People want confident clear answers

I am always doubtful, i question what is clear and rarely confident. Good side i get to be right more than wrong most of the times, the bad is people dont listen to you.

People usually want confident and clear answers to the questions. They would listen to and follow clear confident opinions even if these are wrong most of the times. That is how bad people become leaders often times, And is why people follow them.

It is one way of looking at popularism, and although we hear lot of it these days but it is not new. Think of hitler, he was elected democratically when he came into power and probably would still be elected if held election is the last two years before his demise. Today i put trump, victor orban, and Duterte.

Being strong

I have always strived to be strong. I understand that strong is not about the muscles but about your mental capabilities. Being calm when facing crisis, making the logical decision when emotions involved.

I thought for the most of it i was strong, but now i doubting myself. This year i faced many crises in my life. Not only family issues but career and personal finance. I started strong and focused but slowly i lost it. I guess one cannot learn stuff from TV and movies. Only way is to experience things and learn from it. I cannot imagine how things feel, I had to experience it myself.

What is a Proxy War?

Be careful

It is embedded in our logic, perhaps because of the fairy tails we hear when growing up. All bad will loos in the end and only good will prevail.

We think if the cause is right and we are fighting for the good we will win in the end, off-course after we face bet of difficulties (we don’t want to make it easy). In our case in syria if people revolted against the brutal regime that kills and torture whoever objects, then the gods will make sure we win in the end after the a short period of difficulties (kind a right of passage thing).

But history tells us different story, it shows no logic for who win and who loos and who prevail in the end. few examples that comes in mind are;

• the Armenians, after they got mistreated. they are still fighting for recognition from history for the misery they faced.
• Indigenous people living in Latin America and in north, after European invasion, they are still portrayed as uncivilized barbaric people.  
• then you add Palestine Chechnya, Cambodia and so own

 Those who are strong enough and smart enough, and lucky enough will win in the end. So it is not enough, to be on the right side and just cause,  for the revolution in Syria to win it needs to be lead well and smart enough to win this war against a brutal regime who proved he has no ethical limitation to use whatever one can imagine to stay in power. 

 

Iran as regional or international power

I dont know what is the point Iran trying to make when they announce all these war games and rehearsals they are conducting on land and in sea. Their enemy, if it is Israel or the US, know exactly what they have and what they dont, they know what their strong points and their weaknesses, so it is not for them. The only target audience for these reports and announcements are the public audience, the normal people in the streets in Middle East or larger Asia.

Today they announced they are sending a fleet of 24 war ships to the far east, but what are they hopping to gain from all this, how they are planning to benefit from it. I dont know personally, but I am sure they have something on their mind beside creating evil enemy for the US (to replace the AQ and the Russian before that).

AL Khataib peace initiative

the lines, no hidden meanings. 

In my mind the possibly aim for the initiative could be one and more from the following;

• giving counter initiative to the one regime gave, trying to throw the ball back to regime court and showing some engagement with the regime to satisfy the backers of the opposition.
• Trying to entice countries supporting opposition for more action or more arms, by hinting that NC might cut a deal with regime and these countries will have to learn to live with Assad in power for years to come (if they can afford that).
• trying to make a split or support some split inside the regime itself, although not much evidence of the existence of this split (by asking for AlSharea in name to represent the regime)
• Giving a support to any pressure on the regime from its main international allies (like Russia or China). Then later giving them reason to use for backing out from position
• or just desperate attempts to save lives
• and if the regime had to sit down on the table for any reason, while no one expecting much from that but at least we could get some people out of jail and renew some passports for Syrians living out of the country.

What is apparent is that the initiative took a personal nature from Mr. Alkhatib not in the name of the NC (although it is muddied a bet, so no clarity). On the surface most or all fellow members in the NC especially the MB opposed the imitative, (but this is maybe a planned approach to show that Mr. Alkhatib is facing lots of resistance and can’t give more), and most of the positive support came from each and every Syrian citizen i know and heard to.

In conclusion I think most surprising response was from Syrians who appear to have had enough and looking for any settlement, although rebels cannot take same position since they will be all killed by regime if settlements was to keep the regime in any way (or at least that is what they believe). Other very important result is that NC gained back some relevance after SNC lost it all in the past year, and most of that credit goes to Mr. Alkhatib personally.

Now that it seems the adventure is over, and initiative ended in the way everyone thought it will. It looks like a good move by head of NC and in the net result it was positivist for opposition in general and him personally (so i think we will still see more of him now that he became a permanent player no longer on the sides).

predetermined minds and predetermined ends

It took me time, and lots of screaming in long arguments with Syrians pro regime to finally get it. I cannot use logic or evidence in my arguments because many of them have made-up their mind which party guilty and which is not long time ago, even way before the occurrence of the event we’re arguing about. In these arguments there is no point of presenting evidence or formulating an argument or using logic or common sense because the convictions are NOT based on evidence, so no mater the how many evidence you bring to argument, and no matter how articulated and structured your argument is, the answer is predetermined even before you started the argument itself.
Basically no hope and we are going nowhere. This revolution will take its full course and will reach its end by one side completely finishing the other.  We are passed the point where it could finish by removing one or some symbolic figures, but i feel unfortunately it will end up with complete win of one party over the other. This is not positive and I am not promoting more violence, I know those who get hurt are the weak ones standing in the middle, but I feel facts on the ground only support this scenario.  

Now we all have to wait until this revolution reaches its end, I don’t think anyone can stop it now or prevent the increased bloodshed in the coming months. Really sad, I blame international community.

lost social status

I dont know where i went wrong. I really thought i was doing the right things to keep and maintain my relationships with my friends and colleagues at work, even after i leave. I lived in many counties in my life and tried to keep up with many of them by long distance calling and emails and greetings at the holidays.

How did i end up lonely like that. I can still call many of them today or now, but i dont feel like it anymore. Especially in the past ten years many things changed in me. I still want someone ethical and righteous to talk to. But am i that ethical and righteous to demand it of others. I want someone who agree with me on what is important and what are the things that is not so.

Most likely it is me that is changing not the world, i am just getting older and pickier

This is simply its nature,, this is how they know how

It really hurts to see all this pain and suffering, to see the desperation in the eyes of the young and old, but it even hurt more so when I know that these are my people and this is my homeland. Then I started thinking; knowing the regime I should expect the pain is even more than what is shown on the media. There are much evidence from youtube uploads and documentaries produced by international media channels showing torture been used on an industrial scale (quoting one documentary). These practices and the scale it has been used showing and proving that regime in Syria was able to genetically modify humans and to reduce them into animals (reversing much of their evolution).

No longer the practice of torture is limited to a two floors below the ground dungeon in some security building, but it is practiced by simple solders and officers right in the open fields. It is not used to extract information or intelligence from the other side, but a practice to inflict fear, terror and horror in the victim heart and the society in general so that they submit.

This strategy had worker in the past, and for too long. It is not working anymore and it is actually fueling revolution now. For over 20 moth the regime showed that it has no alternative. Like the frog and Scorpio by the river story IT IS THEIR NATURE, IT IS HOW THEY DO THINGS, IT IS HOW THEY HAVE BEEN TRAINED, AND HOW THEY HAVE PRACTICED ALL A LONG.

In the early days of revolution in Syria, I was very pessimistic and expected large number of casualties dead and disabled,  but I really hoped (and expected) that it finishes fast with toppling the regime and a new power taking its place realizing things will never go back start implementing some reforms which in time and hard work will produce improvement in education, economy, personal freedoms. After that; well it is next generation who will have the saying in it, it will not be us.

But the reality came even harder than that, and it turns out that regime did come true on his promise to destroy the country by destroying the fabric of the society. The fighting took long time, very long time which is the worse scenario case one can imagine, the increased pain and long suffering of the people hardens the hart and radicalize people minds (mostly to justify this suffering). Now we are in the final stages of the revolution faced with sectarian tension, radicalization of society and total destruction of economy and the state. Now we find ourselves discussing and arguing about the very basic idea of what makes a nation,,, are we one nation,, what brings us together. What does it mean to be Syrian, are we Syrians first or Muslims or Arabs, who are we. 

these are very tough questions, I really hoped we dont go into that and just take it for granted, it has always been there so just go with it.