Notions

I was in a philosophy class back in 2003 when my professor warned me/gave me a public advice: “you better stop right now as you already got yourself into too much trouble”. He was referring to some comments I made – undiplomatic and not-so-eloquently-phrased – about the Great Arab Revolt in 1916. Probably influenced by a book I read about the Revolt and how some Arab forces joined hands with the British Empire to topple the Ottoman rule, I criticised the revolutionary forces, the Hijaz leadership and their putsch . Back in my idealistic days, I believed that loyalty must trump interest and that problems should be solved from within, not without. Now the professor feared for himself perhaps and decided to cut my ramblings short, considering that those leaderships I was criticizing (strictly in the 1916 context) were the same leadership ruling the country today (noting that later on I worked in fact in public institutions loyal to this leadership). In any case, I am sure my profess...

Marine Le pen’s interview with Euronews on December 1 st was – unfortunately – impressive. The notorious leader of the anti-EU Front Nationale, who never shies away from protecting the French identity and interests at any cost – is an important contender for the presidential elections set for 2014. Her stances on the international and regional spheres were clear, direct and confidant. Her over-confidence and conviction in what she stands for and how she will translate these convictions into policies pose a challenge to the consistence of France’s foreign policy. Incremental politics? No cheri. Le Pen said in her interview that she admires Putin’s “cool head”. She acknowledged that there is a cold war being waged against him by the EU at the behest of United States, defending the rights of Crimean citizens to take back the 1954 gift and return it to its natural owners and condemning the ousting of Viktor Yanukovich and the illegitimate government that came after the putsch . In...

New rounds of talks took place between Iran and the United Nations Security Council’s Permanent five members (USA, Russia, France, UK and China) and Germany in Oman in November. The meeting set a November 24 th deadline to reach an agreement with Iran and its nuclear program, where in exchange of lifting economic sanctions, Iran must draw back on its nuclear activities. The deadline was not met, and no one cared really. Before going into that, a brief historic review of Iran and nuclear aspirations will be presented first. Iran, under the Shah regime, was a western ally. Israel and Iran in fact were buddies. The nuclear program (for civilian purposes) started back then in the fifties and sixties and Israel even offered to help Iran out – an offer snubbed for some reason by Tehran. International cooperation was also offered to Iran, and things went smoothly and peacefully. The Islamic Revolution in 1979 changed everything however, and Iran was no longer the region’s watchdog. T...

The Arab Spring swept the Arab world and its regimes by surprise in 2011 when a Tunisian activist inspired millions of Arabs to rise against dictators and authoritarian regimes. Many countries in North Africa and the Middle East took their lead from the Tunisian popular revolt, and soon Egypt, Libya and Syria witnessed mass demonstrations demanding change, whilst other countries witnessed softer forms of manifestations that called on reforms and democratization. Unfortunately, and after three years of the initiation of the Arab Spring, only Tunisia found itself stable, quasi-democratic and on the path of reform. Things did not turn out the same in other countries, and the process of regime change and democratization has failed. Challenges facing each country vary, and conditions on the ground do play a role in hindering any assistance offered by the international community to assist countries in reforming and opening up to democracy. Three examples will be offered in this context, ...

The financial crisis. A dark gloomy cloud lingering in the skies of Europe since 2008, obstructing any filtration of sunrays to lighten up the dark patches of impoverished lands and lives in this super mega power. Desperate measures have been followed in most affected countries, and when those did not work, people turned on one another and separatist movements emerged, demanding independence from the whole to achieve economic salvation for the part. Others decided to expand and annex territories with historic ties, and others decided to re-examine economics 101 and EU 101. In all cases, innovative steps and plans saw light after the crisis, and so did the rhetoric of political movements and parties. Not only has the crisis impacted parties, their programs and their discourse, but it has also led to a certain radicalization of ideologies that have dug so deep into the belief-base of some societies in a very short period of time and has been feeding citizens hopes and convictions e...

The Syrian civil war – or proxy war – has been ongoing for far too long now. Three years of infighting, hatred, massacres, radicalism, vengeance, political schemes, betrayal, diplomacy and deals. Fear and sadness drove people out of their homes and left them at the mercy of the international community and good doers to house them and give them a refuge from all the ugliness that is happening in Syria. Those financially comfortable found a place in Europe; those desperate and cunning smuggled their way into Europe as well; and those with less financial means sought neighbouring countries. In arms wide open some countries took Syrian refugees in and gave them a temporary residence until things clear up and calm down back home. Jordan, and Jordanians, are one of those countries and people that stretched out a helping hand to fellow Syrians. Jordan – as in government- and Jordanians- the people- are housing one and a half million Syrians today. Government and citizens are playing...

      Spain’s Constitutional Court killed the Catalan dream, or perhaps let it lay in a coma for some time. The Court decided blocking the independent vote planned by Catalonia’s regional government, leaving the Catalan leaders no choice but suspending the November 9 th independence referendum. The Court argued that the 1978 constitution requires a majority of Spaniards to be consulted on any issue of sovereignty; since they were not, then the vote is simply unconstitutional. However, the regional government will not shy away from challenging the Court’s decision as it plans to appeal it. After all, the region's 5.4 million voters have been taken by the romanticized dream of independence from a lazy, impoverished and corrupt south – and west. What recently happened in Scotland was not a bad omen to the region’s enthusiastic separatists; over-confidence, pride, strong belief in the cause or sheer cussedness may explain the region’s will to fight for the referend...

    The overarching pretext for the 2003 war on Iraq was discovered a sham one year later. In 2004, David Kay, the former UN weapons inspector and Chief of the Iraq Survey Group in Baghdad resigned and announced that he didn’t think former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had possessed any stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons. Former Secretary of State Collin Powell told the Washington Post that he too was having second thoughts about the war based on Kay’s testimony and although he retracted his remarks one day later, the bombshell he dropped caused enough damage. “For many Americans, such candour from inside the intelligence established was both illuminating and devastating. It didn’t matter that the Survey Group had reaffirmed Saddam’s capacity to reconstitute his illicit weapons program, or that he had been developing ballistic missile systems that might deliver new weapons in the future, it didn’t matter that Saddam had killed or scarred tens of thousands of K...

        A Jordanian friend of mine, who happens to be living in the Middle Eastern business hub – UAE, made this comment yesterday as we were speaking over the phone: “In Amman, street harassment is becoming more and more common….the comments slapped on women walking down the street are just degrading and infuriating. I had to ask my wife to cover up to avoid problems on our vacation”. Now this issue hits a sensitive cord, especially since extremism in neighbouring countries – almost always being first manifested by attacking/controlling and objectifying women – is a phenomenon that may be contagious. This testosteronian craze taking place in regional countries is not only shameful, but also alarming. Egypt topped the ranking of the worst countries for women's rights in the Arab world, attributed to escalating sexual harassment. Salafism in Saudi Arabia is still prevalent and despite efforts to suppress features of womanhood under loose baggy dark garments, wo...

                The recent avalanche of studies, analysis, opinions, historic exploration, clarification missions and social media frenzy about the ever-so-popular and polemical topic of the Middle East all come against the backdrop of a brutal and senseless act of vengeance in the Gaza strip that is draped with a military façade of Israeli self-defence. The Arab world enunciated a Facebook war on the Israeli aggression and countless videos have been posted, shared and commented on by sympathizers. Newspapers, columnists, professors, journalists, scholars, bloggers and activists all had their share in the action. They all buttressed the same cause, that of saving innocent lives, but employed different angles to approach the issue. Some craftily penned their analysis of the situation only to reconfirm the status quo and the reasons behind this stalemate; others had better intentions at heart and tried to come up with explications t...

            The leader of the notorious Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has finally achieved the minimum requirements to establish his state: occupied areas in Iraq and Syria, controlled check points at regional borders, thousands of followers from salafists worldwide, access to oil and resources, decent weaponry confiscated from Americans and promised state/personal funding (controversial is the source). That is why the group’s leader’s announcement of his appointment as the khalifa of all Muslims, after having established/revived the Khilafa in the Levant, crowned the triumphant trajectory of the ISIS throughout the past year or so (as a fully independent group).        The establishment of an Islamic State, led by the new Khalifa Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, and the call for immigration to the new State should be very worrying as the idea does appeal to many. The foundations of a state are present: land, check; resources, check;...