Sunday, December 20, 2015
أبو خليل، الأسد، ومزايدات اليسار على اليسار
Monday, September 28, 2015
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817)
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
صناعة الأشرار في صحافة الغرب الحرّة
Monday, July 13, 2015
الجمهورية العلمانيّة السوريّة
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Authoritarianism, Strongmen, and Dictators
Not everyone was happy about deposing Hosni Mubarak, certainly not US Vice President Joe Biden, who was ridiculed by many—myself included—when he opined that “Mubarak is not a dictator.” To be sure, the US had invested in and propped up the Egyptian president for three decades, and Mr. Biden's anxiety was shared by many policymakers regardless of their true opinion about the nature of Mr. Mubarak's administration.
But was Mr. Biden wrong after all? That Egypt was—and still is—not a democracy is a no-brainer, but does that necessarily mean that its ruler was a “dictator,” a most abhorrent appellation in today's climate of political correctness? Here we have to resort to the tried-and-true wealth of the English language, an infinitely valuable asset to clarify all ambiguity and dispel every doubt.
The year was 1986, well before digital technology had become ubiquitous. And I, full of curiosity, decided to tap into the Time Magazine archives, neatly bound and available from its first issue in 1923, free of charge to all visitors to Syracuse University's library in Upstate New York. How I wish Syria had comparable facilities with the resources to store its old literary heritage, but I digress...
Naturally, what interested me the most in that venerable publication was just about any mention of the Near East in general and Syria in particular. I was not to be frustrated, though, of course—and in retrospect, luckily for Syria—the Near East has not always been the focus of international media, and the articles that I had sought were therefore few and far between.
Back to the issue under consideration. The world according to the Time Magazine of the 1960s and prior was not as full of dictators as it now is, sadly and ominously the case; that infamous epithet was reserved for super-villains such as Hitler (never mind that he was named Time Magazine's “Man of the Year” in 1938), Mussolini, or Stalin (affectionately referred to by F.D. Roosevelt as “Uncle Joe,” but that's another story). The Arab world—as far as I could tell—had no dictators back then, not in today's traditional and acknowledged sense in any case.
But authoritarianism did exist, and there surely were despots all over the Arab world back then as now; they just were called differently. For you see, Colonel Adib Shishakly, who dominated Syrian politics in the early 1950s, was a “strongman,” as were Colonel Salah Jadid in the late 1960s and President Saddam Hussein right until August 1990. Needless to say, authoritarian rulers do not necessarily have to be divided into strongmen or dictators; we also have monarchs, all sorts of them: kings, sheikhs, sultans, shahs...but somehow most—if not all—of them are tacitly treated as legitimate and “constitutional.” The implications are obvious: it is despicable when a “dictator” passes his seat to his son; that would be blatant usurpation, but it is perfectly natural and acceptable for a “legitimate” monarch to pass his throne to his son and heir. If he happens in the process to disinherit his brother and—for decades—heir apparent while agonizing, so be it! This is exactly what King Hussein of Jordan did on his deathbed back in 1999, and no one batted an eye.
By now it should be axiomatic that “dictators” are bad. They are corrupt; they kill their own people; they harbor ominous designs on peaceful democracies and their equally peaceful monarchical neighbors, not to mention their support of international terrorism. But what about strongmen? Are they good or bad? Don't they have the same authority as the dictators? Had they not acquired the ultimate power through similar means? Well, not necessarily…
For strongmen fulfill an extremely important task, one that is essential for the nation's peace, prosperity, and even its very survival: they keep law and order. They also form—along with their royal brethren—part and parcel of the “international community” and identify their interests with those of the “civilized world.” They are also legitimate: they hold elections (in reality referendums, but who cares?), allow parliamentary debates, participate in international organizations, open their countries to benevolent foreign investors, invest the nation's wealth in purchasing the latest military technology (to defend their countries against evil dictators, of course), and accept military assistance from disinterested foreign powers. Strongmen do not commit aggression, God forbid! They merely safeguard their homeland, as President Saddam Hussein did when he protected the “Eastern Gate of the Arab Nation” from 1980 to 1988. Only dictators attack their neighbors, as the very same Saddam Hussein—oops!—did when he invaded the little democracy that was Kuwait in 1990.
So there exist two sorts of authoritarian rulers: the first is bad by the mutual consensus of the entire humanity, and that is the dictator. The second type is what an ignorant person might call a “good dictator,” but in reality that would be an insult to the gentle and caring strongman, whose heart belongs to his people and who spares neither effort nor sacrifice to promote their welfare. Evidently what applies to strongmen is just as valid in the case of monarchs; we all know that the King of Saudi Arabia—a paragon of compassion and benevolence—has a consultative assembly, to give but one example.
Dictator is bad, a strongman is better, and an Oriental monarch is best. Not all despots are alike, not by a long shot. The same analysis could be used to study the disparities between “regimes” and “governments” or “administrations.” We all know that regimes are bad and governments are good, but still, one cannot overemphasize such a glaring difference, and we can always use friendly reminders.
I look forward to the day when academics and pundits give this important debate the interest it so desperately needs and make their conclusions public for the benefit of mankind.
Monday, July 6, 2015
تسويق الأدوية وتسويق الحروب
Friday, June 26, 2015
An American Spring
For millions of people, it is a time of hope and relief; it also is a time of anxiety and uncertainty. The country is in turmoil brought about by a combination of disillusionment abroad and financial crisis at home. The American people appear to have decisively repudiated costly foreign military adventures overseas, while at home, panic struck Wall Street, reeling under one financial scandal after another courtesy of a combination of reckless speculation, greed, and outright fraud. Unemployment has skyrocketed, homeowners have defaulted on their mortgage payments, the stock market has taken a nosedive, and the banking system has all but declared bankruptcy.
Along comes a new US president, fresh from a convincing victory in a highly emotional electoral campaign. He would recall the US troops from the treacherous Middle East, spare no effort to rescue Main Street, and see to it that the days of shady business transactions on Wall Street are gone forever. POTUS is an outstanding orator; he inspires the masses as befits a true leader. In no time he would deliver an eloquent speech in Cairo calling for a new beginning and reaching out to a suspicious and understandably hostile Muslim world. So high are the expectations this young and handsome leader arouses that he would soon receive the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, therefore joining distinguished predecessors such as Dr. Kissinger, President Sadat, Prime Minister Begin of Israel, and PLO Chairman Arafat, among others.
The dust of euphoria has eventually settled, however, and some more controversial moves by the president start to raise at least a few eyebrows. One of his first initiatives was to bail out Wall Street with hundreds of billions of dollars, those very same banks and insurance companies that brought about the financial ordeal to start with. Justification? They're “too big to fail”. He, of course, tries to help homeowners and the unemployed, but his efforts in this regard are quite timid and hesitant. Even his much-flaunted Affordable Health Care appears way too cumbersome and virtually perpetuates the reign of the health insurers and the medical-pharmaceutical complex. Still more worrisome, the interracial divide appears to tenaciously live on, the incarceration rate is alarmingly high, allegations of police brutality are all over the media, and the immigration mess—legal and illegal—is as intractable as ever... Add to all that violence, inner-city poverty, the crumbling infrastructure, the collapsing public school system, and the exorbitant cost of higher education; the list goes on and on.
The American people are angry and frustrated; men are particularly fed up with the two-party system and the mainstream media; many have already turned to the social media made possible by the explosion of information technology. Before you know it, peaceful demonstrations erupt in several places across the country, and crowds start chanting, “The people want to dismantle the regime!”
We have always been a nation of law and order. Chaos shall not be tolerated. The National Guard is ordered to intervene to enforce the peace of the land. It is inevitable that an altercation or two take place between the unarmed demonstrators and the not-so-unarmed police along with vigilantes popularly called "Shabbiha." Regrettably, few casualties result, and finger-pointing ensues. Anger mounts, and the crowds swell. The president is accused of “killing his own people.” It is not at all helpful at this juncture for the Chinese and Russian ambassadors to travel the width and breadth of the nation to urge the rioters to resist and to assure them that China and Russia are firmly on their side in their just quest for freedom and democracy; unfortunately, this is exactly what they did!
Next come outside opportunists; Russian TV and even the BBC initiate round-the-clock inflammatory coverage of what they describe as an “American Spring.” They provide the rebels with a free podium to air their views without the semblance of cross-examination. They seize on real as well as imaginary grievances that no country is free of. They convince all US-born Americans of the necessity of ridding their beautiful country of the blood-sucking immigrants; they remind African Americans of centuries of slavery and racial discrimination perpetrated by Caucasians; they turn North against South, Black against Hispanic, poor against rich, city dwellers against countrymen, Amerindians against those of European stock, Evangelicals against Catholics, Muslims against Hindus…
Evidently one can't turn a blind eye to police brutality against civilian protestors. Along come Canada and Mexico to the rescue. Refugees pour north and south, and camps are established across the borders to train and arm Freedom Fighters, after carefully vetting them to weed out the extremists, needless to say. Democracy lovers from all over the world flock to the USA via land and sea to wage a holy crusade against tyranny and oppression. The United Nations Security Council meets to debate a no-fly zone over America to create “safe corridors” for non-combatants fleeing violence. The vote is almost unanimous but for the perfidy of two permanent members who had the audacity to deploy their veto, thereby denying US rebels the liberty they so desperately seek. Not one nation has even considered mediating between the warring parties. After all, how can you negotiate with baby killers and terrorists?!
In a nutshell, four years of incessant strife have desolated the US homeland, claimed millions of lives, displaced tens of millions of innocent civilians, destroyed decades ' investment in infrastructure, wasted trillions of dollars, virtually divided the country across racial and sectarian lines, and spread poverty and famine from coast to coast. Erasing the effects of such a catastrophe would require a generation or two, under optimal circumstances.
The Real World
Luckily the US is not even close to imagining the possibility of such a cataclysm, and I hope my children and grandchildren never live to witness such a day. Still, this scenario is neither imaginary nor far-fetched, as would testify anyone who currently lives through what passes for a Syrian Spring or who has survived the Libyan Spring or the Yemeni Spring... Just swap Obama for Assad, the USA for Syria, China and Russia for the USA and France, and RTV and BBC for Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya... Of course, many other changes need to be done given the numerous and monumental differences between the mighty United States and puny countries like Syria or Libya.
Indeed, the comparison appears preposterous at first sight: there exists a tremendous gap between those countries at almost every level: political, cultural, financial, scientific, religious, etc. Still, the only difference that counts at the end of the day is MIGHT, to put it bluntly.
For no country is liberal enough, peaceful enough, democratic enough, prosperous enough, tolerant enough, educated enough, or homogeneous enough...to withstand a barrage of propaganda, money, weapons, armed men, and foreign meddling all aimed at it from so many regional as well as global powers.
You can “liberate” Iraq, for instance. Liberating a country like China is altogether a different undertaking, and this has zero relation with who is “democratic” and who is not or who is “free” and who is not. An Iraqi “Spring” is therefore far more likely than a Chinese one, and a corollary to this statement is that we are not likely to experience an American Spring anytime soon, no matter how good or bad a US president is or what the contradictions inside US society might be. America is simply too powerful for anyone to mess with. Not only are US domestic affairs off limits, but the Western Hemisphere in its entirety is a forbidden land. Interfere at your own risk, as the Soviets found out during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 60s. The Monroe Doctrine applies to the American continent north and south, not just the USA.
When a Spartan king was asked how far Sparta’s borders reached, he held out his spear and said, “As far as this will reach.”