It is difficult at this stage to determine the identity of the masterminds exploiting the current turmoil in the Middle East in a satisfactory manner, because the processes involved are not transparent and there are too many contradictory conspiracy theories out there to help make sense of anything, including ones that assert that the entire development called the Arab Spring is actually a phenomenon engineered by the “masterminds.”
By Ammar Abdulhamid for The Daily Star
The United States is a superpower but hardly a superhuman entity. It has never been that super, as all of us can attest.
For people who have long been obsessed with observing America’s every action, reaction and inaction, there has never been a shortage of criticism. But unless one is wearing an ideological blindfold, modern history clearly shows that the United States is one of the few countries that has tried to impose international order and where people’s rights and government accountability have been taken seriously. True, the United States itself has often done much to undermine the very system it was trying to impose, but the fact remains that no other country has tried to adopt a global perspective in the way America has.
It is hard to believe when one reads some of the op-eds and articles that have been written about him in the 24 hours following his passing that beyond the façades of decency, kindness and intelligence that Dr. Fouad Ajami always projected lay an actually decent, kind and intelligent man. For, unfortunately, the truth can often be hidden under a ton of ideological nonsense.
What a loss. I was just in touch with Fouad through his assistant, Megan, a couple of days ago. I had sent him a copy of my upcoming book, The Irreverent Activist, for review, and he had written a wonderful testimonial. I was reaching out to thank him. I cannot believe that one of the last things that this great man did in his life was to give me a push forward, just as he had done more than two decades ago through his honest and thought-provoking writings. Thank you very much Fouad, I will carry as much of your flame as I can throughout what is left of my own haphazard existence on this earth. But no one can fill the void you leave behind.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 