Selections of Status Updates, Notes, Comments and Tweets made since 2009, a year which coincided with the gradual discovery by Arab and Middle Eastern activists of the potential of Facebook and Twitter as tools for social and political activism.
The fact that there are forces using sectarian sentiments in our societies to fuel a proxy war meant to serve certain interests of theirs does not mean that sectarianism is an external invention. In fact, insisting that sectarianism is a foreign invention will prevent us from dealing with it effectively, and will only serve to perpetrate it, thus, giving external dabblers powers a permanent tool which they can use to their advantage in times of crisis.
Ford: I couldn’t defend U.S. Syria policy.
Finally, Ambassador Ford can say what he has probably been itching to say for many long months. The Obama Administration’s Syria policy is indefensible. It has served to empower Assad, Al-Qaeda, Iran and Russia, and, in the process, it rolled the clock back to Cold War times. Who gives a damn about killing Bin Ladin long after he had become an irrelevant figure, and at a time when the Administration’s foreign policies, and non-policies, and its reliance on drone attacks as its sole instrument for fighting terrorism, have served to give Al-Qaeda new havens in Syria and Yemen, among other places, as well as a new set of leaders, and has actually managed, despite the ideological divide between them, to foster an emerging and strong cooperation between Al-Qaeda affiliated groups and the regimes in Iran and Syria. Yet, according to President Barack Obama, we should somehow see wisdom, and even victory, in all these developments. Meanwhile, human rights activists like me are now castigated as warmongers because we demand that genocidal maniacs be stopped, and for Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and other terrorist entities and groups be seriously fought, not just pricked.
Rebecca Hamilton | Samantha Power in Practice | Foreign Affairs.
Try as you may and must, you still cannot sugarcoat betrayal and hypocrisy. Samantha Powers agreed to join the ranks of an administration that was clearly dead-set on betraying the very ideals which she preached, and she did so with her eyes wide open. Now she and her her supporters are trying to find ways to distance her from the mess. But not even a trip to the Moon will put enough distance at the stage. She might still remain politically viable, (after all if Assad can why can’t she?), but in the realm of ideals she advocated, chalk her as a hypocrite, with little possibility for self-redemption, if any.
Zarif Messages to the US on Syria in Munich « LobeLog.com.
Farideh Farhi says: “If Iran is influential in sustaining the Assad regime, then turning it into a stakeholder in the political process makes eminent sense — but not behind closed doors or on a seat in the back of the room.” … In other words, supporting genocide earns a seat in the front rows and full light of day. Why not? It worked for Russia. The message to all in the world is this: the willingness to perpetrate heinous crimes and mass murders against your own people is the key to making yourself politically relevant and will get you international legitimacy, recognition and often even respect. This is the foundation of the New World Order, which makes it no different than the Old Order. Humanity has taken a major leap backwards, and has thus earned the shame and pains of the chaos and turmoil that lies ahead.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 