Middle East Policy

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...

As we, in the Middle East, are affected by the outcome of the American elections due to the next administration's prospective Middle East policy, I looked into both candidates and their Middle East programs and stances. I directed my attention to "change" rhetoric by the democratic candidate. At the strategic level, I did not find any significance of this promised change, rather it is just about changing republicans from the White House and keep things as they are or as they were before the republicans. In other words, going backward not forward as usually expected from democrats and their persistent inaction. If so, this fallacious change means disaster for the Middle East. It actually means going back to the post-Cold War Middle East, which means keeping totalitarian and authoritarian regimes enjoying a stable situation of authoritarianism and non-democracy in the Middle East, while the region's peoples or most of them are suffering from repression, poverty and abse...

First of all, I understand that Iraq is at the beginning of the democracy path, as defined by the norms and practices of western democracy. Actually, the title of this article came from what I saw of the Iraqi political, legal and civil scene in terms of the pending U.S.-Iraqi pact at the Iraqi constitutional institutions. This scene in Iraq was really touching in terms of its vibrancy, and most importantly, its diversity. This Iraqi scene is unique in the Arab world, with an exception for Lebanon as a special case. It is really a very rare situation in the Arab world that no one can predict if a treaty or a political or sovereign decision would be adopted or not by an Arab country. In fact, in Arab countries, every thing is previously settled according to the ruling regime or dictator's will. However, this time, Iraq has made an exception or, as I hope, a precedent. Furthermore, this Arab unique democratic state in Iraq continued even after the Iraqi government's approval of t...

Seemingly, Baath regime starts to take advantage of the new phase with the new elected democratic president in the United States. As expected by everybody knows the last Baath located in Syria, its security apparatus was a very bad director to a fiasco play or drama. Baath security geniuses claimed that they discovered the network responsible for the latest explosion in Damascus. Recently, the Baath TV broadcasted their confessions after a long and wide publicity and advertisement of these confessions. As exactly expected, they indirectly accused Lebanon after a previous and very early political statement claiming north Lebanon a terror base threatening Syria. But the funniest thing about the extremely bad and funny direction of this drama was choosing Fatah-al Islam as responsible for Damascus attack while the entire world and every concerned intelligence department in the world clearly knows who invented and supported this group and for what reason. Apart from this futile and worthle...

Every governing system in any country is attached to a state of politics. The politics here is an entire system-like state with integrated parts and components. The entire state of politics affects the governing system and gets affected by it. Then, there is a dialectical relation between them in addition to an essential integration. In any given country, there should be a state of politics as there is a governing system whatever is it. This is also true with non-democratic governing systems, which produce a shape of politics compatible with it with special specifications and narrowed scope and structure in comparison with the wide and vigor politics in the democratic governing systems. Then, every governing system has its associated shape of politics whatever this system is. There is a really unique case concerning Syria that is no politics there! There is a governing system imitated from the Soviet school run by a persistent Baathist regime inherited from more than 40 years ago. Neve...

The U.S. strike in Syria was really surprising and came in timing difficult to understand or analyze. So, 'why now,' is an open question waiting for more information and some further leaks from U.S. officials. The questions is why the U.S. waited for more than five years to make this movement, although it had some detailed information about activities orchestrating violence in Iraq out of Syria. Many relevant details were provided to Syrian regime by the U.S. in this regard. For now, I will focus on the significance of this strike, which is clear and has many ramifications and aspects. First of all, this U.S. action is directed at humiliating Syrian Baath regime. This approach was adopted by the American administration since the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, which intended to by as humiliating as possible to the Baath regime, and so it was. Moreover, this action constitutes a clear message to the French administration, which unilaterally violated the western isolation of the ...

Are there some terrorists in some places in Lebanon? The answer is yes. But do they have a Lebanese infrastructure or Lebanese origin in systematic way? The answer is no. First of all, during the Syrian intervention, the Islamic presence, especially in political terms, in northern Lebanon, particularly in Tripoli is a state created and nourished by the Syrian security apparatus as a tactic while trying to rule all Lebanon during the civil war there, and employed for this goal. The absolute evidence of this fact can be easily extracted from the stage of Syrian administration of Lebanon after the civil war when the Syrian authority maintained the Islamic phenomenon in Tripoli, while it was hysterically exterminating it in Syria. This was in the first place, then there were some evidences and indicators that the policy of 'keeping' turned into engagement and takeover of some factions and groups to employ them in the future in the Lebanese equation and to have them as pretexts for ...

The eleventh and final report of the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC), established by the United Nations to investigate Hariri assassination and other related political assassinations and terrorist attacks in Lebanon, has been introduced to the Security Council. As usual in this three-year investigation, the report is talking about some progress has been achieved in the investigation through the latest months. However, this report unveiled that there is new information reached by the Commission can lead to identify more individuals in the terrorist network responsible for the Hariri assassination. This is actually not a breakthrough or a precedent in this investigation as there was a series of identifying new individuals connected with this crime, but this is a progress for sure. This late or, in fact, very late progress in this international investigation poses some serious questions about the slow process of investigation and achieving information by the Comm...

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...

Many experts, organizations and even countries tried to work out the international financial crisis blowing world's financial markets, but neither succeeded. One party in the world has the solution to this serious crisis. Yes, it is one party is the 'last Baath' located in Syria for ruling it. So, our Baath geniuses appeared on our revolutionary TV and with a huge dose of confidence and pride announced that Syria was not affected by the international financial crisis, simply, because there is no financial market in Syria. And problem is solved, actually, there is no problem to solve because there is no financial market at first. The revolution (Baath's revolution) always has the solution, and most of times, if not always, a preemptive solution. And here is the success story, the blessed revolution of Baath group extended its achievements to the financial market in Syria by eliminating it and relieving Syria from such huge and serious problems coming from colonial evil p...