’s Conflict : The New Yorker.
Actually the long reach of the Syria conflict will be felt in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia and beyond soon. As to what is happening now in Lebanon, well, it’s simply an extension of the selfsame conflict that the inaction of the Obama Administration has allowed to unfold – a conflict that will engulf the region and change her boundaries forever.
Ahmad Jarba: A Moment of Truth Looms for Syria – WSJ.com.
Jarba makes one lame point after another, and misses the chance to frame the debate in a manner that reminds people, not shyly but starkly, of what the Assads regime has been doing for close to three years now: perpetrating genocide and in the process encouraging the emergence of terrorist networks and threatening the stability of the region. He should have also reminded leaders of the international community, especially the U.S., Russia and Iran, of their negative impact on this process due to their passivity and/or duplicity. He should have been shaming and blaming even as he shows willingness to attend Geneva 2. Russians must love Jarba. He’s been “reasonable” and the negotiations haven’t even started. Who’s his media adviser? Whoever he is, he should be fired.
المرّ في الحياة أن لا عقاب لمعظم ما يرتكب من جرائم، ولا ثواب لمعظم الفِعال النابعة عن المحبّة والهادفة للخير. لذا يتخيّل الكثير منّا أنّ للحياة امتداد ما بعد الموت تتحقّق فيه العدالة، لكنّا، وليكون لحياتنا ووجودنا معنى وقيمة، بحاجة لتحقيق العدالة هاهنا والآن. إذ لا يمكن لسلام أن يتجلّى في أنفسنا ومجتمعاتنا طالما بقيت العدالة مؤجّلة. وفي الواقع، يمثّل تحقيق العدالة في الهنا والآن الحلم/الأمل/الهدف/المشروع الذي يستحق أن تتضافر كلّ الجهود من أجله. ولاينبغي على من يناضل صادقاً ومخلصاً من أجل تحقيق العدالة والسلام أن يشغل نفسه كثيراً بمسألة “ما بعد الموت” لأنّ نضاله يطهّره، وهو في آن جنّته وجحيمه، نقمته ونعيمه، ويكفيه أن يجد في الموت راحته المفقودة منذ الولادة.
The Case of the Keystone Cossacks – by Michael Weiss | Foreign Policy.
There is something poetic about seeing #Russia’s foreign policy being undermined, no matter how lightly at this stage, by Russian mercenaries. After all, #Putin’s policy towards #Syria has been purely thuggish, profiteering and vile since the outset of the Revolution. More importantly though, the whole thing has prophetic implications as well. In short, Putin’s is undermining Russia’s own security, the writing is on the wall in bold letters, and he simply cannot see it.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 