Middle East Policy

In a historic unprecedented case (for a sitting head of state), the Paris Court of Appeal, earlier this month, upheld the Syrian president arrest warrant over the use of chemical weapons in Syria.  However, the French Public Prosecutor has appealed this decision to the Cassation Court. This move is widely deemed to be morally and legally wrong and disrespectful of victims' rights and the law and justice principles. It is also considered as a political move to protect the perpetrators at the expense of the human rights and the world's committed effort to stop the use of the weapons of mass destruction and the struggle against the crimes against humanity. This case and its issued arrest warrant of a sitting head of state is a sign that the Syrian plague has contributed to raising awareness of the suffering of peoples at the domestic level and to forming an international consciousness about this sensitive issue formerly deemed a domestic affair. There is a new margin ...

Netherlands' torture and other ill-treatment case against Syria at the International Court of Justice opens a new chapter in the international order and practice. Although our previous experience with the international order and the international institutions, especially in the Syrian crisis, lets almost no room for any expectations for this case to end torture in Syria or to achieve any difference in the course of action of the Syrian regime, it definitely can lay the foundation for this end by the international documentation, indictment and recognition of these domestic crimes.   In general, this unprecedented ICJ case has a particular international importance as It has a real chance to prompt a beginning of some international system development in terms of the international responsibility and role concerning ill-governance, which is generally fenced by the norm of sovereignty, especially in terms of systematic practice of torture and other kindes of ill-treatment by ...

The new Syrian political/civil platform called Madaniya is a further and even advanced misstep to be added to the continuous series of mistakes by the Syrian opposition, so-called Syrian opposition or agent Syrian opposition. Apart from the entire absence of transparency and democratic mechanisms in governance, which usually leads to corruption and mercenariness, that characterize the vast majority of the Syrian opposition's institutions and entities, Madaniya is making a fatal precedent.  Madaniya is a political entity or an entity with political goals, as stated in its official documents, with a structure and shape of an umbrella for pre-set Syrian civil society organizations. Even though its official literature and rhetoric is causing a lot of confusion about the type and job of this ambiguous institution, the unfortunate and deliberate mix between the civil and political domains can only achieve one end that is to vandalize the both of them, especially the civil do...

Islamic Jihad's only success was cancelling the week 19 Tel Aviv pro-democracy demonstrations. Just add democracy before the resistance axis and you will discover the real war in the Middle East. Seemingly, democracy has to win here to prevail in the Middle East. Only democracy and dignity will achieve peace in the region, which is one region and will always be. So, it is one war with multiple battles. The war for democracy and freedom is pertaining to human dignity, so it can never be sectarian, ethnic or divisive. Rather, it is unifying, pluralistic, philanthropic and pacifying struggle. So, let us unify and pacify our Middle East with democracy, freedom and human rights, and let us start from a real democratic Israel.  Here are my explanatory comments: - Abolishing the judiciary's independence in Israel will put it under government's authority and eventually will turn it into a part of the executive authority, and this will definitely destroy Isra...

  The Chinese president's message to his Russian counterpart has been made abundantly clear and self-evident to the extent that it needs no explanatory comments. Simply put, it is a proclamation of China's new international role and objective, which marks a new era in terms of the international order and politics.  - I have no doubt about the disfunctioning of the current US-led western international order due to its intrinsic flaws, unleashed capitalism's problems, and the world's changing balance of power. - Thus, a change in the post-cold war international order and politics is very prospective in the direction of more role and influence for the rising China and its forming international camp, as the victorious western powers couldn't maintain their political and economic paramount strengths, which limit their rivals respective strengths.  - In my opinion, the main problem of the current western-led international order is that it is actually based on and structu...

Change and Democracy in the Middle East: Middle Eastern Researcher Defends the New Middle East Aleppo ― March 25, 2009 ― In one basic center of the old Middle East, Nassim Yaziji the Syrian researcher specialized in international relations and the Middle East defends and advocates, through a new book, the new Middle East with an empirical, realistic and modern perspective, originated in and from the Middle East itself. His research on the Middle East and international Middle East policies has contributed to producing a significant and unique book. Mr. Yaziji's second book " In Defense of the New Middle East: A Neo-Internationalist Perspective " has been published, advocating the new Middle East as a domestic and international necessity through the due change and democracy, and explaining this change through the Middle East's key realities and political developments the book analyzes. This 264-page book includes more than 100 articles classified into several themes...

To understand the censorship system, we should understand the totalitarian and authoritarian systems, and the essential association between the censorship system and non-democratic systems. In the authoritarian system, the authority represented by the ruling regime cannot be contested (including its opinions) even at the intellectual and theoretical levels, and here is the rule of censorship. The totalitarian system, the most dangerous and brutal of all governing systems, there, definitely, is one ideology serving as the base for every single part the state's structure that is imposed on the society, including a total system of values. There should be one rhetoric and one truth are represented by the de facto ruling regime, mostly the dictator. Therefore, the censorship here is an indispensable means for the regime, which excludes, and sometimes executes, any other views or discourse on politics, economics, society and even culture. Some main examples of the totalitarian system are...

Reporters Without Borders has issued its annual report about press freedom in the world, Press Freedom Index 2008 . The results came as usual in terms of the Middle East region. The report supports my suggestion that the Middle East is one of the worst regions, if not the worse, in the world as regards freedom of expression, in general, and freedom of the press in particular. As I always say, this region still lives the era of the eastern campaign of former Soviet Union under the totalitarian system or the authoritarian system at best. Although the world has significantly changed after the Cold War, this change has stopped at the Middle East's borders. This situation becomes persistent, I am afraid. It is time now to declare the failure of various attempts to change the situation of repression as regards freedom of expression in the Middle East. Europeans tried in 1990s through Barcelona Process and completely failed. Americans tried in 2000s and achieved minor improvements while ...

After the Syria's independence became an occupation imposing a totalitarian tyranny on Syria and Syrian people, our civilization was destroyed; citizens became refugees in their homeland; the state became a ranch owned by an oligarchy, which is a bunch of rural thugs, thieves and hit men, all thanks to the revolution's accomplishments of al-Baath terrorist group. Many brave Syrians, like Aref Dalila, Anwar al-Bunni, Kamal Labawani, Riad Seif and many others, are struggling for Syria's democratic independence and Syrians' rights and freedoms.This is a tribute to all those heroes on our lost independence's anniversary. We, Syrians, totally appreciate their struggle and we are so proud of them, and we believe that we will regain our democratic independence. Syria: Opposition Activists Tell of Beatings in Interrogation Authorities Should Release All 12, and Investigate Allegations of Physical Abuse Human Rights Watch (New York, February 5, 2008) – The Syrian government ...

The annual release of the report on human rights by the U.S. State Department is mandated by law. The report reviews progress and pitfalls around the world—not including the United States—and highlights major offenders. The world’s most systematic human rights violators according to the report are ten countries including Syria for the first time. Following are some excerpts from the introduction of this report concerning the world’s most systematic human rights violators and Middle East's countries highlighted in the introduction: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor March 11, 2008 Countries in which power was concentrated in the hands of unaccountable rulers remained the world’s most systematic human rights violators. The repressive North Korean regime continued to control almost all aspects of citizens’ lives, denying freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association, and restricting freedom of movement...

Freedom in the World 2008: Global Freedom in Retreat Freedom House January 16, 2008 The year 2007 was marked by a notable setback for global freedom, Freedom House reported in a worldwide survey of freedom released today. The decline in freedom, as reported in Freedom in the World 2008 , an annual survey of political rights and civil liberties worldwide, was reflected in reversals in one-fifth of the world’s countries. Most pronounced in South Asia, it also reached significant levels in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. A substantial number of politically important countries whose declines have broad regional and global implications—including Russia, Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Venezuela—were affected. Complete survey results reflect global events during 2007. A package of charts and graphs and an explanatory essay are available online. “This year’s results show a profoundly disturbing deterioration of freedom worldwide,” said...

Dashed hopes in Egypt, Morocco and Jordan - countries held up as examples Eritrea ranked last for first time while G8 members, except Russia, recover lost ground Reporters Without Borders Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running. “There is nothing surprising about this,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Even if we are not aware of all the press freedom violations in North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are second and third from last, Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom. The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison. We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate.” Outside Europe - in which the top 14 countries are located ...

Syria's Baath is, as usual, practicing its Baathism and turning Syria into an "Internet black hole” according to Reporters Without Borders. I would like to congratulate al-Baath on this new exceptional achievement to be added to the long list of its revolution's achievements in Syria. More than 100 websites blocked in growing wave of online censorship Reporters Without Borders 7.12.2007 Reporters Without Borders is concerned that the number of websites to which access is blocked in Syria has been growing steadily for the past month. More than 100 websites, including the video-sharing site YouTube, the blog platform Blogspot and the email service Hotmail, are now inaccessible. “We call on the authorities to explain what is going on,” the press freedom organisation said. “The number of websites rendered inaccessible doubled in two weeks. We do not believe all this suddenly happened for technical reasons as a common feature of all these sites is that they contained criticism ...