Breaking the Stalemate!

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

The various “color” and “flower” revolutions that have been taken place around the globe recently, in places like Georgia, the Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, seems to be intricately connected to the workings of various American international NGOs. Moreover, the activities of these NGOs seem to reflect in many ways certain shifts in the US foreign policy and interests, and, in turn, the success or failure of the various revolutions seems to reflect these shifts as well. This is why the political convulsions of Uzbekistan (May 2005) and Azerbaijan (November 2005), for instance, did not result in such revolutions. Continue reading “Breaking the Stalemate!” →

Copts, Women & Beer

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

In a conference on civil dialogue that took place a few years ago, participants discussed the possibility of conducting a serious dialogue between Islamists and secularists. I remember that, at the time and in response to an Egyptian colleague who advocated dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood in his country, we coined the term “Copts, Women and Beer” to reefer to three main issues that one needs to deal with, which are: diversity issues, gender issues and privacy issue. Continue reading “Copts, Women & Beer” →

The Falafel Republic!

This is indeed how many Syrians refer to the country as least when viewed from the perspective of the great majority of the people who cannot afford to eat anything but Falafel these days, thanks to 40 years of Baath rule and corruption.

But, and according to a recent article published in the Arabic news site Elaph, the Falafelites, despite the Khaddam offensive, are still holding hope that President Bashar will finally begin to crackdown on corruption and take serious steps to improve their living standards, transforming the state back into the Shawerma, Kufta & Kebab Republic. Continue reading “The Falafel Republic!” →

The Real Heresy that is Freedom!

If Khaddam can bring enough pressure on the Assad regime to break it, this will not constitute a move towards democracy in itself. But such a development will have broken the status quo, the stalemate that has been plaguing us for years. A popular uprising against Khaddam and his new government might easier to organize in such conditions, considering that his claim to legitimacy will be even less than that of Bashar. Continue reading →