Everybody loves Al-Qaeda – Part Two

Read Part One here.

Through their reactive kneejerk policies over the last few years, policies that conform both to their inherent nature and parochial interests, Russia, Iran, the Assad regime, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and all other Middle Eastern regimes managed to create a situation in Syria where the United States had no choice but to intervene to midwife a process that will eventually secure the interests of most of these regimes, most of which will survive the current mayhem with little or no change.

Fighters of al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant parade at Syrian town of Tel Abyad
An ISIS parade in the Syrian town of Tal-Abyad

Continue reading “Everybody loves Al-Qaeda – Part Two”

The Irreverent Activist – Unleashed

Book-signing to take place in the DC Arts Center (2438 18th St, Washington, DC 20009) on August 27 at 7:30 pm (map). RSVPs required as seating is limited. RSVPs should be sent to:  info@freeworldprod.com.

After some delay, my book, “The Irreverent Activist,” is now out on Amazon as well as on the CreateSpace eStore. CreateSpace is a publishing company operated by Amazon.

Continue reading “The Irreverent Activist – Unleashed”

A Genocide Hidden In Plain Sight

By reporting on a civil war, a sectarian war, and a proxy war, by focusing on the extremist groups taking advantage of the breakdown of the state and international indifference while ignoring the links between the Assad regime and these groups, by focusing on the concerns of minority communities in the country and the removal of chemical weapons, and by providing continuous coverage of a political process in Geneva that is unlikely to produce serious results, the reality of what is taking place in Syria, namely the genocide that is being perpetrated against the majority Sunni Arab population is being hidden in plain sight: the war is visible, the genocide is not. The very word is seldom used even as stories of concentration camps and starvation campaigns break out.

Continue reading “A Genocide Hidden In Plain Sight”

Has the Arab Spring Lived Up to Expectations?

Contribution to “Has the Arab Spring Lived Up to Expectations?” published by the Woodrow Wilson Center.

For those who expected a fast and smooth transition to liberal democratic norms, the Arab Spring has certainly failed to deliver. But for those who simply wanted to push their countries into taking one important and necessary step in the right direction by breaking the prevailing political stalemate in their societies, then, the Arab Spring has definitely lived up to expectations. Continue reading “Has the Arab Spring Lived Up to Expectations?”