Alan Berger's thoughtful piece on Syria

"FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE called states the “coldest of all cold monsters.’’ Anyone doubting the truth of Nietzsche’s dictum need only contemplate the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad and the complicity of his backers in Tehran and Moscow — and then ponder the hesitation of onlooker states to accept what a UN resolution has called their “responsibility to protect’’ civilians from Assad’s tanks, artillery, and snipers."

Berger concludes by with a prescription for a democratic, pluralist states with guarantees for minority community, of course including the 'Alawis.  The dilemma is that the Syria regime has systematically decimated civil society in the Syria with the result that the sinews of a participant political system need to built de novo.  As in Iraq and in Libya, it is not that the people would not wish to live in a freer, even democratic society, but the prospects are problematic, except insofar as political institutions are constructed along sectarian or kinship lines.  The legacy of these rapacious regimes is a deformed political space, and only time, and trial and error may rehabilitate that space.

Resurgent Arab Islam need not be unsettling

Resurgent Arab Islam need not be unsettling

By Emile Nakhleh and Augustus R. Norton

[Cross-posted with "Informed Comment: Global Affairs" and Boston Globe's "The Angle", where it was first published December 11, 2011]

In the wake of the youth-directed “Arab Spring,” which rocked the Middle East to its core and felled autocratic governments in several countries, Islamic political parties are poised for an historic resurgence across the region — and that is neither surprising nor necessarily alarming.

Popular mass demonstrations, “Days of Rage,” have been the hallmarks of the season that dislodged dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, and exposed the fragility of fierce but unpopular regimes across the Arab world. Youthful demonstrators in quest of dignity, hungry for jobs, and fed up with corruption formed the vanguards.

But because Arab rulers did not allow serious opposition parties, the best organized opposition groups were often Islamist movements. While they did not launch the Arab Spring, they lent resilience and discipline to the demonstrations. These movements are deeply insinuated in the contours of daily life in Arab societies, and now are emerging as early victors in what Arabs are calling al-sahwa (the awakening).

The successes of Islamic parties inspire consternation and alarm in some US policy circles. Daniel Byman of the Brookings Institution worries that these parties will not embrace democracy. Like former Israeli defense minister Moshe Arens, he suggests that the Arab Spring is likely to become a long Arab Winter as Islamic parties gain power and then thwart hopes for substantial reforms and freedom. But these groups are not the extremists that critics fear, and Islamist political parties deserve the opportunity to deliver on the mandate they’ve been granted at the polls.

Egyptians' negative views of the U.S. "reward" longstanding U.S. fixation on stability at the expense of reform; negative attitudes on peace with Israel are no surprise to anyone who knows Egypt

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From Washington Post

U.S. interests need to be disentangled from Israel's contempt for a two-state solution

And the White House weighs in again--David Axelrod: "... it is important for our own security that we move forward and resolve this very difficult issue."

Surprises: The New Leader lives

The New Leader is an "old left" magazine that died a quiet life in 2006, but it has now been resurrected on-line thanks to Columbia University. In the 1950s, the magazine was quite well-known, especially for publishing Khrushchev's famous speech to the XX Party Congress of the CPSU. Leading intellectuals of the era published there, including Hans J. Morganthau. Daniel Schorr has been a contributor for years, and I see he appears in the new on-line version. Over the years, I wrote several essays for the magazine, including pieces following fieldwork in Cyprus and a UN-related mission in war-torn Mozambique in the 1980s, as well as articles on various Middle Eastern topics. It does not seem that an archive of the old print edition is readily available on-line, unfortunately.

The New Leader

More MTV please

Remember when George Bush insisted right after 9-11 that "they hate us because of our values"?  In fact, the evidence has been consistent that "they" do not hate U.S. values, but rather U.S. policy and actions.  This has shown up in poll after poll in which American values and American popular culture are generally viewed positively.  The linked NYTimes piece makes the point by noting the popularity of U.S. media, including T.V.