The Necessity of Leadership!

What is it that moves a people to action? What is that inspires them? That rejuvenates them? That gives them hope? That motivates them? That gets them off their asses and into the streets, regardless of the dangers they are about to face?

It can’t be desperation, for how can desperation ever inspire hope? Albeit you can despair of something/someone and decide to simply latch your hopes on something/someone else. Continue reading “The Necessity of Leadership!” →

A Heretical Eschatology!

As the clock ticks away and we slowly but surely approach the date of December 15, on which Detlev Mehlis is scheduled to give his final report, final for him as the chief investigator, or final in the sense of the investigation itself, or both, ideological and sentimental interpretations of what it is likely to happen, of what it is actually involved, and of what could the potential outcome of it will likely be, will predominate, nullifying any attempt at making sense of anything really, at this stage.

Continue reading “A Heretical Eschatology!” →

Keeling over, with Some Dignity!

Keeling over is indeed the more accurate way for reading Bashar’s recent decision to cooperate with the UN probe into the Hariri assassination. The attempts by the regime’s henchmen, and some increasingly foolish observers, at trying to give this matter some positive spin are simply ludicrous. Far from being a success for Syrian diplomacy and brinksmanship, the decision reflects the helplessness of the Syrian regime and the increasing desperation of its leaders. Continue reading →

A new Iraq is forming in Syria

Special to The Daily Star

Although Syria has for long been hailed as one of the Arab world’s most secular countries and the heart of Arab nationalism, its religious and ethnic diversity has always been more complex than this image suggests. The northeastern parts of Syria are inhabited mostly by Kurds and Assyrians, while the society’s allegedly secular character has reflected, in reality, an informal though complex arrangement between the various religious groups in the country. In recent decades, the arrangement has involved, in particular, the majority Sunni population and the Alawite minority.

Continue reading “A new Iraq is forming in Syria” →