Notions

      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;...

    The   Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a   Jihadist   militant group established in the early years of the   Iraq War   and pledged allegiance to   al-Qaeda   in 2004. The group, which launched a war against the regime in Iraq, the western forces, liberal leaders, Shiites, Christians, Jews, non-believers, capitalists…. in short a war against everyone has been gaining ground in both Iraq and Syria. Ironically, the Group’s initials coincide with the Egyptian goddess Isis who symbolized nature and magic and befriended slaves ,   sinners and the downtrodden.     In April 2013 ISIS expanded its operations to include Syria, where nearly 6000 of its fighters are in Iraq and 5000 are in Syria. Its strict moral code has led to the killing of thousands and the crucifixion of dozens; its atrocities are out of the scope of this article and in all cases their posted videos suffice.  The Group captured Mosul, most...

يشكل القرن السابع عشر أهمية بالغة في التاريخ الغربي حيث ظهرت في هذا الوقت الملامح الرئيسية للدولة الغربية الحديثة. كانت الخطوة الأولى تدمير المفهوم التقليدي للمجتمع (من معالمه التوحيد الديني المسيحي) بعد سلسلة من الحروب الدينية بين الدول الأوروبية، بلغت ذروتها في حرب الثلاثين عاما و المعاهدة بين الدول الأوروبية بعدم العودة إلى الحرب لأسباب دينية . خلال هذه الحروب، اعترف مختلف المفكرين أن الناس في حاجة الى سلطة لتنظيم مجتمعاتهم دون الاكتفاء بسلطة دينية مشتركة. ونتيجة لذلك، تم تأكيد على سيادة الشعب، وبدأ حكم القانون والحكم الدستوري يرى النور . في سياق ما كان يحدث في القرن السابع عشر، مثل توماس هوبز الفكر الجديد حول السيادة. كتابه The Leviathan روّج فكرة وضع حد للطائفة المسيحية التقليدية كأساس للحياة السياسية والاجتماعية، وإدخال المجتمع الجديد، أكثر عقلانية على أساس اتفاق بين المواطنين. الهدف الأمثل هو تحقيق السلام بين المواطنين وترسيخ الأمن الداخلي والخارجي. هوبز يضع مسألة طاعة السلطة كموضوع رئيسي من النظرية السياسية حول السيادة، حيث   ممثل السيادة لديه الحقوق الت...