Category: Facebook & Twitter

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.

Syria’s Assad: Still the wrong choice

Syria’s Assad: Still the wrong choice – latimes.com.

It’s absolutely shameful that we still have to make this argument, that Assad is the wrong choice, even now, even after so much death and mayhem. How can a genocidal maniac ever be the right choice? Look no further than Ambassador Ryan Crocker who keeps making this argument to his dying shame. People like him whose voices were silent when Assad started his genocide now speak loud and clear, their realism offers nothing by way of preventing genocide but is good at accommodating a fait accomplit. People like him are not just the Devil’s advocates, they are his enablers, for all their good intentions.

The end of human rights

The end of human rights – The Washington Post.

Indeed, the psychological contract that has evolved at some point in regard to human rights and the necessity of moving continuously forward on this matter has collapsed. We are moving into a very dark epoch in our collective history, and judging by the caliber of available leaders around the world, it’s bound to be a long one.

Power Vacuum in Middle East Lifts Militants

Power Vacuum in Middle East Lifts Militants – NYTimes.com.

“It’s not in America’s interests to have troops in the middle of every conflict in the Middle East, or to be permanently involved in open-ended wars in the Middle East,” Benjamin J. Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, said in an email on Saturday……

Comment: Tell Obama, not to worry too much, Ben, the holy warriors will soon bring their battle to your living-rooms, and not via TV. These things just have a nasty habit of festering, and you’re already knee-deep in this, no matter what you say or think. It’s all part of the open-endedness of our political geography these days.

We are in danger of repeating the mistakes that started WWI

Is it 1914 all over again? We are in danger of repeating the mistakes that started WWI, says a leading historian – World Politics – World – The Independent.

Those who study history often reach different conclusions, and that’s why humanity is condemned to repeating it. In a sense, then, we really learn nothing from history except how to repeat it, albeit in a more nuanced and intricate fashion.