Integral Politics in the Middle EastElza S. Maalouf

Syrians Break the Barrier of Fear: Is Assad Capable of Enacting Major Change?

2011-03-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

“May you rise with the sun to a new Coup D’etat”. This was a common greeting heard on the streets of Damascus during the 1950’s and 60’s. Although politically satirical, this phrase symbolized the frailty of institutions of a fledgling Syrian republic before Hafez Assad became President. Forty years on and the Assad family like no other in the region is poised to leave its indelible mark on a power base that stretches from Iran to the East and Gaza and Lebanon to the West. Today Assad the son under pressure from the uprising in many cities in Syria announced the lifting of emergency laws that have been in place since 1962. Will he be successful in implementing the changes needed before it's too late? Syrians who lived in paralyzing fear for more than four decades might have reached the point of no return.

On a recent visit to Syria while working on an EU project, I met with the now ousted governor of Daraa, Faisal Koulthum who was a high ranking official in the Baath Party. A professor with two PhD degrees from the West, Koulthoum represented the promise of the new leadership under Bashar Assad. I wondered why such an important Baath party figure so close to the president could be appointed to a remote area like Daraa? I suspect now that Assad wanted a loyal ally with a common vision for reform to lead that region. Obviously the problems were beyond poverty in a drought-stricken region, it was more of a political power struggle for leadership between the Old Guard of Assad the father and the educated class of the son.

The uprising that started in the impoverished city of Daraa on March 20th unexpectedly crept into the psyche of freedom loving Syrians all throughout the country and has the potential of toppling the regime and tipping the delicate balance of power from Iran to Israel. Political observers in the West who might have been skeptical of whether real change will come to the whole region, held their collective breath until Syrian youths took to the streets of this drought stricken farming Governate of Daraa. World Leaders who have been very vocal about Libya and Egypt have been unusually silent about Syria. What does the political world know about Syria that the rest of us don’t know? Would a strong condemnation from the West and the Arab League trigger the awakening of the powerful Shia Crescent --Iran, Syria and Hezbollah -- and would such an awakening trigger a region-wide conflict?

Syria is one of four major sphere-of-influence nations in the Arab world. Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the other regional powers to which Arab masses gravitate. All the remaining Arab countries are considered client- nations according to Soheil Kash, author of In The Beginning was the Objection: An Introduction to Arab political thought. These four power centers were the ones who manipulated the Arab street and influenced Western interference in the region. Now, it is these four power poles the are leading change in the Arab World. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia announced $40 Billion of economic stimulus to quell any potential uprising. King Muhammad VI of Morocco responded to the demonstrations with a timetable for constitutional reforms. In Egypt the political tug of war between the military establishment and the reformists which include the Muslim Brotherhood leave the country with an uncertain political future. In the last week the wind of change has broken down the door to Syria.

“Our political evolution will be different” tells me an aid to the Governor of Daraa. “ Hafez Assad brought stability to Syria by oppressing the people and enriching the Baath Leadership. The son is trying his hand in reform without the political and military clout that his father had.”

Syria’s regional dominance started when Assad the father came into power in 1970 through a bloodless coup and after the death of Jamal Abdel Nasser the most charismatic politician in modern day Middle East. Assad immediately aligned himself with the Russians to reach strategic parity with Israel which was an ally of the other superpower, the US. His initial ambition had the potential to develop Syria politically and economically, but as things evolved he failed to deliver on his promises. This failure steered much internal unrest but the shell of social secularism he created kept the Alawite minority in top positions of the Baath party. The military became the sole tool that Assad used to make his local and regional presence known from crushing the uprising in Hama to the meddling in Lebanon’s civil war and helping Iran cement Hizbollah’s role as the front line resistance against Israel. These policies stayed in place until Bashar Assad came to power in June 2000. The son was hailed as the reformer, but was unable to break the barriers to the network of high corruption and the economic monopolies that his father’s inner circle had created. Bashar coundn’t even deliver on his promise to eliminate the notorious Mazze jail -- the thought of which still sends shivers down the spine of every Syrian and Lebanese political descendant.

Mohammad, a Syrian archaeologist working on the restoration of one of the most preserved Roman coliseum outside Italy was very outspoken about the current regime. We met when I was in Daraa working on a development project with the EU. Mohammad caught the freedom bug while studying in Italy and he frequently joked about the number of times the Syrian Mukhabarat (secret service) picked him up and hauled him to jail in the middle of the night only to be let go a few days later after his mother begged local authorities for his release.

Criticizing the regime was off limits. Even though Bashar Assad set out to be more progressive than his father, he had to adjust his vision to how much he can do in light of the opposition from the old guard. Many Syrians I met praised him and his educated wife Asma for their approach on Syria’s transition to modernity. Bashar implemented mandatory education for all young people, brought computers to schools and community centers, renovated libraries and more recently opened up the banking system and started the first stock exchange in Syria. While all these changes were happening, they were not met by corresponding inclusion of opposition parties and political reforms that would enable their long-term viability. During a recent interview with al-Arabiya TV network a high ranking supporter of Assad’s reforms was pressed by the interviewer about the lack of progress on the reforms that were promised by the President. When he was pushed to change his standard answer, the truth about what was preventing real change from taking place came out of his mouth in a barrage of repetitive phrases “it is the Old Guard...its the Old Guard..”

Based on my past work in Syria and the study of its value-systems, religions, power structures, and the dynamics of polarity, the chances of the country falling into a sectarian civil war are high. The most pressing issue is the possible defection of powerful Sunni generals who now have orders to shoot at their Sunni brothers.Should this happen the Alawite high command of the Syrian Army could seek the help of Iran and Hezbollah turning an internal conflict into a regional one. In such complex situation the fall of the regime in Syria has far reaching ramifications between the Sunni and Shia crescent and the potential of tipping the balance of power in the region.

In this still unfolding dynamic two scenarios could emerge: the first one would call on Assad to prove worthy of leading his people by immediately curtailing the power of the old guard in any way possible; introduce a specific timetable for reforms and lift emergency laws that have been in effect for 48 years. In this scenario Assad would need to bring the opposition leaders in Syria and abroad to the table, and establish structures and milestones to be achieved by a Syria-specific formula for power sharing. The second scenario, sees the failure of Assad to embark on real reforms where the old guard continues their monopoly over the country’s institutions and economy leading to a prolonged civil war with rippling effects in the region. This will play well into the hands of the Iranian regime that has been pumping billions into Syria. Iran will not sit quietly watching its investment into the Shia crescent go to waste.

The Western world's reluctance to interfere in the affairs of Syria might be well justified right now. However, the US and its allies have to have a systemic strategy that can meet the different scenarios and outcomes of the Syrian uprising.

While in Bosra Al-Sham a village on the outskirts of Daraa, I met many promising high school girls who had a good understanding of what their generation needs to do to help build Syrian society. Learning English was on the top of their list tells me Dalia a young woman who teaches at the girl’s school where most courses are taught in Arabic. Growing up in such a poor region learning English is a ticket out of poverty as it will provide a tool to communicate with tourists and to connect with the world on the Internet. Throughout my travels in Syria, I did not meet a young Syrian who does not exhibit a sense of nationalistic pride.In spite of the political conflicts that seem to hover as a dark cloud over their ambitious minds, they still keep their resolve to build Syria to a 21st century standard.

Tomorrow, Bashar Assad will speak to Syrians, in what his spokesperson called “A very important speech.” How important would this speech be to the heroic Syrian activists who risked their lives --many of them were jailed for several years-- to afford their fellow Syrians freedom of speech, the right to have an attorney defend you before they throw in jail, and the right to have descent jobs. What kind of vision Assad will present to the nation to move it to the 21st century, and what is his time line to implement reform and awaken the capacities that are waiting to burst in young Syrians?

Arab-Style Democracy: The Answer to the Post Dictatorship Era

2011-03-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

This article appeared first in the Huffington Post on March 8,2011

When the twenty-six year old college graduate, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in Tunis, he sparked a revolution that was more than 40 years in the making. Sadly, he did not live to see the change. “Revolutions do not cause change they confirm the change which has already happened,” wrote Dr. Don Beck, a complex systems strategist. Typically, this happens more to societies, which are already changing, as the raised expectations put pressure on existing leaders and structures, like the geologic tectonic shifts that will rise to the surface as earthquakes.

As a once second generation Arab Nationalist who now works on emergence and geopolitical reform in Arab cultures, I have longed for this day to come. Since the end of colonial rule we in the Middle East have taken several shots at defining ourselves and our nations. We haphazardly embraced Marxism and Socialism, copying ideas that did not fit our cultural values. My generation believed that the roadmap to democracy in our region should not come from bloodshed but rather from building capacities in Arab people and institutions in the culture. Unfortunately, our political --clannish leaders who were embroiled in the history of the region were not interested in making our vision a reality. We were defeated. Our aspirations were crushed as we left our homeland in droves seeking opportunities in other parts of the world. For those who couldn't leave they watched the oppression fester for years as it took the lives and the freedom of hundreds of thousands of people.

For the Arab world, this is just the beginning.

To help shape the newly liberated Middle East, we must look at what type of institutions must be created to harness the dreams of the people demonstrating on the streets and co-design for their emergence. Unfortunately, because of the effects of past repression and the historic absence of democratic institutions, the Arab street lacks the depth of political maturity required to create a full picture of democracy with viable and sustainable institutions. The Arab street never had effective leaders who concerned themselves with building the foundations for democracy. From Nasser to Assad to Saddam Hussein, leadership in the last fifty years in the region has lacked vision and capacities. It has too often relied on the rhetoric of empty promises. These men were leading as paternal leaders with impassioned speeches rather than pragmatists with a developmental road map for their countries.

This revolution is one that is toppling the old patriarchy and has little chance of succeeding if women are not given a voice as an equal partner in society. “Arab women will no doubt change the world” tells me Dr. Jean Houston, one of the founders of the Human Potential Movement who consults with the UN and advises on our projects in the Middle East.

It has been my experience through numerous projects I start in the Arab world that women emerge as natural leaders in these projects, their community and beyond. They are the power that is moving the Arab world forward, and are creating their own version of feminism that does not look anything like the Western feminist revolution. Theirs is one that empowers their daughters to get the best education and gain the autonomy needed to be a true partner in Nation building. In doing so they have been fostering and practicing their own brand of Arab and Islamic feminism that fits the value-systems within their cultures.

Dr. Suleiman, a charismatic woman in her 40s, is the former psychologist of the Dubai Police Department who acquiesces women’s role in Arab culture: “We now have two generations of women who obtained advanced degrees from Western countries and came back home and yet we’re still veiled by society and not by the veils on our heads. We are working to change this unhealthy attitude towards women, and will not rest till our daughters have the same rights and social standing that our sons.” Demanding equal rights for women has to be an integral component of the new Arab identity that is being shaped, and must be recognized under the law and enforced by authorities. Adding this evolutionary piece will serve as the catalyst for this monumental change.

With such an explosion of repressed potential, how can the Arab world prepare for true democracy? What will be the ideal form of governing that works for the Middle East? And how can we in the First World understand and support the emergence of Arab-Style Democracies?

The crucial insight here is that one style of democracy does not fit all. The Myth that Western democracy, if given the chance, can spread throughout the Middle East has proven to be a false doctrine. We need not look further than the Western coalition’s experience in Iraq and Afghanistan to recognize the failure of this thinking. Tom Barnett in his book The Pentagon’s New Map states that Arab-style democracies will resemble more those of India, Malaysia or Singapore rather than Western Europe or the US.

Ayman, a young Egyptian national who holds a business degree looks and sounds much like the protesters in Tahrir Square. He says that there has to be a system for the older people to retire with a pension that honors their past contribution. This will be the only way for the younger educated generation to have careers and participate in the socio-political development of their country. He is one of millions of Egyptians who couldn’t find work

in Egypt and settled for being a waiter at a Kuwaiti restaurant. We’ve seen many intelligent men and woman like him demonstrating in Tunisia, Bahrain and Libya who are well aware of the processes and the themes of democracy but lacked the comprehensive view of what it takes to build a viable nation.

Maysa, a Gen Y activist for Palestinian women in the West Bank reiterates the view about Arab patriarchy providing her pragmatic solution “to the Palestinian people, Arafat was the father figure. To the Arab street, Nasser was the father. But, now it’s time to move on. We must build civil and government institutions that lead to nation building.” From where will the determination and leadership emerge to accomplish this monumental task? Would a benevolent autocrat provide that interim role that will support the establishment of structures and systems that will lay down the foundation for this Arab-styl

e democracy?

“The pathway from tribalism to democracy has to pass through autocracy” wrote professor Clare W. Graves, founder of psychology at the large scale. In these tumultuous times can the intelligence of the masses elect a benevolent autocratic leader without him becoming another Qaddafi or Mubarak? A benevolent autocrat is someone who recognizes the frailty of the infant stages of democracy and has the best interest of his/her people in mind and has their respect. Someone who has the power to quell the disruption caused by zealots and extremists, while promoting robust institutions and development prone societies. This is where the West has to rise up to the challenge and balance its interests with those of the Arab street.

If the West aggressively focuses on creating innovations in green technologies, then the Middle East will be relieved of an exploitative economic relationship and left with no choice but to focus on developing its most underutilized resource and that is women and GenY. This has to be coupled simultaneously with a layered and culturally fit development program that addresses the most nagging issues in the Middle East. In a town hall meeting with young Fatah leaders in Bethlehem, I asked the audience to come up with a future vision for Palestine and the Arab world. In compelling Arab emotional outburst, they all said they want to have world class hospitals and universities where Westerners choose to come.

Democracy Arab-style is one where everyone is equal under the law-- women, men and children regardless of their riches or political or tribal affiliations. This has to spread and be enforced at a systemic level. New governments along with the private sector have to embark on robust and fully integrated development programs that go beyond the reach of a typical World Bank strategy. These programs cannot stop at ad-hoc projects that build the infrastructure of highways, power and sewer systems without building the supporting societal and civil structures that can sustain nations. Since religions plays a crucial role in the Middle Eastern identity, religious institutions have to be regulated to preach tolerance and supported, as they play a vital role in society. Schools have to become institutions that build autonomous individuals not followers of clan leaders. This should happen in quality public schools that are available to the masses. Financial pressure on parents has to be alleviated by creating good paying jobs that fit their capacities. This list is merely the beginning of the changes that are needed to establish the new Arab nationalism within the unique boundaries of each Arab nation. The Arab league has to come out of the shadow of dictators and become a functional body that includes a trade organization to benefit the region’s human and natural resources.

The values of the industrial age are just emerging in the Middle East under the umbrella of the age of technology and knowledge. Arab cultures have no choice but to advance in this global world, this has to be a systemic, holistic approach that will ensure the future of Arab Gen Y and stop the brain drain from the region. This is the time where the Arab intelligence can empower individuality, a quality that has long been the catalyst that helped the developed world thrive.

Elza S. Maalouf is an Arab-American futurist and cultural development specialist focusing her work on cultural and political reform in the Arab world. She is the President of the Center for Human Emergence Middle East a think tank that emphasizes the scientific understanding of cultures. http://www.humanemergencemiddleeast.org One of foremost experts on the Memetics of the region, Elza is the co-founder of the Build Palestine Initiative a movement that started in 2005 and calls on Palestinians to build capacities, institutions and infrastructure through the framework of Natural Design ©. She has worked extensively with women and girls in Syria, Palestine, Kuwait and many parts of the Arab world to help them realize their fullest potential and become agents for change in the region. She can be reached at emaalouf@CHE-Mideast.org

Breaking the Cycle of Failed Peace Negotiations

2010-09-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Breaking the Cycle of Failed Negotiations

This post was initially intended to be on the Build Palestine Initiative blog of our sister website for the Center for Emergence Middle East

We are experiencing technical difficulties with the blog section on the website, but wanted to inform followers of our work of this important upcoming event.

For many reasons US Middle East policy has failed to make lasting peace a reality. Early on in his administration, President Obama sent a message to the world that things will be different. By granting his first media interview to Al-Arabia Network based in Dubai and delivering a powerful speech in Cairo to the Muslim world he set the tone for things to be different. But, how much beneath the tactical surface would policy makers need to go in order to achieve a different, sustainable outcome. At the Washington summit this past August with President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, Secretary Clinton and President Obama set a one year deadline for both parties to come up with a workable peace treaty. Is this approach any different than that of previous administrations and would it work?

These are questions that Dr. Don Beck, Said Dawlabani and I will be discussing during Peace Week this coming Wednesday September 15, at 5:00 PM (PST). Click here for details and to sign up.

Are the two parties ready to step fully into these negotiations, or is this Washington's own timing leading to mid-term elections?
It is true that Prime Minister Fayyad is doing a good job with making sure that Palestinian security forces in the West Bank are well trained, but is that enough for Israel to pull back its 10,000 troops?
With all right wing opposition in Israel opposing the settlement freeze, can the Palestinians trust that Israel has good intentions at the table?
Most importantly, are all parties, including the US, looking at these negotiations from a Natural Design perspective? From a value systems perspective? Do they take into account the memetic contours and the lay of the land in both cultures? Or, are they coming to it from the traditional negotiations processes that failed to achieve tangible results in Madrid, Oslo, and Camp David.

The truth is, whoever is at the negotiations table does not represent the full spectrum of value-systems and mindsets of their respective cultures. Why isn't there a bottom-up referendum on the future of their respective countries? Who's really addressing what the moderates in both countries are looking for? This is something that the Center for Human Emergence Middle East has been deeply involved in for the last five years. We have uncovered and informed, through our field-tested framework, the thinking of over 200,000 in Palestine who are of the mindset that in order for negotiations to be successful and have collective support, the negotiators must be informed by real-time data from the trenches of the culture.

Below is a reposting from a year ago of our call for a "Design Conference" and not a "Peace Conference". Not much has changed in calling for the building blocks that form the foundation for a lasting peace.

Design Conference for Palestine/Israel
To Break the Cycle of Failed "Peace Negotiations"

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a collision of “tectonic plates” — deep values system codes — that have created a logjam. It is this underlying logjam that generates continual surface-level blockages that erupt in conflict.

We propose a problem-solving methodology with the power, precision, and complexity to create a scaffold for human groupings to construct the unique economic and political structures that support the healthy evolution of those groupings.

We need to see the patterns as through a prism — where all the various colors of worldviews are made visible, each with a different “tint” on the world. The goal is to understand the needs of all the mind-sets, so as to begin to craft “full-spectrum” solutions which are fundamentally different from those that a single perspective would offer. This would:

Develop the capacity to uncover the deeper dynamics within each society, as well as between societies.
Craft decisions and measure priorities not against the past, nor based on who is responsible for what.
Avoid the typical problem resolution systems such as majority rule, rule by the elite or by the wealthy, or rule by the so-called experts, or those that have military strength.
Defuse the ideologies that produce “us vs. them”.
Avoid raising expectations which can be faulted.
Focus on who the people are who live in the region and what their resources are.
Design a strategy to mesh people, geography, and resources together into a workable solution for all who live in that region.
Draw upon all of the solutions which are currently available (as well as many that haven’t been thought of yet) to create a scaffolding of solutions for the whole region.
Generate solutions that involve the whole region: Israel, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and the other players who have influence in the conflict.

"The issue is less about democracy, rather the question is to design the best structures for meeting the needs of the people as they develop through the stages that are most natural to them; open, adaptive systems appropriate to their life conditions."

Emerging Patterns in the Middle East-Published in Integral Leadership Review

2009-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

A previously posted blog was expanded into an article published in Integral Leadership Review, the leading publication in the new field of Integral studies.

This article is an attempt to provide an analysis of patterns of dissonance, societal downshifts and emergence in the Middle East, with a focus on Lebanon and Iran. http://integralleadershipreview.com/archives/2009-10/2009-10-11-article-maalouf.php

Emerging Patterns in the Middle East: The Thirty Year Itch for Lebanon and Iran

Elza S. Maalouf

My first year of Law School in Lebanon, was a year to remember. I recall the heated political discussions I had with Shia students and professors alike over many long hours ranging from discussing the merits of Marxism to laws on women’s rights in Lebanon and the role religion plays in law. These same students who I played tennis with would return the following year with the trademark Islamist beard and buttoned-up white shirt and refused to shake my hand or establish any eye contact. It was in that academic setting that I witnessed the birth of the Hezbollah movement created and financed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This new generation of educated Shia was empowered by Khomieni’s Islamic revolution and the hope of shaping Lebanon’s national identity into a “just” model of an Islamic Emirate. Many years have passed since and the model for both countries is now going through unprecedented challenges.

The Search For National Identity

On March 14th, 2005 one million Lebanese citizens gathered in Beirut’s Martyr Square, the symbol of Lebanon's 1943 Independence from France. They were protesting against the presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon. The Cedar Revolution, as it was called, ended the 30 year Syrian occupation of Lebanon which started in 1975 when Syrian Forces entered Lebanon as peacekeepers to protect the Christians and crush the Palestinian dominance in Beirut. Two years later, the Syrians managed to reignite the sectarian civil war by siding with the Palestinians when it served their regional interests then turned around and bombed them again when they felt they were out of control. In the absence of strong Lebanese leaders, the Syrians dominated every aspect of Lebanese life for 30 years. The one million Lebanese of the March 14th Cedar Rebellion were not only rejecting the Syrian occupation of their country, but also one of the worst economic conditions in the Middle East, which was brought about by one of the highest levels of corruption in the world. This was orchestrated by Lebanese power lords under the protection of their masters in Damascus.

This past June in Iran, one million Iranians gathered in Tehran’s Freedom Square to protest the 'sham' elections and demand their voices be heard. "Tehran Rising" is happening 30 years after Ayatollah Khomeini and a number of visionary young leaders who rejected the Shah’s elitist rule in 1979 and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mir Ali Mousavi had a role to play in that revolution, and a bloody one at that. His supporters, more so than Mousavi himself, currently are not fighting the principles of the revolution; they are fighting the collapse of Iran’s economy, corruption, and incompetency in government.

Memetic Side View of Both Cultures

As I looked, through my developmental lenses, at both events and the cultures that produced them, the patterns of emergence that are unique to that part of the world in the 21st century were becoming clear. Beirut, Tehran, Baghdad, Kabul, and Cairo were some of the most progressive capital cities in the region at the dawn of the 20th Century. Those cities were compared to Paris in culture, modernity and uniqueness. However, such notions of freedom and progress were almost exclusive to the capital cities, and rarely spread to the rest of the country. Inhabitants of these capitals had access to Western education and progressive schools of thought while their compatriots lagged behind in the darkness of tribal norms and feudal dominance. A split cultural personality, we may say. That tension between modernity centered in the capitals. The strong hold of tribalism, poverty and illiteracy in the rest of the country created a large gap that eventually ended up being the primary cause of each culture's downshift.

In Clare W. Graves “Emergent Cyclic Double-Helix Model of Adult Biopsychosocial Systems" theory that forms the basis for Dr. Beck’s Spiral Dynamics, the Double Helix gives us the key to evolution in cultures—as life conditions change, biopsychosocial systems within people and cultures have the potential to change to find solutions to their existential problems. Naturally, when people find solutions to their problems they create new ones, a process Graves elegantly called "the never ending quest." Let's explore the particular case study of Lebanon and Iran.

THE PATTERNS:

1. Asymmetry within the Culture: Tehran and Beirut became beacons of (closed loop) progress that stayed within the confines of the city, and communicated outward with the Western world. This was a complete disconnect from the rest of the country. Anybody who sought a progressive life moved into the respective cities, rather than having a strong central government with long-term development plans that bring progress to rural areas. That caused a gap in values between what was seen as elite, and the rest of the country.

2. Skipping Stages of Development: the principles of cultural development are similar to human development. Cultures cannot skip a stage; there are rites of passage that contribute to building cultural capacities similar to human capacities. In this case, in absence of institutions (public and private) that are in charge of designing and implementing long term developmental strategies for the whole country the rural country side would remain set back in time. This phenomenon left a gaping hole that invited extremist ideological groups to take control of neglected areas. Imagine France moving abruptly from monarchy to a capitalistic society ruled by an economic elite without going through the Revolution of "Liberty, Fraternity, Equality" that established the basis for a representative form of government where citizens are equal under the law. A principle that is still missing in the whole Middle East including Israel.

3. Extremists Brand of Islam became the Answer: Marxist brand of nationalism that was spread by Egypt's Nasser in the 1950s to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots, was transformed into an Islamist brand of nationalism in both Lebanon and Iran. Khomeini's Islamic revolution gained ground with the disadvantaged in Iran, especially the ambitious young generation that supported the needed change with vengeance. The same happened in Lebanon. Actually, Hezbollah's previous name was The Disadvantaged, "Al Mahroumeen." Young Shia men and women were the disenfranchised majority in Lebanon, neglected by the government and especially by their own Shia oligarchs.

4. Divided Loyalties: In both countries, while one million people asked to break away from extremist ideology, another million took to the streets in support of the extremists. Contrary to what the West thinks, these are not paid demonstrators. They have shared values and shared interests with the leaders of extremist movements. In part, they wish to preserve their jobs in cultures where there are few jobs and in another they do support the continued search for national identity that’s not defined by Western influence.

5. Corruption: In Lebanon's case, the Syrian regime transformed a state, already ravaged with corruption and Barteel (primitive form of bribery) into a restriction-free zone for its illegal activities from drug trafficking to money laundering and out-right stealing through their Lebanese agents like Hezbollah and its Sunni and Christian cohorts. In Iran, the promise of an egalitarian Islamic Republic (Marxist style) turned into a repressive and incompetent regime where bureaucrats were replaced by the regime's cronies who lacked the skills needed to perform critical government functions. The regime guaranteed loyal following by supporters by continuing these hiring practices that eventually took hold of most government institutions. As a result, Ahmedinejad was elected by a high percentage of Iranians to counteract the Aytullahs turned oligarchs like Rafsanjani and politicians like Mousavi.

6. Lack of Opportunities: In a 2007 report UNICEF gave this grim account of Lebanon's dire situation: "Lebanese youth below the age of 25 years, who constitute more than half of the population, suffer from weak integration in the social environment and from the economic crisis. They are faced by unemployment due to lack of jobs, difficulty of getting into the work cycle and difficulty of securing a house or a place to live." The same goes for Iran where more than half of the population is under 25, suffering the wrath of an incompetent government, high unemployment rates and rampant poverty.

7. The Wisdom of the Crowd Surpassed that of their Leaders: The discontent with the extremists suppression reached critical mass and empowered the reform crowds in both countries to lead their leaders; not the other way around. Mousavi and March 14th leaders became mere symbols of forward progress. They now have to implement the changes dictated by the collective intelligence.

8. Dissonance: Social tension and unrest is the critical wave through which the evolutionary pulse becomes alive. What is happening now in Iran and still going on behind the scenes in Lebanon is the dissonance needed for emergence to happen. Since the start of the unrest in Iran Ayatollah Khamenei blamed it all on Israeli and American spies, and refuses to surrender to the will of the people. These tactics have proven successful in a region ravaged by internal dysfunction and a distrusting image of Western interference as Ahmadinajad gets sworn in for a second term. In Lebanon, the Hezbollah coalition after being defeated politically is now mobilizing its military, PR and Intelligence machine to keep holding Lebanon hostage. Their propagandist argument is that the Lebanese military is not ready to defend the country against the “Zionist Enemy.”

Conditions for Change

These patterns have taken 30 years to unfold in Iran and Lebanon. Do I expect that every country in the Middle East will take 30 years to emerge? Of course not. Do I expect immediate change to take hold just because Bush is gone? Of course not. Are we seeing signs of an evolutionary change? Absolutely. Graves-Beck theory sites the following six conditions for change:

• POTENTIAL in the brain syndicate of the culture

• SOLUTIONS for problems at present level

• DISSONANCE about conditions & future

• BARRIERS to change identified & managed

• INSIGHT into alternative forms & means

• CONSOLIDATION & SUPPORT in transition

Strong aspects of these conditions are present in both cultures. Change will not only affect Lebanon and Iran, but will culminate in a tipping point that will trigger change in the region. Over the decades, many factors influenced the underlying codes that cause change starting in recent history with the Israel/Palestine conflict, dictatorships, Marxism, the Cold War, Western interference, oil and many other factors. To the dismay of many, I have to give George Bush credit for focusing on what he called 'democracy' in the Middle East. Bush’s approach did not have a systemic strategy, but aimed at securing (not controlling) the oil reserve in the region. His hawkish Wild West-style philosophy created more dissonance, which is as I mentioned before is a critical condition for change. The pragmatists in the Middle East snatched the opportunity to distance themselves from the “American enemy” and raise their voices either against him or against their country’s oppressive regimes.

How the US can Play a Sustainable Role

As President Obama is now trying to give legitimacy to American interference in the region, he is seen as both, friendly and weak. His speech in Egypt termed historic by Western media, received mixed reviews in the Muslim world. Extremists adopted a wait-and-see attitude while progressives found many good points in his call for mutual respect and promise of no meddling. These same progressive thinking academic and community leaders were also critical of his constant reference to his Muslim background and quoting the Quran when the issues of extremism, poverty and oppression are not only about Islam, but are part and parcel of US support of repressive regimes. The hope speech ran aground in a region facing insurmountable challenges that first world countries can’t even fathom. Millions of Egyptian children on the streets of Cairo go to sleep hungry every night while their leaders continue to squander billions in US aid. The same is repeated throughout the Muslim world with only a few exceptions.

US policy cannot afford to be hawkish like Bush was on one end or idealistic like the Obama Administration is being on the other. It has to strike a balance—in actions on the ground and not in rhetoric—between pressuring the authoritarian regimes to reform and withholding both financial and military aid. A deeper US commitment will require a shift from the current paradigm of what is best for us to what is best for a globally interwoven world that takes into consideration the Memetic contours and patterns of emergence in the region.

Elza S. Maalouf is an Arab-American futurist and cultural development specialist focusing her work on cultural, business and political reform in the Arab world. As one of the foremost futurists and expert in Memetics of the Middle East, Elza was named one of today’s brightest minds. She is co-founder of the Center for Human Emergence Middle East, a think tank that emphasizes the scientific understanding of cultures through the prism of the "bio-psycho-social systems" framework of Clare W. Graves and his colleague and successor Dr. Don Beck. She has pioneered the Integral movement and the application of Spiral Dynamics integral in the Middle East. In her iPolitics blog, Maalouf examines Memetic patterns of emergence in the region and offers analysis of the anatomy of conflicts in the Muslim World.

Her firm Integral Insights Consulting (IIC) is advising business leaders on uniquely Arab integral design for business in the post-oil era with a focus on their most precious resource, their Gen Y.

"A Requiem for the Age of Oil:" Affecting Gen Y & Women in the Muslim World

2009-07-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

In their series "Speaking to Futurists," EnlightenNext asked Ray Kurzweil, John Peterson, Patricia Aburdene, Joel Garreau and myself about " The biggest shift or shifts in the next few years."

My topic was the Middle East and the Muslim world. Here's a snippet from the interview posted on EnlightenNext website:

“We’re entering a requiem for the age of oil,” says Lebanon-born cultural development expert Elza Maalouf, “one that will no doubt push oil-rich countries to look for other ways to enrich themselves.” Maalouf, who heads up the Center for Human Emergence—Middle East, has some cutting-edge ideas about just how these nations might go about doing that.

In this interview with EnlightenNext senior editor Elizabeth Debold, Maalouf outlines some of the most promising trends she sees emerging across the Muslim world. Maalouf is not your average international development consultant. A former lawyer and corporate executive with over a decade of experience in depth psychology and consciousness studies, her specialty is finding practical, on-the-ground applications for the theoretical framework of cultural evolution known as Spiral Dynamics. She says that the future of the Middle East will be decided by how much these oil-rich nations support the development of their most valuable resource: their own people. Drawing on her work in countries across the region like Syria, Palestine, and Qatar, she explains why she thinks that expanding the opportunities for women and the rising generation of young people (the vast majority of the population) is the biggest challenge and opportunity for Muslim countries as they transition into the twenty-first-century, globally connected world.

You can hear the whole interview here...

During the early days of the Iran GenY Internet revolution (June, July 09), Joel Pitney quoted my interview on his EnlightenNext blog confirming what I said about Muslim youths read more...

Here's my comment on Joel's blog post:

Dear Joel,

Thank you for initiating this timely debate. What is happening in Iran is a clear manifestation of the sea change taking place in the Muslim world which is triggered by countless Memetic factors that have converged to add complexity to the ‘habitat’ of the culture. This phenomenon is in turn activating more complexity in the “biospychosocial systems” of that culture. In an era where technological complexity is surpassing brain complexity, emergence of cultures is exponentially accelerated. In the case of Iran as you mentioned, Gen Y is maximizing its use of the Internet and IT, and no longer accepts the Mullah’s narrow definition of worldview. Iranian women are maximizing the use of what I call IMT - Innovations in Memetic Technology-. These are the skills that read the cultural DNA and provide the appropriate support through culturally-fit solutions.
My work for the last 20 years in the Muslim world has been to interpret and document these memetic changes, while working in the field as a business consultant and socio-political adviser. This is what allows me to uncover the deeper patterns of emergence rather than just trends and surface changes.
When I mentioned a “Requiem for the Age of Oil,” it was a reference to oil being the currency that rarely contributed to the development of human resources in those countries, and only concentrated the wealth in the hands of the few. The data is clear about peak oil, as most OPEC countries are facing higher costs for extracting every additional barrel, and after 9/11 the West woke up to the reality of the environmental and national security consequences of its dependency on oil . I am talking here about ‘tipping points’ or phenomena that are accelerating change dramatically while keeping in mind that change in the developmental stages of cultures might take decades.
The largest producers of oil like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE are now focused on building their infrastructure; from traditional manufacturing in Saudi Arabia to Ivy League type higher education in UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Currently the Persian Gulf is the home of the most ambitious government spending programs to fully develop a full range of industrial capacity with a focus on solar farms and green cities.
These measures towards self-reliance will drastically reduce the unemployment rates and offer job opportunities to Gen Y and women in specific. These home grown 1st world type conditions will bring equality and educational standards that fit the unique contours of each culture, rather than a Western projection of what equality ‘should’ mean to emerging cultures.

Since the brief interview in EnlightenNext was subject specific, we couldn’t cover intricate details. You can read my iPolitics blog and a more detailed essay on the patterns of emergence in the Middle East with a comparative study of these patterns in Iran and Lebanon

Obama Should Not Interfere Publicly in Iran's Elections

2009-06-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

I don't give President Obama high marks on several foreign policy issues, yet when it comes to his tempered response to the 'sham' elections in Iran, I fully support his stance.

Even Obama's presidential contender who claims to have more foreign policy expertise got it wrong. In his interview with Gretta Van Susteren, McCain insisted that the president should make a forceful declaration against the disputed results of the Iran presidential elections. In his interview today on NBC he gave more details, read here.

Here's why I disagree with Senator McCain.

In the hotspots of the Muslim world, the us vs. them is defined by extremists groups against pro-West groups. Progressives in Iran, Lebanon and Egypt are not seen by extremists as a product of the evolutionary pulse of the culture, rather as agents of the West. Cases in point:
When Condi Rice shook hands with the secular progressive Egyptian politician Ayman Nour, who led the Al Ghad party in opposing the dictatorship of President Husni Mubarak, demanding constitutional reform and respect for human rights, he was immediately vilified by the Muslim Brotherhood and considered an American agent. This was a huge set back for the secular reform movement in Egypt and consequently allowed more fundamentalism to spread.

Again, when Secretary Rice visited the pro-Western Prime Minister Seniora in Lebanon during Israel's war on Hezbollah in 2006, Hezbollah used this event to cast PM Seniora and the pro-West coalition in the role of Zionist sympathizers. Something that enraged even pro-West Lebanese who were in shelters and came out in support of Hezbollah while their country was under heavy bombardment from Israel. Hence, winning Hezbollah the Arab street support beyond Lebanon's borders that they still enjoy today.

For these reasons, and many others we've documented in Palestine, Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world, I believe that President Obama is doing the right thing. If he comes out in support of Mousavi and his Green movement, the whole movement will be treated like traitors. This will make the job of Ayatollah Khameini and Ahmedinejad so easy. They will concoct the evidence that Mousavi is an American agent. In addition, there is no doubt that the US is continuing its covert operations in Iran, through NGOs and other means. Why follow it with rehtoric that the Mullahs are anxiously awaiting to take advantage of.

These are internal dynamics in Iran that have been percolating for more than 30 years. It is Iranian themselves that deserve credit for this "Tehran Rising." and no one else.

This is where we should leave well alone and put the unclenched fist policy of this new administration to the test.

What are your thoughts?

The Wild Card that Could Delegitimize Hezbollah

2009-05-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Der-Spiegel reported few hours ago that the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Hariri, believes that Hezbollah is behind this heinous act. We don't know why the tribunal has been keeping this information a secret, especially that this might positively influence the outcome of the June 7 parliamentary elections in Lebanon. In positive I mean that it might tip the scales in favor of the progressives, pro-West candidates and away from extremists.

New Evidence Points to Hezbollah in Hariri Murder

By Erich Follath

The United Nations special tribunal investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri has reached surprising new conclusions -- and it is keeping them secret. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, investigators now believe Hezbollah was behind the Hariri murder.

It was an act of virtually Shakespearean dimensions, a family tragedy involving murder and suicide, contrived and real tears -- and a good deal of big-time politics.

REUTERS

The terror attack in Beirut on Valentine's Day, 2005: Intensive investigations in Lebanon are all pointing to Hezbollah and not Syria.

On February 14, 2005, Valentine's Day, at 12:56 p.m., a massive bomb exploded in front of the Hotel St. Georges in Beirut, just as the motorcade of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri passed by. The explosives ripped a crater two meters deep into the street, and the blast destroyed the local branch of Britain's HSBC Bank. Body parts were hurled as far as the roofs of surrounding buildings. Twenty-three people died in the explosion and ensuing inferno, including Hariri, his bodyguards and passersby...Read more

Biden's Lebanon SpeechReinforces the Lack of Foresight in US Foreign Policy

2009-05-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Joe Biden was in Lebanon today following Secretary Clinton's visit to reassure the pro-Western government (March 14 Movement) that the US is their staunch supporter despite the deals the Obama administration is trying to cut with Syria and Iran. The March 14 Movement formed as a reaction to the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the 5 time Prime Minister. It is widely believed in Lebanon and in Sunni Arab countries that Syrian-Iranian intelligence are responsible for Hariri's assassination.

The March 14th Movement fears that Obama will cave in to Syria's demands and grant the Syrians back the power they once had in running Lebanese internal affairs. To the Obama administration that's hell-bent on getting things done at neck-breaking speed, the thinking is that this move will accelerate the Arab Israeli peace process, and pry Syria out of Iran's tight grip. Knowing that Lebanon was the pawn thrown to the Syrians by Reagan in the place of the Golan Heights, the Lebanese are weary that Obama now is pursuing the same policy that will bring back the Syrians for another 30 years. Prying Syria from the hands of Iran is not only a far reaching and unattainable goal, but one that cannot be achieve since the West cannot offer Syria what it is getting from Iran: $1 Billion in subsidized Gas, the manufacturing of Syrian made cars and all the financing they need for supporting terrorism in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. These activities will keep Syria the uncontested power of the Arab world that the West must deal with.The old Western economic incentive to walk away from terrorism model has lost its luster since China is already making better deals and investments in Syria than the US with its current stance.

Speaking at the Presidential Palace in Beirut, Biden declared that "We will evaluate the shape of our assistance program based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates," a clear message to the Lebanese not to elect the Hezbollah led opposition.

Since the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri , (a close friend of the Bush family and France's Jacque Chirac) the US military aid to Lebanon has exceeded $400 Million, and more than a Billion in infrastructure and humanitarian aid. The military aid was always a source of dilemma for US administartion: on one hand, having strong military might help keep militias at check. On another, most Lebanese who enlist in the military are Shia with loyalty and a soft spot for Hezbollah.

Hezbollah criticized Biden's visit issuing the following statement "The high American interest in Lebanon raises strong suspicion as to the real reason behind it, especially since it has become a clear and detailed intervention in Lebanese affairs." This statement is coming from the same militia that gets its minute to minute instructions from Iran, and who's offices are adorned with pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei not the Lebanese President.

What Biden and the US administration do not get is that their $1 Billion support to the Lebanese Government is surpassed by Billions of dollars from Iran that are going to maintain Hezbollah's military superiority, direct aid to Hezbollah supporters in the form of housing, education, jobs, healthcare and a well run system of micro-lending for the poor.

For our US administration to be truly effective in its support of Lebanon, it needs to replace the vital services that are offered by Hezbollah, support the Lebanese government and pressure it to impose anti-corruption measurements (Lebanon rated high on corruption by Transparency International).

Talking to pro-West Lebanese on the ground, they tell me that they don't trust that the US administration considers Lebanon a vital issue to US' interests in the region. "Look at Syria. It's run by a dictator and hasn't launched a missile at Israel since 1971 even though Israel occupies the strategic Syrian Golan Heights. We are afraid that the US would rather have another dictator in Lebanon, one leader to deal with, in this case Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, " said Michael a lawyer in Beirut.

Why should Americans and Europeans be interested in Lebanese politics? It is because Lebanon is a mirror, a proxy turf for the internal conflicts in the Muslim world: between Sunni and Shia, progressive Sunnis/Shia and Sunni/Shia Zealots, and the West looking purely towards its own self-interest.

Kuwait Elections: A Win for Pragmatists, Not Just for Women

2009-05-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

As an Arab woman today, I am feeling elated about the four Kuwaiti women who won seats in the Parliament. This is an event that the whole region should be proud of. Four competent, well educated and accomplished women won on their own merit. One of the first MPs is the former Minister of Health Massuma al-Mubarak and the two University professors Salwa al-Jassar and Aseel al-Awadhi in addition to economist Rula Dashti.

Informed by Kuwaitis on the ground, I have been following the events leading up to these elections and searching for the underlying codes that prompted the change to happen. This change included over the years a democratic participation of Bedouin tribes, Shia minority and Islamic extremist movements like HADS (Hizb Al Dusturi Al Islami-Constitutional Islamic Party), Salafis along with the original families of Kuwait who came from Hijaz, and now women. The leaders in Kuwait, influenced by Arab Nationalism (led by Jamal Abdel Nasser at the time) and Kuwaiti visionaries, recognized the change of the dynamics in Kuwaiti society and expanded the representative branch to include members of the new movements. Unlike the other frequently praised democracy of Lebanon which was influenced by the French colonialists -who supported the Maronites- and based purely on sectarianism. The Iranian-Syrian intra-secterian interference in Lebanon is keeping the sectarian parliamentary system in place, and in the process denying Lebanese their quest for a progressive nation.

The women suffrage movement in Kuwait was not initiated by women only, it was supported and led by progressive men as well, who believed in equal participation in public service. It was so recent that they gained the right to vote, yet they historically played a central role in the development of the country.

The Role of Women in Kuwaiti History

A quick look back at the cultural codes that led to creating a stratified democracy in Kuwait, one that fits the value-systems of the state. Along with my readings on this Constitutional Monarchy Emirate to be precise), I was briefed on the critical role that women played in Kuwait since the inception of the Emirate. Kuwaiti men were the early traders of the Arabian peninsula, trading Indian spices, pearls and dates from Iraq with Europe and India. Kuwaiti innovation in the building of ships allowed them to go farther than any traders in the region. Men spent more than 9 months away from home, and women had to be in charge of the extended family which lived together in an extended family compound. These women developed a very effective system to run the large household using humble means to keep the family properly fed, healthy and thriving. Kuwait became a Matriarchal based society out of necessity. With the discovery of oil in the early 50's , girls schools were built next to boys schools and fathers insisted on sending their daughters along with their sons to be educated in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. Today, many young Kuwaiti men and women are graduating from Ivy League schools and going back to their country to help run the affairs of their country and start successful businesses.

Unlike in any other Emirate or Monarchy in the region, Kuwaiti women became business leaders and were appointed to high ranking positions in the public sector since Kuwait's independence in 1961. Today, Kuwaiti women enjoy equal pay in the private sector as well.

Of course, Kuwait has its long laundry list of problems starting with the "Bedoun" (In Arabic the word means "the ones without") In this case the ones without a Kuwaiti nationality, limited rights of foreign workers and the list goes on... An article written by Next Generation Fellow Sula Al-Naqueeb at our Center for Human Emergence explains further these complex issues in Kuwait.

Women were only granted the right to vote in 2005 after a long struggle with Islamists' influence. This right has long been denied to women for the fear that women in the Bedouin and Islamist communities will be forced by their husbands to vote for the candidate that the male in the family chooses. That will not be a true win to women's suffrage. In 2006 two women ran for parliament and failed. This 2009 election season each of these four women won by a landslide compared to their next opponent. Islamists lost 10 seats and only held on to 11 from the original 21. The seats held by Shiite MPs -- Shia are 1/3 of the population -- increased from 5 to 9. Liberals won 8 seats gaining 1. Analysts say that this parliament might be dissolved if it shows any signs of adopting extremist views. The Emir has done this a few times before when Islamists and few other MPs wanted to prosecute cabinet members on ungrounded basis in most cases, just to disrupt the democratic process and gain fame.

Islamist Defeat

The Islamist defeat marks a significant tipping point in the conflict between Muslim pragmatists/moderates and the zealots in the Middle East. A behind-the-scenes conflict has been brewing the last two years between Nationalists and Progressive Kuwaitis on one side and Islamists on the other (both Sunni and Shia extremists). Here are some events that shifted power away from extemists:

When Imad Mughnyia, one of Hezbollah's notorious leaders, was assassinated in Syria, two Kuwaiti Shiite MPs organized a commemoration in Kuwait. This act aggravated most Kuwaitis since Mugghnia and Hezbollah were responsible for hijacking a Kuwaiti airliner in 1984, and were setting up secret Hezbollah cells in Kuwait.

Other Sunni-Islamists MPs sided with Hamas during the Gaza/Israel war, and demanded that citizens not celebrate the Kuwaiti National day in alliance with Palestinians in Gaza. That would have been respected by all Kuwaitis, even though they have a bad history with the Palestinians who sided with Saddam Hussein during his invasion of Kuwait in 1990. However, what tipped the situation was that those same Islamists who forbad Kuwaitis from celebrating their national day in the streets, were secretly filmed dancing the Dabkeh (traditional Palestinian dance) with Hamas supporters. (This was seen as hypocritical since Islamists shun any type of music or dance considering it haram -- forbidden). Kuwaitis who saw this footage on Scope Satellite TV, called in the TV's talk shows and expressed their anger at Islamists. One woman suggested that all Kuwaitis take to the streets and their rooftops and shout "Allah Akbar" in objection to Islamists hijaking their country, an act they once performed in defiance of Saddam's invading forces. The next day many people did just that. This same act of defiance against the internal invasion of Kuwaiti freedoms eventually led to the unseating of extremist MP's.

Indigenous Exercise in Democracy

Why am I mentioning these details? In a region in danger of falling prey to extreme ideologies spun by the likes of Al-Qaeda, Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran, and a failed attempt at democratization by the West, this indigenous exercise in democracy is a model that could be fostered in other parts of the Middle East and the Muslim World and a worthy lesson in Memetics for the West.

For a two week period before the elections, the Emir opened his palace to the people, asking them to share their suggestions for much-needed changes in the distribution of electoral regions. The Emir, like every ruler before him, kept an age old tradition in opening his palace, and visiting the Dywanyias of the founding families of Kuwait. Dywanyia is an added section to many homes in Kuwait where men gather to discuss politics, religion, social issues, poetry, and philosophy -- depending on the inclination of the household. For the first time in recent history, women sought the all-male Dywanyia as one of their platforms to present their agendas. What started as a daring attempt by 2 women candidates in 2005 grew into a synergistic movement in 2009. Massuma Al-Mubarak was surprised to see that many Dywanyias took the initiative to organize events for her. In most other Dywanyias she had to ask. A patriotic super-ordinate goal prompted men to open their sacred Dywanyias to women!

The Emir's public space and the changing roles of Dywanyias are a great model of how Kuwait kept its tribal traditions and included them to serve the progress of the country.

When I read in Western newspapers an open or underlying criticism of the fact that the Emir still appoints the cabinet, I cringe at the sheer ignorance of cultural codes that we so frequently miss in diagnosing young democracies. Kuwait's Parliament is one of the strongest democratic bodies in the Arab world, but when it is manipulated by Islamists who have been gaining more power after the Iraq war, it becomes imperative for the ruler to have the last word. Moreover, this ruler has a system of accountability inside Kuwait represented by the heads of the different clans. Now who wouldn't want a democracy a la Kuwait in Afghanistan?

June 7th Elections in Lebanon Threaten Christians' Existence in the Middle East

2009-05-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

That threat does not come from Islam!

It is an existential threat that can jeopardize the progress that Muslim pragmatists (both, Shia and Sunni) have made in the Middle East. In this region of the world where Iran is trying to revive the Persian empire with a new ideology based on their brand of Shiism, power brokers like Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria are forming an unholy alliance that is guaranteed to keep the region behind. On the surface, the message of this alliance appeals to many in the Arab world as the defender of Arab honor against the assault of what is surely viewed as the Zionists and their American sponsors. The disgruntled Arab street that is suppressed by archaic and dysfunctional regimes, is looking for the next step beyond the stalemate of political corruption, high unemployment, poverty and illiteracy. Ahmedinejad has more supporters among Arabs than among Iranians. The Arab street that saw many US administrations siding with Israel and corrupt Arab regimes over many decades, see a hero in the president of Iran.

In Spiral Dynamics integral Memetic speak, the unhealthy Orange value system-(Enterprise) that represented the West's hunger for oil kept Red Arab regimes in power to control the flow of oil. Red-Power centered regimes oppressed their people, offered mediocre education, no jobs and beefed up their own Swiss bank account while the Arab masses in their respective countries lived in abject poverty. Hezbollah, Hamas and even Ahmedinejad represent a much needed Blue value system that gives structure and a sense of purpose while at the same time providing the Red-Pride of identity. Regardless of what the West thinks of these rogue movements, they fill a vacuum that Arab regimes have created themselves by not addressing the needs of their own people while the West looked the other way.

Politics in Lebanon is never local, it is always regional if not international. Lebanese democracy since its inception in 1943 was always a proxy field for the regions' feuds. Now that Khamenei, the Qum spiritual leader of Iran, is aiming to establish Wilayat Al Faquih, or Islamic Imarat in the region, he is achieving his aim through Hezbollah and the popularity of its leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah has an army of 50,000 soldiers ready to take over Lebanon at any minute. However, the Hezbollah leader who studied Sun Tzu' the Art of War knows better than to attack his compatriots and loose his popularity. He masterfully formed an alliance with defeated leaders of Christian, Sunni and Druze clans who were rivals of March 14th movement, the pro-government, pro-West alliance. Hezbollah's new allies are lead by General Michel Aoun the former head of the Lebanese Army who lived in exile for more than 10 years. By creating such alliance, Nasrallah was able to split the Christian leadership between loyalty to the Shia crescent Hezbollah-Syria-Iran under Aoun, and loyalty to a Lebanese identity and pro-Western movement under Sameer Geagea.

With Christians facing discrimination in Egypt, and fleeing Iraq and the West Bank, the survival of Christianity in the Middle East relies on one man winning in this election- Samir Geagea. Geagea, a fearsome Christian militia leader during the 17 year Lebanese war, went through a spiritual and philosophical transformation during his 11 years in prison. The pro-Syrian government at the time of his imprisonment offered him a seat in the cabinet or else he was to be prosecuted for his war crimes and go to jail. Since he was a staunch enemy of the Syrians who occupied Lebanon for more than 30 years he chose the latter.

I myself was never a Geagea supporter, nor a supporter of Aoun. As a resident of the Bekaa, I always felt that the Maronite militias of Beirut and Mount Lebanon did not care about the rest of the country. But this is 2009, and the fight is no longer among local parties and militias in Lebanon. It is the nuclear threat of Iran against peace and progress in the region. These regional and local dynamics that are directly destabilizing Lebanon's democracy and the role that progressive Christians and Muslims play in the development of the country and the whole Middle East.

Nasrallah, speaking at a university graduation ceremony in Beirut said "I tell those who are betting on the [Hezbollah-led] opposition's failure during elections: The resistance that defeated Israel can govern a country that is 100 times larger than Lebanon." He was speaking of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah where Israel destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure and Nasrallah sacrificed the lives of 1000 Lebanese. With Hezbollah's ideology of death and power-god mindset, my brother in Lebanon warns me "prepare to wear a hijab when you arrive to Beirut's airport next time, if Hezbollah wins."

When we talk about elections Lebanon style, we are talking about bought elections. More than 10,000 Lebanese from the diaspora were issued plane tickets mostly by Hezbollah to go to Lebanon and vote for the opposition. A single "paid" vote can represent a full month's salary for some families. Paying for medical supplies, children's private school tuition, and providing a guarrantee for employment is how you get votes in Lebanon. Of course, cash is always king and the candidate who shows the voter the most, wins. I couldn't help but laugh when I read that the envoy of the UN in Lebanon, Michael Williams, assured the only woman candidate from my town Zahle in the Bekaa valley-the hub of Hezbollah- that he will make sure the elections are fully transparent. The woman candidate herself , Magda Breidi a competent lawyer, is paying more than 1 million dollars to secure a seat in the Parliament.

Former Secretary of State Madelein Albright, visited the leaders of March 14th last week to convey the support of the Obama administration, and promised to come back and monitor the elections. Secretary Clinton also made a stop in Lebanon on her way from Iraq to assure Prime Minister Seniora the US' full cooperation with the pro-west movement.

My fear is that the hearts and minds of more than half of the Lebanese are with the opposition. Again, because they are not getting the services they need from their government in a country beaten down by years of wars and constant Syrian-Iranian interference.

Does our US administration understand the Memetic dynamics in Lebanon? Do they understand that voting is not based on principles in most cases, but based on which Zae'em (Feudal leader) puts their son in school, helps them get the loan they need, secures jobs for their college graduates and paves the roads they drive to their house...

Why should the world care about Lebanon in memetic speak or about the progressive Christians and Muslims? It is because Christian thinkers originally brought Blue-Nationalism to the Levant area, and now progressive Christians, Muslims and Druze are the one who are keeping Blue-Nationalism and Orange-Enterprise alive!

Time for the West to understand Memetics and start intervening in the region based on what the region needs developmentally to help it emerge. The responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of Middle Easterners themselves, but the West must work with them systemically to pry the region out of the hands of these false prophets.

Natural Design principles for Madrasas in Pakistan and Afghanistan

2009-05-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

On today's Fareed Zakaria's show, GPS, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates admitted that power alone will not achieve the US' goals in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. In the Secretary's speech to the National Defense University he stressed that "Our National Defense Strategy is BALANCE..." Included in this strategy is counter-insurgency operation manuals, Special Forces and Navy programs and "A variety of initiatives are underway that better integrate and coordinate U.S. military efforts with civilian agencies as well as engage the expertise of the private sector, including NGOs and academia."

I did not expect the Secretary of Defense in his speech at NDU to go into details on how to integrate military and civilian efforts. This lack of specificity has been a theme with Clinton, Gates and even Zoellick, president of the World Bank. They all talk about integrated efforts, smart power and societal issues as a complementary part to their strategies, a kind of a by-product that they stumbled upon when their initial strategies did not work. These societally-fit and culturally-fit strategies should be an integral part of our defense, diplomacy and development strategies. In light of the failures we face — economic, political and military — the central theme of our Foreign policy has to change to include at its center a comprehensive understanding of the underlying codes of the cultures we operate in.

This is the basis of the value-based concept of Innovations in Memetic Technologies — IMT^® for short. I have been developing these value-based technologies throughout the years of my work in tribal and feudal cultures, from the early days of being a community organizer and attorney in the Middle East, and later framed by my work with Dr. Don E. Beck on his Large Scale Branch of Psychology.

One of the most effective tools we use in IMT^® is based on the framework of Natural Design Principles (Graves-Beck) which in its simplest form asks the following questions in order of importance:

WHERE (Geo-Social Landscape) are these people we want to lead/teach/reform?

WHAT is the overarching goal of this project or intervention?

WHO are they? What are their capacities? Their Value-systems? their belief-systems? their history? religion? tribal loyalties etc....

After assessing these essential element of our systemic strategies for change, we now decide on HOW to implement this change? and Change from WHAT to WHAT?

Reforming Madrasas Based on these Principles:

Madrasas' Islamic education has been an important part of the educational system in Afghanistan and became increasingly important in Pakistan, especially after 9/11 as it became a fear-based defense of Islam against the "onslaught of the West." Madrasa literately means "school" in Arabic, but in the context of these two countries, it is translated in a strict adherence to the study of the Quran and to extreme teachings of Islam. A good Muslim is encouraged to memorize the Quran, and sadly the feudal tribes and strategic exploiters use such nobel purposes to manipulate students into their self-serving ideologies and to fulfill their dreams of a radicalized brand of Islamic Imarat.

These Saudi-financed madrasas operated in poor areas where there was no access to education, and many of the Taliban were educated in these institutions that teach the Wahhabi brand of Islam. Wahhabism was initiated in Saudi Arabia to rid Islam of innovation and bring it back to a literal translation of the Quran. Initially, the Saudis used the Madrasas to counteract the Soviet spread in Afghanistan. A good idea at the time (maybe) that turned toxic and focused on extremism and hatred of the West. Unfortunately, neither the Saudis nor the successive US administrations at the time had social scientists or psychologists to help analyze how such institutions will affect future generations in tribal and feudal cultures.

Now, with hundreds of books and volumes of research written about this subject, the issue we're facing is what to do about these madrasas:

Do we shut them down and restart the educational system with weak governments and weak security forces? if not, how can we deal with the new generation of Taliban that these madrasas are producing?

Using the above stated steps, we start by looking at the Life Conditions surrounding these madrasas: poor neglected areas with cult figures of Taliban giving a sense of identity and a sense of purpose to kids who know they would have amounted to nothing unless they belonged to a powerful clan like the Taliban. "Going to heaven and meeting the 72 virgins" is not the main attraction in many cases. It is unfortunately money. Making a living, supporting their parents and later their families, and having a status in the community are the biggest attractions to these young men. In a culture where the cast system is prevalent, having a status in society by any means is important. The governments in these countries, like in many developing countries are consumed by corruption and most politicians put self-interest ahead of National interest. Billions of dollars in aid over the years, have been re-directed to leaders personal bank accounts abroad, and donor countries always failed to avoid these pitfalls. (This is a very similar situation to Hezbollah's rise in Lebanon.)

Considering these facts and other external/Western factors that contributed to the rise of fundamentalism, it would be wise to keep the already existing madrasas and start with subtle changes led by religious authorities who are passionate Muslims, but not antagonistic to development and progress. The religious structure of madrasas and mosques can serve a great purpose in the lives of Pakistanis and Afghans if imbued with the right content of teachings.

I recommend the initial steps for change to be the following:

Lincense the madrasa teachers. A program to license the teachers of madrasas with higher wages and cash bonus incentives. Licensing would mean that they adhere to a common curriculum that teaches the true spirit of Islam, and can be monitored by community leaders and the council of elders. Tribal communities hold a lot of respect to their elders, and reject outside interventions from police and government. (This would help honor the traditions of the tribes and clans while subtlly changing cultural implications and creating an open society)

Draw from the legacy of Muslim scientists and history. Adding Math and Science to the exclusively religious content, based on the work of great Muslim scientists like Averos (Ibn Sina) and Al-Bayruni whose contribution to physics and mathematics give Muslims a lot of pride.

Add Music curricula for brain development. Music should be an essential component of these schools: since the Taliban despise music, maybe religious chanting with the use of simple instruments can be a place to start.

Call on the grandmothers. Kids at the age of 5 and 6 years old from these madrasas are now joining the Taliban, and are taught not speak to women; which makes it hard for women in those circles to have much influence. However, grandmothers are always respected and feared and, if well informed, they can positively influence the minds of these young boys.

A comprehensive plan should be designed for such change to happen, one that coalesces the efforts of our Defense Department, State Department, local governments, NGOs and local community programs. I have only touched on key points that might start the process. This is to show that we cannot keep throwing money at the Pakistani military (the US gave more than 10 Billion to the Pakistani army in the last 8 years), without having an equal strategy to change the habitat that is creating those extremist cells. That is the "balance" that needs to take place along with the military, counterinsurgency and economic strategies to help that region. If such coalescence takes root our entire Foreign policy will be redefined to be more effective, respectful and sustainable.

Hillary Clinton's 100 days in the Muslim World

2009-05-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Secretary Clinton said, "Foreign policy must be based on a marriage of principles and pragmatism, not rigid ideology. …We must use what has been called “smart power”: the full range of tools at our disposal – diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural – picking the right tool, or combination of tools, for each situation. With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign policy.”

I salute the Secretary for a well thought out concept of 'Smart Power' vs. hard power or soft power. She has no doubt started a new era of diplomacy that might go beyond what her husband was able to do with foreign policy. My hope is that will be a combination of both soft and hard, plus insightful power. However, Clinton's definition of "smart power" misses the viewing lenses through which we want to design our diplomatic, economic, military....and cultural interventions.

It is not enough to use principles and pragmatism, we need to use stratified strategies that are designed to meet the underlying codes that shaped each culture throughout history and the new elements that are shaping these codes now. This is what we call Integral strategies: WHY do they think or behave this way? How are they incorporating 21st century technology with thousands of years of tribal traditions? It is not enough to use "the tools" that are available to us, but also to know HOW to Fit these tools, to help these people, living in those life conditions.

How can we help Afghanis and Pakistanis build an educational system that will not collide with the widely accepted Madrassas? (Check my blog tomorrow about this subject)
What kind of modern indigenous architecture should we encourage NGOs and governments to use in building their new hospitals, schools and living quarters in these emerging countries?
What is the role of women in these cultures? do we want to liberate them in our Western style? Or listen to the intelligences in the culture and help them design a system that suits their needs? My experience for many years working with bright Palestinian, Syrian and Muslim women from different countries, taught me that these bright women (who might not speak English) know exactly what is needed to move their culture to a better place. They can be the architects of development of their own countries. Here's a example from Build Palestine Initiative, a grassroots movement I have been helping design in Palestine since 2005 that takes into account the integral principles and processes and the importance of starting with the codes that are shaping the culture. In this article and video we show an example of the dangers we face when not designing for the culture, from costing our tax payers million of dollars to prolonging the effect of conflicts and not bearing results: here Palestinian women speak about the clash between USAID's idea of women's abstract empowerment and our Palestinian women's idea of practical and sustainable empowerment Click here for more...
How can we coalesce the efforts of Gen Y leaders in the region while trying to support their efforts in changing their countries? Why should we help their governments and NGOs design a comprehensive plan to provide a 21st century education, 21st century jobs and encourage innovation. This is the kind of prideful endeavors that these young Muslim men and women are looking for.

In an ever increasing "Flat world" where more colliding value systems and mindsets are meeting at airports, in businesses and on the internet than ever before, and underlying clash of cultural memes and codes is rising every minute and everyday, not and epic clash of civilizations. My hope is that Secretary Clinton can widen her definition of 'Smart Power' to include the essential memetic elements that will define the new paradigm of our foreign policy.

Obama's first 100 days in the Muslim World

2009-05-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

"United States of America is not at war with Islam" president Obama boldly declared in Ankara, Turkey and went on to visiting the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, one of the largest of its kind outside the Arab Peninsula.

The president's strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world is off to a good start.

Here's the Good Start:

In his inauguration speech the President stressed the use of"mutual respect," as a key phrase with a culture that has been feeling demonized for many internal and external reasons.

The first interview he gave to and an international TV network, was with Al-Arabiya a moderate network (dare I say pragmatic) that counteracts the sensationalism and inflammatory reporting of Al-Jazeera (however, al-jazeera produces excellent documentaries on the Muslim world). Obama's interview was well received, and promised to "not only promote an American Agenda, but also to help develop the region." Leaders and pundits in the Arab world praised him, but had a wait-and-see attitude. His Nawruz address to Iran was a good conversation starter with the Iranian people, especially the majority that opposes Ahmedinejad's reckless statements and governing style.

Realizing that Pakistan presents more of an explosive problem than Afghanistan, his administration along with the Japanese secured $ 5 Billion in commitments to Pakistan "to bolster the country's economy and help fight terror and Islamic radicalism" within the country.

Closing Guitmo, was not only an ethical decision based on the Geneva convention and that "the US does not torture," but also a winning strategy against Al-Qaeda's propaganda machine.

Here's where more complexity is needed:

His promise to pull out from Iraq in mid 2010 might be a clever message that might appease the fears of Iraqis and the Arab world, but is not a realistic strategy according to many generals in the Pentagon and in view of a weak Iraqi government and an escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. To most Iraqis this government is considered an American puppet and if history of Iraq tells anything, the power lords in Iraq will not rest until they are ruled by an iron fist. My hope is that any autocratic regime that will appear when the US leaves will be one that is more open to the West.

Sending 18 or 20 Thousand more troops to Afghanistan without systemically addressing the complex underlying problem, will never produce the intended results. The build up in troops must be equally and systemically accompanied by efforts to strengthen the government and security forces while building the culturally-fit institutional, educational and economic infrastructure. Short of doing that, we will repeat the same mistakes that the Carter administration committed in that country.

In their testimony on the Hill, four veterans who served in Afghanistan and managed to establish good relationships with the tribes, complained about the rotation issue of the soldiers. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Genevieve Chase, who served as an intelligence soldier with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan in 2006, said troops should be allowed to extend their tours, if requested.“In a culture where a man’s trust and respect is earned with time, loyalty and devotion to a cause, we rotate out units every six to 12 months,” she said.

The other major issue for that country is that the Afghan security forces' loyalty is to their tribes and clans not to an almost non-existing nation; which makes it harder for our troops to train them.

Obama's administration does not yet have a comprehensive plan on how to address the Swat Valley issue in Pakistan and now the spread of Taliban in the Punjab province - the most economically viable province in Pakistan with half of the Pakistani population living in it. I did not expect our president to find immidiate solutions to such a gynormic problem in the first 100 days of his presidency. However, I did expect to see a systemic framework that includes simultaneous strategies to help resolve this pressing challenge. (I will explain the difference between Systemic, strategic and tactical process in future blogs).

Calling on Muslims to Protest Against Those Who Hijacked Islam

2009-04-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Many successful initiatives are led by Muslim visionaries all over the world to bring forth the true face of Islam as a religion and of Muslims as economists, educators, business people, journalists, inventors, mothers, fathers and just good abiding citizens. Efforts to reform Islam internally and reverse the stereotypes is gaining momentum, but not fast enough to counteract the violent mindsets that are destroying the Muslim culture from within. Unfortunately, Violence spreads much faster than pragmatism. The 24 hour news media feeds on such sensational stories, but will feature once a month a short segment about a positive projects led by a Muslim woman or man.

A story last week about another beaheading in a public square in Afghanistan motivated me to call on Muslims to protest against the hijackers of Islam from within.

I was in Dubai when Muslims banded together and rose to the occasion to protest the Danish Cartoons which they considered blasphemous. Many of my Muslim Colleagues were deeply hurt and outraged and decided to write articles to educate the West on why this act would be offensive to their religious sensitivities. In case that didn't work, they studied strategies on how to boycott Danish products and send an economic message that the West will understand. I completely respected their thinking, since this was a pragmatic way to deal with a potentially danger situation.

Alas, back then the pragmatists' voices disappeared and the flamethrowers fanned the violence and manipulated the masses leading narrow minded people in demonstrations and in burning of Western flags. An act of violent anger that never produces positive results; on the contrary it makes the Muslim world look like a monolithic entity of ignorance and barbaric reaction. Which is NOT a true depiction of reality.

With the news of this beheading, I ask: Why don't the pragmatist in Islam rise against such inhuman act and create the strategies to counteract the unhealthy tribal values of Taliban and defend Islam?

In the same spirit of defense of Islam that made the irrationals protest with violence, I am calling on the pragmatists to defend the spirit of Islam by demonstrating and protesting against the archaic treatment of women in the Taliban society. This story of Taliban executing an Afghan couple that eloped, brought back memories of beheadings in the public square that was practiced for more than a decade in Afghanistan...

The AP reports "A Taliban firing squad killed a young couple in southwestern Afghanistan for trying to elope, shooting them with AK-47s in front of a crowd in a lawless, militant-controlled region, officials said Tuesday.The woman, 19-year-old Gul Pecha, and the man, 21-year-old Abdul Aziz, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, officials said." Later the Telegraph reported that the girl was 14, and the young man was 17 years old!

Wouldn't you want to protest against such an inhuman act?

In the next few posts I will outline a MeshWork(TM) of solutions that will help in creating a Tipping Point for the emergence of the Muslim world. This MeshWorks is informed by systemic thinkers in the Muslim world, and designed according to the processes and principles of Large Scale Psychology.

My Interview about the Future of Middle East with EnlightenNext: WIE Unbound

2009-04-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

WIE Unbound delivers fresh weekly audios, videos, and downloadable MP3s featuring the leading-edge visionaries, mystics, scientists, philosophers, and activists found in the pages of EnlightenNext magazine. http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/unbound/home.asp?ifr=hp-unb

This interview was part of a several interviews with Futurists.

Speaking with Futurists: Part III –
The Future of the Middle East

"In this interview with EnlightenNext senior editor Elizabeth Debold, Elza Maalouf outlines some of the most promising trends she sees emerging across the Muslim world." You can read part and listen to a part of the interview here: http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/unbound/media.asp?id=268

S.O.S from Zimbabwe: Why isn't the world outraged?

2008-12-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

I received this letter from Alan Tonkin, our colleague in South Africa who spent years working in Zimbabwe to help prevent this collapse. Allas, it takes a strong world community, and an effective UN to change things around.

Please circulate this letter from John Winter to show the plight of the amazing people of Zimbabwe:

Letter from Zimbabwe sent in by John Winter

I reckon that these are the last days of TKM and ZPF. The darkest hour is always before dawn.

We are all terrified at what they are going to destroy next........I mean they are actually ploughing down brick and mortar houses and one family with twin boys of 10 had no chance of salvaging anything when 100 riot police came in with AK47's and bulldozers and demolished their beautiful house - 5 bedrooms and pine ceilings - because it was 'too close to the airport', so we are feeling extremely insecure right now.

You know - I am aware that this does not help you sleep at night, but if you do not know - how can you help? Even if you put us in your own mental ring of light and send your guardian angels to be with us - that is a help -but I feel so cut off from you all knowing I cannot tell you what's going on here simply because you will feel uncomfortable. There is no ways we can leave here so that is not an option.

I ask that you all pray for us in the way that you know how, and let me know that you are thinking of us and sending out positive vibes... that's all. You can't just be in denial and pretend/believe it's not going on.

To be frank with you, it's genocide in the making and if you do not believe me, read the Genocide Report by Amnesty International which says we are - IN level 7 - (level 8 is after it's happened and everyone is in denial).

If you don't want me to tell you these things-how bad it is-then it means you have not dealt with your own fear, but it does not help me to think you are turning your back on our situation. We need you, please, to get the news OUT that we are all in a fearfully dangerous situation here. Too many people turn their backs and say - oh well, that's what happens in Africa

This Government has GONE MAD and you need to help us publicize our plight---or how can we be rescued? It's a reality! The petrol queues are a reality, the pall of smoke all around our city is a reality, the thousands of homeless people sleeping outside in 0 Celsius with no food, water, shelter and bedding are a reality. Today a family approached me, brother of the gardener's wife with two small children. Their home was trashed and they will have to sleep outside. We already support 8 adult people and a child on this property, and electricity is going up next month by 250% as is water.

How can I take on another family of 4 -----and yet how can I turn them away to sleep out in the open?

I am not asking you for money or a ticket out of here - I am asking you to FACE the fact that we are in deep and terrible danger and want you please to pass on our news and pictures. So PLEASE don't just press the delete button! Help best in the way that you know how.

Do face the reality of what is going on here and help us SEND OUT THE WORD.. The more people who know about it, the more chance we have of the United Nations coming to our aid. Please don't ignore or deny what's happening.
Some would like to be protected from the truth BUT then, if we are eliminated, how would you feel? 'If only we knew how bad it really was we could have helped in some way'.

[I know we chose to stay here and that some feel we deserve what's coming to us]

For now,--- we ourselves have food, shelter, a little fuel and a bit of money for the next meal - but what is going to happen next? Will they start on our houses? All property is going to belong to the State now. I want to send out my Title Deeds to one of you because if they get a hold of those, I can't fight for my rights.

Censorship!----We no longer have SW radio [which told us everything that was happening] because the Government jammed it out of existence - we don't have any reporters, and no one is allowed to photograph. If we had reporters here, they would have an absolute field day. Even the pro-Government Herald has written that people are shocked, stunned, bewildered and blown mindless by the wanton destruction of many folks homes, which are supposed to be 'illegal' but for which a huge percentage actually do have licenses.

Please! - do have some compassion and HELP by sending out the articles and personal reports so that something can/may be done.

'I am one. I cannot do everything, ---but I can do something.. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God,
I will do.'

Edward Everett Hale

Please send this on to everyone in your address book. We send jokes out
without blinking an eyelid. We don't get told this on the news in South Africa , we only get told what they want us to hear. We all have a chance to do something, even though the something is by pressing forward to as many people as possible. Let's stop talking and let's start doing! There is power in prayer, there is also power in more people knowing about this than you in my address book. This is going to America , Dubai , Australia , France , South Africans all over South Africa , the UK . By forwarding this to all in my address book I have done something. The world needs to know what is going on.

Presenting Integral Politics Two Years Since My Last post

2008-08-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

I took time away from this blog after the Lebanon 2006 war. Meanwhile, I expanded the reach of the work the Center For Human Emergence Middle East which I had co-founded with Dr. Don Beck the prominent geo-political expert and the chief architect of South Africa's transition from apartheid . I am now leading the Integral Movement in the Middle East by continuing to work with Arab scholars, academics, political and business leaders. I am fully engaged in major and exciting initiatives all throughout the Middle East, from Palestine and Syria to Dubai and Kuwait...

In the upcoming blogs I will offer integral analysis on the West's policies in the Middle East and will show the complex connectivity of these two worlds in the context of the shifting centers of power in the world.

It Is Not Religion, It Is Culture and Value-Systems

2006-09-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

I am in Kuwait on a business trip and here I have a chance to meet with Arabs from various countries especially Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians who come to Kuwait and Dubai seeking better work opportunities.

A chat with Nasser a 27 year old Lebanese waiter offered an amazing perspective about the messy situation in Lebanon. When meeting a fellow compatriot, Lebanese in general try first to identify the person's religion and their hometown in order to avoid any unsensitive comments and have a somehow normal conversation.

I asked Nasser is his family was doing well after the war in Lebanon. He said that even though they lived in Southern Beirut, Al Dahie, their house stayed intact with some broken windows and very little damage. Well, that statement told me that Nasser is a Shiite and might be a Hezbollah supporter, and I needed to be sensitive in asking him about his opinion about the war and what kind of solution he sees out of this mess. Anyway, I am never interested in a heated debate with a complete strager, besides I am always interested in what people think and why they think this way.

To prove the cultural developmental theories right and my assumptions wrong, Nasser was a Shiite but not a Hezbollah supporter. He said that many of the people who joined to the party were there for the check they get at the end of the month and for the power trip. A much smaller percentage of Hezbollah members are attracted to the ideology, according to Nasser.

He felt that it is unfair for any party to keep Lebanon in turmoil and to deny a stable country with a booming economy that supports young Lebanese who have dreams of going back home and building businesses there. Even though he appreciates the money he makes working as waiter in Kuwait and that supports his family in Beirut, he feels cheated out of his dream to work in the fashion design industry and apply his college degree in a business he loves.

When Nasser quoted Ziad Rahbani's socio-poltical satire, I knew I am able to ask more specific questions about his political affiliation. Ziad Rahbani is a world famous musician, a philosopher, a play writer and a socio-political critic and a genuis. A true patriotic he exposed many of my generation who listened to him religiously, to a world beyond rhetoric, Arabism and destructive resistance. I was pleasantly surprized to see that Nasser's generation is influenced by Ziad's words.

Nasser is aware of the corruption in the Lebanese Government as well as in the opposition parties. In his opinion the International community should support the economy in Lebanon so that people like him go back to the country and become the new set of Leaders who can pull Lebanon out of a tribal-feudal system to a more structure nationalistic and capitalistic country.

No, no more defining people by their religion or ethnicity. It is people's value-systems, beliefs, morals, aspirations that define how they think and why they think this way.

The Power of Compassion!

2006-09-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

On October 26th, I will be speaking at the Common Bond Institute Conference on "Engaging The Other." The Conference is a conscious human exploration in who is "the Other" and how to truly engage every single human being in our global village.

Isn't it about time we meet each other out beyond race, ethnicity, color, religion, age and economic status...Isn't it there where true solutions begin?!!

Check out the conference website www.cbiworld.org

A Tale of Two Men: A Lebanese & An Israeli

2006-09-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..." Charles Dickens' words rang true in Lebanon's mythic drama!

A Lebanese and an Israeli - Khalil and Oren- had their hopes high in the spring of 2006 for their respective countries for different reasons. Now they both feel an ominous despair after their sense of safety and security was snatched away from them on July 12th.

Khalil a Lebanese entrepreneur who decided to move back to Lebanon a year ago after spending 10 years in Canada and to start his new electronics sales business. He set up shop in Beirut and did not spare any expense on this new venture believing in the promising prospects of the country. This summer season was the most anticipated for all businesses in Beirut, Khalil stocked his shop with the latest gadgets from mp3 players to computers loaded with the latest software...

Khalil's shop was completely destroyed in this war. He fled with his family on a ship to Cyprus and flew back to Canada with nothing but a couple suitcases...He really wanted to stay in his country and help rebuild its economy, he desperately wanted to believe in a new Lebanon. Sadly, on the plane back to Canada he told my friend that he will never set a foot back in Lebanon, the safety of his kids and securing their future overshadowed any patriotic sentiment he had left.

Oren an Israeli computer engineer, was working on a peace initiative for Israel/Palestine. He believed that there will be no safe future for Israel unless the Palestinians are treated with dignity and empowered in a strong state of their own. He spent the spring of 2006 organizing meetings and seminars to foster a better understanding of the issues among Israelis and to work toward a comprehensive action-plan that supports an organic long term solution...

The events in Lebanon exposed the cracks in the Israeli military and governmental agencies and deflated the bubble of safety that many Israelis like Oren thought they had. He believed that with Kadima, a newly created 'forward' party in power, there was a realistic possibility for a systemic solution and a way out of fear for both sides of the conflict. Now fear spread its wings again on the Israeli society, its army is demoralized and the right wing extremists are voicing their anger again. Oren continues in his endeavors to find the elusive peace with more unknowns then before.

For a moment there the true winds of change were blowing in Khalil's and Oren's direction. However, these events declared loudly to everybody that the Middle East problem is a world problem not a regional one. The intricate internal challenges in Lebanon along with the blinded strategy of the Israeli government and the US administration's support for such a strategy, adding to a mix of Shia/Sunni divide with Iran trying to assert itself as a major power in the region and the Arab Sunnis waking up to that fact... a disastrous mix of ingredients that keeps the region and its people in constant turmoil.

This is the TEST for the international community! With Europe on board now with the US, renewing the focus on peace in the region seems more tangible and maybe attainable?!

Khaddam Reveals a Historic Fact That Explains Lebanon's 'Former' Scapegoat Status

2006-09-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

Former Syrian vice-president Abdul-Halim Khaddam, opened pandora's box of Syrian regime's secrets after fleeing the country fearing Bashar Assad's wrath. One of the few Sunnis who held a strong position in the Hafez Al-Assad regime for more than 35 years, Khaddam resigned from his office and left to Paris to form an opposition party and team up with the Muslim Brotherhood on a common goal to overthrow the current Assad regime.

In an interview last week with journalist Ali Hamade on Future TV, Khaddam who was one of the major architect of the plot to widen sectarian differences in Lebanon and to sacrifice the PLO in Southern Lebanon, spoke as if he was the bearer of unity to the Lebanese people. However some of the points he revealed where worthy of pause. Khaddam said:

After the October 1973 War Hafez Al-Assad decided not to enter into what Khaddam called a "traditional war" with Israel anymore. Assad gave his orders to the generals in Golan not to fire a single bullet in the direction of Israel and keep the status-quo in the occupied Syrian land.
Assad decided to make Israel "bleed" in Southern Lebanon and to strengthen and manipulate the already existing Lebanese and Palestinian resistance there to serve his regime's agenda.
After the humiliating defeat of the Arabs in October 73, Hafez Al-Assad knew that any action against Israel in Golan will be answered by a full blown attack on Damascus by the Israeli Airforce, an action that the Syrian army was ill equipped to respond to. Assad used Lebanon as a proxy battleground to keep his 'Arab resistance' credentials while his Syrian land was occupied.
Without Egypt, Syria cannot engage in a war against Israel, an Arab strategic formula that Assad realized early on in his ascent to power.
Journalist Ali Hamade asked Khaddam why Syria did not interfere when Lebanon's infrastructure was being destroyed by Israel especially that Syria and Lebanon are bound by a pact of special relations according to the 1989 Taif accord, including a mutual defense agreement? Khaddam answered that the Syrian regime has made the decision not to fight with Israel, even though Bashar's rhetoric never stopped.
To a question about the status of Syria in the Arab world as the face of the resistance especially in the Arab street, Khaddam said "how can you say Syria is the face of the resistance and the Syrian people are deprived of their basic freedoms, no constitution, no true representation in the government and ruled by one family for more than 40 years?" He added that the kurds historically had the same rights as Arabs in Syria, however now they are not even granted Syrian Identity cards. It is still illegal for a Syrian to belong to the Muslim Brotherhood group for which one can be prosecuted and put in prison.

Again, Khaddam's hands are not clean of Syrian and Lebanese blood. No doubt he was a co-conspirator in all the plots executed against the Palestinians and the Lebanese people. However the treasure trove of information that he is providing about the inner workings of the Assad clan and their insidious role in Lebanon's history of instability, remains invaluable.

The Faces of Lebanese who did not receive Twelve Thousand dollars from Iran and Hezbollah

2006-08-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

The irony of another war in Lebanon was overwhelming for those of us who lived it so many times before...Objective blogging was not an option anymore. I felt like screaming and blaming not reporting and giving an opinion...Enough lies! Sifting through opinions, analysis and so-called facts does not change the ugly reality on the ground.

I stopped blogging and started working. I will write later about the kind of work we are doing for Lebanon and the region...

But for now, I want to put a face to the innocent Lebanese who's lives were torn apart and no government, Hezbollah or international community to help... In his last appearance on TV, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah promised $12,000 in assistance to each family that has lost its home. Many Arabs and Lebanese are raving about the efficiency of Hezbollah in its swift response to supporting the affected Shia....

Well, not all affected were Shia or Hezbollah...The others were left behind with an incompetent government and a rotten bureaucracy that takes for ever to respond to their needs. Thankfully charitable and religious organizations as well as fellow Lebanese are helping with whatever resources they have.

Their Faces...

Renee a proud mother of six boys, had a small farm with chickens, cows and goats and owned the village's convenience store and a candle factory that she ran with her husband and children. Renee today was sobbing on TV telling the LBC reporter that her and her family have lost everything...Their house, their animals, their crop, their candle factory, their store and any money they left at home....The family is staying at a monastery in another town, the boys who are 14 and 15 and younger are working at stores in the neighborhood to save some money for food, clothing and hopefully for their return home...

uncle Sameeh, a proud Lebanese in his 80s, was taking care of his stroke ridden wife when the bombs fell in front of their new house in Western Bekaa. He immediately called neighbors who moved him and his wife to the village's church. The church was bombed and his wife fell and broke both her arms. Sameeh has been tending and olive grove for most of his life. Through his hard work in this grove he was able to support his family, educate his children and build a new house for the children to come and visit. Well...the olive tree burned to a crisp, the house was bombed and Sameeh's life savings are no more...

Many more stories of this human tragedy and pain ridden faces are unfolding...

Much more can be said...but the eyes tell the stories of never ending pain....and the words are an invitation to action...Let the thread of compassion, peace and resilience weave together a new fabric of hope for left behind Lebanese and left behind citizens of the world.

"Watch out, America. Let’s not be fooled this time!"

2006-08-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Thank you Elza for posting Seymour Hersh’s article in The New Yorker. Mr. Hersh is one of America’s foremost investigative journalists, a specialized craft he has been practicing for 40 years. I am confident in Mr. Hersh’s information. He has been right over and over again – on the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and many others.

Basically, Mr. Hersh says that the US gave Israel the green light on attacking Hezbollah two months before the actual bomb campaign started for a number of reasons all dealing with Iran.
o To once again prove that an air campaign can work (which, by the way, it didn’t as Israel had to put boots on the ground within three weeks)
o To disarm Hezbollah’s missiles, so that when the US attacks Iran Hezbollah can’t attack Haifa and Tel Aviv with missiles.
o And lastly, to show the skeptics in the military that an air campaign can work without ground troops.

So, any truth to this? Well, while most of the newspapers headlined Bush’s speech today with a statement that “Hezbollah was to blame for the destruction and death in Lebanon,” at least one AP writer, Nedra Pickler, picked up on another statement. She writes, “President Bush said Monday the monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah was part of a broader struggle between freedom and terror and ‘we can only imagine how much ore dangerous this conflict would be if Iran had the nuclear weapons it seeks.’ “

Remember, how two days after 9/11, the rhetoric started on the alleged connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq? Watch out, America. Let’s not be fooled this time.

Blog posted by Shirley Schwaller.

Shirley Schwaller is a former business journalist, whose areas of expertise included the oil industry. She wrote for various US and foreign newspapers, including AlSharq Al Awsat in Saudi Arabia.

Lebanon: Hanoi or Hong Kong??

2006-08-14T02:42:00.000-07:00

This marks the first day of the cease-fire and the displaced Lebanese could not wait to go back to their destroyed towns and neighborhoods. At 8 Am sharp the cars where lined up towards Nabatieh, Tyre and further South. People are driving back from Syria to their homes in the Bekaa. Amazing spirit! Cars full of happy faces were heading back to the unknown...

I watched the Lebanese TV stations filming families searching the rebels in and eerie Dahie-South Beirut, for remnants of family photos, papers, clothes, books and kitchenwear. A couple, husband and wife, climbed the torn in half building wanting to get whatever they can from their apartment on the 5th floor. Around two hundred buildings that housed thousands of families were destroyed.

Since most of the US media networks pick and choose what to show us, insulting our intelligence at times, I have to rely on few Arabic channels that show the reality on the ground. Yes, I can do away with the rethorics on al-jazeerah and other Arabic channels. However the live shots from Lebanon speak volume. The destruction is devastating...

Lebanon is at a cross-road now: Would Hezbollah stick to its Hanoi choice of armed struggle? Or would the other leaders be wise enough to bring Lebanon on the way back of its Hong Kong path?

In the pictures of destruction I see show Hanoi, but the resolve of the Lebanese shows Hong Kong.

A Lose-Lose Situation

2006-08-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

The third lose is for the Bush administration who "was closely involved in the planning of Israel's retaliatory attacks," according to the New Yorker'saugustt 14 article by Seymour Hersh. Hezbollah was considered a threat to Israel's northern borders safety and Israel was watching the militant group reinforce its military infrastructure in Southern Lebanon with great concern. There is no doubt that Isarel had military plans in place to hit Hezbollah. However this article shows that these plans were approved and encouraged by the US administrationn who thought that a full blown attack on Hezbollah inLebanonn can "serve as a prelude to a potential American premptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations." Now the US has to think about a new strategy to deal with Iran's defiance and nuclear programs. The one they had in mind will not work now! Israel and the US miscalculated the military power of Hezbollah as well as the Lebanese unwillingness to turn against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah proved to be stronger than Israel thought a militia would be, and gathered the support of some of the Lebanese people and the Arab street. Many Israeli soldiers were killed and the Arab media praised the 'success' of the first Arab military power to defeat Israel. Hezbollah and its supporters think they won...

Israel also thinks it won?! They managed to weaken Hezbollah's stronghold in Southern Lebanon and Dahieh and parts of the Bekaa. Their initial stated goal to have a legitimate Lebanese military power at the border will come true if the resolution 1701 will be implemented.

Hezbollah lost and Israel lostNotnot to mention the shameful Human tragedy.

The Lebanese government who failed to disarm Hezbollah before is now armed by the UN resolution 1701 that was accepted by the Hezbollah ministers in the cabinet. However Prime Minister Saniora canceled today's meeting in which the cabinet was supposed to discuss the disarming of Hezbollah south of the Litani river. Hezbollah sent a message with Speaker Berri that the Shia militia refuses to disarm. Saniora refusing to compromise, cancels the meeting!

Israel is having internal troubles of its own where the extreme right is gaining grounds and Olmert's cabinet is loosing popularity. Their plan to destroy Lebanon's infrastructure in order to turn the Lebanese against Hezbollah did not work. What Israel did not realize is that its destruction of a fragile infrastructure and the loss of innocent civilians aggravated even the most moderates of Lebanese. And, No...Lebanese cannot turn against Hezbollah at this point; the Shia militia is only armed militia in Lebanon, no one can fight it at this point. No Lebanese wants to start another civil war especially that the country has been bleeding for more than 30 years.

Is there a lesson for the administration to learn here? of course. Do not Bomb an Ideology!!!

The shock and awe strategy Israel and the US used in Beirut to send a message to Iran, was received by Iran who sent a message back through successfully testing with Hezbollah a number of Iranian-made advanced weapons systems.

In a lose-lose-lose situation the world has to wise up!

(Here's a link to Seymour Hersh's New Yorker article :http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060821fa_fact )

Peace?! What a Foreign Concept...

2006-08-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

It was much easier for me to think rationally about the war in Iraq. Like others who are interested in the Middle East or come from it, I was able to analyze the situation in Iraq to the best of my ability, discuss the issue with Iraqi friends or on the various listserves, and try to use developmental theories to justify certain decisions made by the US or by the Iraqis.

With this Lebanese tragedy, I find myself struggling not to scream at people who don't see the situation from my perspective. All the socio-political, psychological and spiritual theories are reduced to a reactionary thinking on my part. I guess that the loss of souls and the pain of so many people with whom I share history, roots and DNA made me regress to a narrow ethnocentric mindset. Nothing is wrong with that, I know. However I wonder why I don't feel the same intensity when I read about the genocide in Darfur, and the famine that the world can prevent in Niger.

When I say I have a worldcentric view, I know that I mean it on a 'good day'...not when Ali, Fatima, George, Mohamad and Marie from Southern Lebanon, Beirut or the Bekaa Valley are displaced, wounded or in pain.

I do feel for every Israeli and Lebanese mother suffering for a child, a husband or a brother. They have nothing to do with politicians, militias and war. They just happen to be there living with hopes and dreams of a happy family and a better future...

Arabs Awakening? Thank you Iran!

2006-08-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

What Israel was not capable of doing, Iran did.

The Arabs are united in their support of the Lebanese government and are pulling their weight at the UN as a true partner of major international players and not as a humiliated subordinate.

The true dance has begun...The West has been taking positive steps and faux-pas towards the Arabs, and the Arab world always responded in 2 paradoxical ways: either radical opposition to anything from the West or a sort of submission by some Arab governments against their citizen's will. The Lebanese tragedy helped the Arabs take a proactive step towards the West, asserting their existence and cultural unity for a positive cause. This could have been sparked for many reasons, including:

The fear of public opinion within their own countries and to avoid the birth of a Hezbollah style opposition within their own land. The Arab regimes are holding on to their power and they don't want to tip the fragile balance.
The danger of Iran confiscating 'the Arab cause' against Israel. Since Iran rushed to support Hamas and teamed up with Syria in its support to Hezbollah. In becoming the Godfather of 'the cause' Iran pulled the rug from under the Arab leaders’ feet.
A desire by some Arab leaders to break free from the old paradigm of constant conflict in the region and focus more on building their own countries’ economy and the development of their infrastructure.

Well, I am not going to break into the traditional Arab chant 'oulouloul' that we Arabs scream in weddings and celebration...I will hold my breath for now and hope for the best and for better days for my homeland.

Which Lebanese Think What of Hezbollah? and Why?

2006-08-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

The sensation-driven Western and Arab media have been rehashing the so-called 'eye opener' results from a 'scientific survey' conducted in Beirut between July 24 and July 26 by the Beirut Center for Research and Information. 800 Lebanese were surveyed on a variety of topics including the performance of the government during the crisis as well as how Hezbollah and its actions are viewed in general. According to this poll 87 percent of Lebanese support Hizbollah's fight with Israel, a rise of 29 percent on a similar poll conducted in February. It interestingly shows a rising in the level of support for Hizbullah's resistance from non-Shiite communities. Eighty percent of Christians polled supported Hezbollah along with 80 percent of Druze and 89 percent of Sunnis.

The death of innocent civilians and the destruction of the Lebanese infrastructure took its toll. Lebanese no longer blame Hezbollah for sparking the war by kidnapping the Israeli soldiers, but Israel and the US instead. The latest poll by the Beirut Center found that 8 percent of Lebanese feel the US supports Lebanon, down from 38 percent in January.

Did the media expect different results?? Guest 'experts' on Larry King and other shows repeat these numbers with shock: the Blasphemy!! Lebanese are under siege, dying, loosing their homes, their jobs, their country's hope and infrastructure, knowing that the Western world can easily let go of them because they 'harbor' a terrorist organization...and the West is asking them to think 'rationally' about who, started what, and why?

It is a well known fact that when it comes to safety and survival, people regress to adapt to the present life conditions. Hey, even Democrats supported George Bush's war in Iraq after the tragedy of 9/11. Looking back, we can see how people feel and make decisions when their loved ones are hurt and when their National security is in danger.

These are the Lebanese who were surveyed. Not the Lebanese who were re-building a state-of-the-art infrastructure, re-designing the government and electoral laws , and woking hard on National Unity. These are the Lebanese who were divided, used and abused by Syria, the PLO, Isarel, the Arab world and the international community.

Yes, there is a lot of guilt to go around all the parties involved and the Lebanese leaders especially. However, with all the responsibility that the different Lebanese factions bear for their loyalty to the tribe/clan/sect instead of Nation and being influenced by Syria, Iran, Israel or the US, not by a patriotic agenda, the Lebanese people are not solely to blame for Hezbollah's existence and actions. Here's a short list of the causes of this current crisis:

This US administration is one of the first administartion proactively promoting 'democracy' in the Middle East, but alas, with no appropriate implementation startegies that can match the various value-systems in the region. Geo-political startegist Dr Don Beck offers a more appropriate approach he calls "Stratified democracy" suggesting that different democratic forms may be appropriate for different stages of cultural development and ways of thinking. Instead of the cookie-cutter Western style democracy suggested by this administartion. (you can read more about the concept http://www.spiraldynamics.net/)
The US supported UN resolution 1559 and helped the Lebanese government demand the withdrawl of Syria, but left a weak Lebanon alone to focus on the mess created in Iraq. The United Nations, European Union and the US did not continue the process of rebuilding the only true democracy in the Arab world; rebuilding its army, government institutions etc... Did they think that after a 30 year Syrian occupation and many wars Lebanon can do it on its own?
The military vacuum created by Syria's withdrawl was filled immidiately by Hezbolla's militant arm encouraged by Syria (to whom Hezbollah stayed a faithful ally) and financed by Iran, its ideological source. Too bad the other super-powers in the world did not do the same for the Lebanese army!
Lebanese leaders who were divided between true Patriotic leaders including Walid Jumblat, Saad Hariri, Sameer Geagea, Nabih Berri(?), and Syrian allies including Franjieh, Karami, Nasrallah, Arslan and Aoun who tiptoes around both camps. The old sectarian divide of Christians against Muslims, and Druze against Chritians, was replaced by a new divide of patriotic loyality vs. Syrian-Iran loyality and something in between (yes, Lebanese politics keeps getting more and more confusing). Now, Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Druze are equally divided betwen both camps
Israel made a fatal mistake invading Lebanon in 1982, withdrew completely in May 2000, but kept hundreds (Human rights watch account for more than 30) of Lebanese detainee in Israeli jails with no plan of returning them to their country. Israel says that these Lebanese are a threat to its security even though IDF took these Lebanese from Lebanese soil.
Hezbollah kept its armed miltia and focused on its own dream of a state with a state, with no account for National Unity or Lebanese sovereignty. All other Lebanese miltias disarmed. If anything, Iran, Hezbollah and Syria want a return on their investment. The billion of dollars advanced by Iran and blessed by Syria had a specific agenda that is unfolding now. The fortresses they built were not for the Lebanese people and Lebanon, they were Hezbollah's...
The Israeli government shortsidedness and violence against Lebanon is not providing the safety and security for the Israeli people and is elevating Hezbollah to a cult status among some Lebanese and Arabs. even though Israel is trying to target Hezbollah locations, these locations are unfortunatelly situated among civilian targets. Nothing can justify the death of innocent civilians. This strategy and even the most intended precision is not working! Israel is loosing innocent civilians too...how is that working for their families? how much safety is Israel providing now?
The destruction of bridges, airports and buildings....

Time for Fresh thinking!! Long term solutions for the Arab-Isareli conflict are mandatory. For the people's sake on all sides: for Lebanese, Israeli , Palestinian and Syrian children's sake, not for the few egocentric leaders...

Back to that 'Eye opener' survey...This survey does not represent the true feeling of all Lebanese people. Not the Sunni, Shiite, Christian and Druze Lebanese I talk to. Most Lebanese are in pain about the souls we are loosing, angry about the destruction and the displaced, and angry at the show of power on both sides that is sacrificing their future and their children's future...

Dare I whisper to Syria? Israel Occupies YOUR Golan Heights

2006-08-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Historically, Syria always played a major role in Lebanese politics and socio-economic affairs. Under Ottoman rule, Lebanon's small principalities and heads of districts had to report to the Governor of Akka (now Israel) and the Governor of Damascus (Syria). Unfortunately, not much has changed since then, the same context with a different content. Israel is now an 'enemy' state, however Syria is considered a 'brotherly' state and both states hold the future of Lebanon in their hands.

There was nothing brotherly about Syria's 30 year occupation of Lebanon. Their presence was marked by blatant abuse on all levels; an overt meddling in government affairs by Syrian politicians and army generals, 100s of innocent Lebanese detained in Syrian jails, assassinations of politicians and outspoken journalists, constant humiliation of Lebanese civilians by Syrian military. Women, men and children were constantly harassed at check points, in their homes and their workplaces. Syrian army generals deployed to Lebanon and politicians from the Alawit ruling minority amassed fortunes from the occupied country through questionable dealings in partnership with questionable Lebanese counterparts who were granted immunity and protection ...

An independent Lebanon with a sovereign government and a booming economy does not exist in Syrian eyes. It goes against Syria's ultimate ambition of re-establishing 'Greater Syria' that includes the Golan Heights that Syria lost to Israel in the 1967 war. It also includes Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and parts of Egypt and Turkey. According the Syrians the current borders with Lebanon, Jordan and Israel are not the internationally recognized borders, and as such they call them 'temporary regional' borders.

Since Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, diplomatic ties were abruptly severed by the Syrian regime. Today, for the first time (and to cease the moment) Syria's foreign minister Walid Moallem visited Lebanon and announced rhetorically to the press that he not only supports Hezbollah's war but that he "wants to be a soldier in Nasrallah's army." The question is why doesn't Syria fight its own war to reclaim ITS Golan Heights which includes the disputed Shebaa Farms region?? why does Moallem want to be a soldier in a Lebanese militant group to fight Israel??and why the 'sudden' infatuation with a Lebanon they helped weaken for 30 years?

The obvious answer is that Syria wants a seat at the negotiation table that is going to shape the future of the Middle East and the power centers in the region. Syria lost its seat as a power broker in the region when it couldn't control the flow of insurgents into Iraq and the passing of UN resolution 1559 that called on Syria to end its military presence in Lebanon. But in reality Syria never left Lebanon. With its withdrawal it empowered Hezbollah and helped solidify it as a state-within a state. Syria ran to Iran's arms when big brother and sister Saudi Arabia and Egypt supported the withdrawal from Lebanon and the UN investigation into Hariri's killing that implicated Syria's involvement.

It seems that now Syria has come back strongly from the brink of irrelevance!... thanks to Hezbollah's reckless disregard to the fledgling Lebanese unity and to Israel's unrestrained military actions that are not achieving their objectives of eliminating Hezbolla's military infrastructure. Hezbollah's guerrilla style war is defeating the IDF and its military prowess in ways that no Arab army was able to exhibit in previous wars with Israel.

The theatre of this regional unfolding drama is Lebanon as usual...and the victims are the innocent Lebanese. Let's try a different venue from now on: how about Damascus or Tehran??!!

On a personal note....

2006-08-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this tragedy managed to get to me and I woke up yesterday with a burning fever.
Since this war started, I promised myself to keep my emotions in check and do my best to be proactive spiritually, mentally and emotionally. But I guess the death of innocent people and the sadness that my fellow compatriots are feeling can touch the essence of the soul...

When Iraq's war started, my Iraqi friends living in the US, said that they were guilt ridden. Living in a 'normal' country and being able to buy food and play with their children felt too extravagant to them, when their cousins and friends in Iraq were struggling to survive.

Now, I can relate...and I did relate before, everytime we had to pack and flee Beirut for few days during the civil war. It almost felt better when we stayed in shelters with our families and friends.

Every day I talk to family and friends in Lebanon, and I hear the echoes of despair and disappointment with the world...Lebanon is after all a scapegoat and a proxy battleground...

A Proxy War Between Iran & The United States

2006-08-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

"Lebanon has become a proxy battleground for Iran" said Druze Leader Walid Jumblat, most senior Lebanese polititian and a close ally of Prime Minister Saniora.

Iran, defiant about its nuclear program, is using Hezbollah to hit the US at 'home' in Isarel. It looks like both countries are flexing their muscles while squishing Lebanon in the process. If this is Iran's war, and Iran being 'the birthplace of suicide bombers' during the 1980-88 Iraq/Iran war, how can Israel eliminate that through bombing Lebanon?

It was during that war that Ayatollah Khumeini made the decision to balance out Iran's military inferiority by propagating the martyr ideology. The most famous martyrs were 12 to 13 year old boys who strapped bombs around their waists and threw themselves under Iraqi tanks. This mantle is taken on today by few brain washed Palestinians and members of Hezbollah. Those 'believers' cannot imagine something more 'beautiful' than death as a martyr. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's Leader, boasts with pride when talking about his 'martyr' son who died fighting the Israelis in the 80s. Nasrallah believes that his son's martyrdom will garantee the whole family's 'entry to heaven'.

Iran Today

Unlike the rest of the Arab world where most governments spoke out against Hezbollah contradicting the Arab population who are in full support of Hezbollah's 'resistence', Iran's government is trying to convince Iranians of the 'just' cause of Hezbollah. Most Iranians are indifferent towards the Palestinians or Hezbollah and 'silently' oppose their government in its support Hezbollah's offensive. Their focus is on their decaying infrastructure and economic problems brought about by blinded ambition to become THE superpower in the region. The Iranian people do not understand why their current government has to pour 100s of millions of dollars into Hezbollah coffers; more than 1 billion/year to subsidize Syria's fuel shortage. One of the most frustrating facts to Iranians is that their oil-rich country has to pay $7 billion/year to subsudize their gazoline, 46% of Iran's gazoline is imported. Iran lacks refining capacity and the government spend money on military equipment and support of terrorism before they spend it on infrastructure.

Iran's goal is to assume the role of the leader of the Arab world and the Muslim world, and to import Khumeini's version of Islam to these countries and redeem the unatainable glory of the Shia sect.

Did Iran create Hezbollah?

Khumeini's revolution started few years before Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, and the PLO were expelled from Beirut. A faction of the Shia in Lebanon who did not benefit from Amal, the existing Shia militia at the time , saught help from the Iranians who were looking to spread the Khumeini vision to all Shia in the Muslim world and to the Muslim world period. The Shia sect that follows the teachings of Imam Ali (the Prophet's cousin) was historically treated as 2nd class religion in Islam. And the Shia living in the Arab countries were/are treated as 2nd class citizens.

Iranian revolutionary guards and Iranian activists helped start Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982. Hezbollah now is a more independent entity, however supported and financed by Iran. It remains a vanguard Islamist organization with similar values to other Sunni Islamist organization in the region.

(...more in tomorrow's post)

"We Warn You, These Images are Disturbing for our Viewers" CNN

2006-08-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

I stayed up late watching the news in desbelief...Bridges in Maamaltine and Jounieh were bombed and people were killed there. I lived 2 Kms away from that bridge. No Hezbollah there. It is an area that fought against Hezbollah during the civil war...

In Quaa, a poor agriculture town in the Bekaa valley, 20 workers were killed on the spot while having breakfast. They were packing fruits. It is the season for the tastiest fruits of Adonis's land...

CNN warns its viewers from ' the disturbing images' they are going to see.

These are my countrymen and women...these are my Homeland's innocent children...They are now "Disturbing Images"....

Threats to Bomb Beirut and Tel Aviv

2006-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Nasrallah threatened to bomb Tel Aviv if Israel bombs Beirut. Israel responded by saying that it will wipe out Lebanon's National symbols!

Ok, so here's the story...

To Israel:
These National symbols are not Hezbollah's symbols, these are Canaanite, Phoenician, Roman and Lebanese symbols that keep the tourists coming and support the weak Lebanese economy. You have to remember that Lebanon does not recieve a fraction of the US foreign aids assigned to Israel. Without these symbols and in the absence of billions of dollars pouring in from the US, Lebanese like my cousin, aunt, friend and neighbors cannot survive.
You will be doing Hezbollah a service by destroying the Lebanese National symbols. Remember that Hezbollah's loyalty is not to Lebanon, it is to Iran. So if you truly want to hurt Hezbollah, bomb Iran's symbols not Lebanon's.

Blogs from An Ex-Israeli Soldier in Tel Aviv & A Lebanese Friend in Beirut

2006-08-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

In order to present a more comprehensive view of the crisis in Lebanon/Israel I invited Lebanese and Israeli friends to give their own perspective about the current war.

From Oren Entin, co-Founder of Integral Israel- Tel Aviv.

Since the war in Lebanon started, two characters in me are in constant struggle. One is the patriotic Israeli, an ex-soldier, who spent time in Lebanon and the West Bank and just wishes that his people would finally beat the “bad” guys. The second is a more complex adult who sees the big picture, is less emotional and wants to act smartly and carefully. I’ll begin by presenting the first perspective, which is closer to the point of view of the average Israeli.
This part of me sees things very clearly: Hezbollah’s attack on Israel was an unprovoked attack initiated after a new round of violence in Gaza where Palestinians were shooting Qassam rockets on civilians living in southern Israel. Both attacks, on Lebanon and Gaza, were targeting the IDF soldiers on the international borders, and also Israel civilians. It looked like Arabs saw the two pullouts (from Lebanon on 2000 and from Gaza on 2005) as a sign of weakness and as a result Israeli civilians were paying the price. This thought is unbearable to the Israeli mind.
This mixture of factors lead to full support from the Israeli population (including the Zionist left wing party of "Meretz") for a harsh response to deliver the message that anyone attacking Israel Will have to pay a heavy price. The average Israeli is generally against hurting Arab civilians, but in these two cases, Hamas and Hezbollah tried to take advantage of that sentiment and shot their missiles deliberately from populated areas. If Israel decided not to react it would mean that the blood of Israeli civilians is less important to the Israeli government than their own citizen’s blood.
Israelis are tired of living in a state of constant threat and war, and although they are not considered to be the calm and obedient type, this time the civil population of northern Israel made it clear to the government that they are ready to bear the missiles attack and to give the army all the time required to solve the problem and remove the Hezbollah missiles threats. Together with the civil support, the government also received a full support from the USA and G8 leaders, something which never happened before. That is why the government, IDF and civilians all feel that for the first time ever, they have the support of the world to act firmly against Hezbollah and Lebanon.
Now I’ll step out of this persona, and look at that the situation from a wider perspective. While I do agree that Israel has indeed the right to act against Lebanon, I think that being right and being wise is not the same thing. It is clear that Israel can't accept the threat on its northern and southern borders. But are the actions it chooses to follow going to solve it? Even IDF commanders agree this issue cannot be solved by military force only. The goals of this war are not very clear. At the beginning the stated goals were to get the captured soldiers back and remove the Hezbollah missiles threat from south Lebanon by forcing Lebanon’s army to take over control of the border in accordance with UN resolution 1559. These two goals cannot be achieved in a military way. Hezbollah will never release prisoners without negotiations and mutual prisoners change, and the Lebanese army, which consists of many Shiia Hezbollah supporters, cannot take control in south Lebanon from Hezbollah. Israel’s hope that the Lebanese government can put pressure on Hezbollah is futile, as in any country which knew so many internal conflicts and civil wars like Lebanon, it is always easier to unite against an external force than to start a war against the biggest ethnic group, which is part of the government and army anyway.
What can Israel do? Bombing Hezbollah forces into submission is a limited strategy because Hezbollah is a guerrilla force blended into the civilian population. As a result many civilians are killed, which strengthens support for Hezbollah, and erodes the international support Israel had at the beginning of this war.
If Israel wants to push back Hezbollah’s short range missiles threat from its northern border it must send many ground troops into Lebanon and not rely exclusively on the air force. But in this case the IDF will suffer many casualties, and even after controlling south Lebanon, Israel will have to stay there as occupier, or withdraw back and lose control again. After the eighteen traumatic years that Israel held south Lebanon, even the right wing in Israel hesitates to call for that.
Here is a different policy that Israel could have chosen to take:
1. Instant attack against Hezbollah without targeting Lebanon infrastructure.
2. Presenting an ultimatum to the Lebanese government to give back the captured soldiers and co-operate with UN resolution 1559, or else the Lebanese infrastructure will be targeted. Bombing and destroying can be done anytime, but shooting first and threatening after is not a good way to get cooperation
3. Acting immediately to get the G8 support for applying UN resolution 1559 by sending an International force that is strong enough to take the control over south Lebanon from Hezbollah
Although Israel’s response was just, it was very much the result of a wounded national ego. Two successful guerrilla attacks on the IDF which ended in captured soldiers are very threatening to a country which needs to have a strong army to survive in a hostile neighborhood. Israelis consider the death of a soldier as more severe than the death of an Israeli civilian because the soldiers are mostly young, and are generally called “our sons”. Another possible reason for that is the fact that actions against Israeli civilians occur almost daily while attacks on soldiers are less frequent. Israel’s new elected prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and defense minister, Amir Peretz, could not go against the policy of IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz, and against public opinion.
Now it is the time for Olmert to reconsider his policy, especially because Lebanon is just a small side issue on the Middle East: The real problem does not lay in countries outside of Israel, like Lebanon, but with the millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who are still fighting for their independence.
Olmert, who met with all the important Western leaders since he was elected, still hasn’t had a serious meeting with Abu Maazen, who is considered moderate Palestinian Leader and is accepted as a peace partner even by the high Israeli standards. If Israel would be as skillful and determined in its diplomatic peace making efforts as it is in operating the IDF, peace, or at least long lasting cease fire is possible. Until then, human life in the Middle East will continue being valued way too cheaply.

Oren Entin is co-founder of Integral Israel (http://www.integralisrael.org/ )

________________________________________

From Tony Riachi, Beirut- Lebanon

Many Lebanese have kept their feelings, opinions, and actions to themselves and have not spoken out yet. My prayers are with all the innocent civilians that are paying a heavy price for the stupidity and recklessness of the irresponsible and evil gambler of innocent souls Mr. Hassan Nassrallah. Let us forget not his tactics! as he has done many times in the past and he has done it again today. His murderous and cowardice actions have resulted of yet another massacre in Qana. Firing missiles from civilian neighborhoods is not exemplary and Hezbollah should bear the responsibility of the outcome.
Voice your opinion and tell the world the truth! Israel has no good intentions; a manipulator of public opinion and Middle East policies of the US and its allies; a destructive force and a killing machine that seizes every moment to weaken its enemy, a reckless might that takes every advantage of its neighbors regardless at what price and whose expense. But, also lets not forget to tell the world the truth about Hezbollah. A Syrian accomplice that is giving Israel every reason and right to level off Lebanon, to commit its heinous crimes against the Lebanese civilians in the name of self defense and to continue its hostilities disregarding every international law and the international community at large. Both Hezbollah’s actions and Israel’s reactions are in favor of Syria’s impious agenda. Hezbollah is Syria’s puppet and evil doer; aiding Bashar Al-Assad achieves his 2005 promise to destroy Lebanon is not a lesser objective of Hezbollah - "Kill the people and burn the country" has become the motto and a common goal of Hezbollah and Syria! With Lebanon’s total destruction, Hezbollah can mark another milestone off of Syria’s EVIL to do list. What’s next?

If we, all Lebanese and only Lebanese, care about our country we will, in one voice, repeat Gibran’s Tueini’s oath "Al-Kassam". We will re-unite and get back on the street of Lebanon one hand, one spirit, and one nation. We should work relentlessly to make sure that Hezbollah lays down its arms, steps aside, and let the Lebanese Army do their jobs.

God Bless you and May God Bless Lebanon Free and Independent

Tony Riachi, Beirut

Do Not Ask the Lebanese Government For a Solution, Ask The International Community

2006-07-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

I just listened to Prime Minister Seniora on "Face the Nation" pleading for cease-fire and pleading to American mothers to look into their hearts and feel for the babies that were killed in Kana yesterday. A one day old baby took his last breath before he gets a chance to hug his mother...

When asked if he can pressure Hezbollah into a cease fire, the Prime Minister avoided answering the question directly.

PM Seniora is a wise man who knows that Lebanon needs to keep its unity and avoid a civil war. Any accusation addressed to Hezbollah by any Lebanese party will be the fuel that sparks a new bloody civil war that Lebanon cannot afford. Especially that innocent Lebanese civilians are dying and children are been deprived of a future.

The answer does not lie with PM Seniora's government, a fledgeling government who negotiated for Hezbollah's disarmement, for more than 6 months, to no avial. Lebanon was weakened since 1970s by the PLO, who formed a state inside a State; by The Syrians who occupied Lebanon, milked it dry and left it in 2005 while vowing for revenge. Lebanon is weakened now by lack of support of the international community and the absence of pressure on Syria in which hands lie the fate of Lebanon.

The US refuse to negotiate directly with Syria and gives Israel more time to destroy and kill with no forseen results. Israel is loosing grounds on humanitarian bases, Hezbollah is gaining popularity and Syria is laughing its way to the negotiation table. Meanwhile, Lebanon is bleading innocent blood. Isarel is loosing. The US is brain dead, and Syria seems to be the winner here.

Wake up America! You are a superpower who forgot the basic rules of being a superpower...Rules such as bringing all parties to the table and taking a bold stand to do the following:

create a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine with 1967 borders
acknowleging Syria's role in the region and asking for Behavior change vs. Regime change
Empowering the Lebanese Government and its rule over the whole country
Negotiating directly with Iran the Godfather of Hezbollah

Until the US and Europe play such a comprehensive role, the Middle East will suffer and make the rest of the world suffer.

2006-07-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -

Margaret Mead,

World renowned anthropologist (1901 to 1978)

who contributed vastly to the understanding of human history

Relief Lebanon- Send Hope to Lebanese Civilians

2006-07-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Project Relief Lebanon has been launched in cooperation with the* International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC), UNICEF *and * Mercy Corps. * All Lebanese, concerned friends and organizations around the world are called to strongly support these critical relief efforts by donating whatever funds they can afford through the special website created for this purpose. http://www.ReliefLebanon.org .

This website is purely non-profit and all proceedings go directly to the charities.

Lebanese expatriates throughout the world gravely concerned about the humanitarian and economic crisis demand that the bloodshed of Lebanese civilians, destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, and suffering of its people end immediately, allowing for a rapid recovery operation aided by the international community.

Please go to http://www.ReliefLebanon.org <http://www.relieflebanon.org/>. All donations go directly to the charitable organizations and are tax deductible for US Residents.

Backroom Deals Leading to a Lose-Lose Situation

2006-07-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

The assassination of Prime Minster Hariri on February 14th, 2005 triggered a powerful chain of events. It unleashed the fury of the repressed people of Lebanon and attracted the attention of the International community, especially the US administration who is on a democracy crusade in the Middle East.

The Syrians withdrew in April 2005 under popular and international pressure. For the 1st time in Lebanon’s modern history, the various Lebanese factions under the Leadership of Nabih Berry (Shia Speaker of Parliament, head of Shia Amal movement) called for a decisive Lebanese National Dialogue to shape the future of democracy in the country. For more than 6 months former militia heads and clan leaders who were designated by their people to speak on their behalf, gathered to resolve deep rooted issues that are challenging the newly liberated country. Just like debates of such magnitude, the consensus was to discuss the most pressing issues first: diplomatic relations with Syria, and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Other issues, although vital for the state of the Nation, were not as pressing as these two.

“A State inside a State”

Hezbollah, the most powerful party in Lebanon, and the only armed party, resisted any notion of disarmament. After all it has become ‘a state inside a state’ and gained more support from Syria who grudgingly left Lebanon. In an infamous conversation with PM Hariri before his death, Syrian president warned Hariri that he will “turn Lebanon and Beirut upside down” if Syria is pushed out of Lebanon. And here we are…

The participants in the National Dialogue aiming for a unified Lebanon and one sovereign government/one Lebanese army, tried to negotiate the disarmament with Hassan Nasrallah, to no avail. Many of them spoke openly about their opposition to Hezbollah’s armed faction. Two weeks before the sad events on July 12th, negotiation came to a halt. It is said that some leaders in the National Dialogue, sensing that Hezbollah is cornered and might retaliate, asked Nasrallah to postpone any actions that might harm Lebanon’s tourist season and re-building process till the end of summer. They tried to gain time to hopefully influence the process in power centers outside Lebanon: United States, Syria, Iran….

Did the Lebanese government hit a brick wall and made a backroom deal with the US? Nasrallah sure seems to imply that in his latest TV address on July 25th, where he spoke as the head of a State omitting the mention of a Lebanese sovereign government and considering the ‘resistance’ the spokesperson and defender of Lebanon.

Did Israel plan this offensive on Lebanon after Syria’s withdrawal, Hamas’ victory and the upheaval in Ghaza? It sure did and showed the plans to invade Lebanon to generals in the Pentagon a year ago, and waited for Hezbollah to provoke the prepared offensive. Hezbollah obliged timing its actions around the G8 summit in Russia.

Syria is the primary benefactor in this messy situation. With its influence on Hezbollah, Syria is amassing negotiation points it can bring to the table when negotiating indirectly with the United States.

Israel is becoming aware by the day that it cannot ‘win the war’ on Hezbollah. They started by asking for 20 km inside the Lebanese borders, went down to 7 km and now probably 2 km. The battles in Bint Jbeil and Maroun AlRas surprised the army and boasted the rhetoric of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is now defining victory as simple survivor calling every child and elderly dying ‘Shaheed’( martyr)

“Lebanon’s wars serve other countries... never the Lebanese”

Lebanon is such a frail country where decision-makers have to be like precision driven engineers building in dangerous earthquake regions. The Lebanese government is trying to keep unity and avoid a civil war between the various factions. Lebanon unlike any other Arab country and unlike Israel, has a multi-religion based society of more than 18 sects, and most of them are represented in the government. With such an unusual make up, it is easy for external parties to influence factions in Lebanon, train them and use them for their own benefit. Israel did that with the Maronites in the 80s, Iran with Hezbollah and Syria with any corrupt party and leader they can get.

The bottom line is that Syria, Iran, Israel and the US are playing an old dirty game on Lebanese soil and the Lebanese people are paying the price. 20 years later, same story different day!

The War Archetype Rising in Phoenician Land

2006-07-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

As the world watches …A human tragedy is unfolding in Lebanon
Blogging from the abyss of a human mind torn between multitude of identities: Lebanese/American/World citizen….what would I give now to let go of one of these identities, they are tearing me apart. Imagine a part of you leaving Lebanon to come to safety and another part staying, shivering scared, angry and in despair with no way out. Who stayed? A Father of 3 children who’s source of income is gone; a little girl grieving for her dead father; a school teacher, college student, shopkeeper, a nun, an Imam, a priest….

This is the thirteenth day of the destruction of my beautiful homeland Lebanon. I kept staring at the picture of a little boy dismembered by the Israeli bombs in Southern Lebanon. A 4 year old lying in the rebels with no one around him to grieve over him or hug his body. A pretty 5 year old girl lost one of her precious blue eyes, her stare is soul chattering, it pierces the depth of the world consciousness. Wake up world!

A deja-vu in the Middle East…now it is Israelis who committed that murder, Yesterday Hezbollah committed the crime against an Israeli. Iraqis committed that crime against Iraqis, American soldiers against Iraqis, insurgents against Americans, suicide bomber against young Israelis…Christian against Muslim, Muslim against Jew, Jew against Christian and Muslim, and Muslim against Muslim…Ha! What humans can do in the name of so-called religion and God, Yahweh and Allah…in the name of Arab Nation, Jewish State and Shiite state…
Arab tourists left Lebanon the first 2 days of the attack. Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Sri Lankis, Philippinos, Indians are evacuating as I write these words. My family and loved ones in Lebanon are scared. Why is everybody leaving? Are we back to the 1975? Are these human’s lives more valuable than our lives? Does a passport give you the right to live or die?
It is hard to navigate this Middle Eastern ferocious Minautor’s labyrinth: Israel-Lebanon-Palestine-Syria-Iran-Hezbollah, Hamas…
It did start with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the inability of the Arab world to stand together and influence the peace process. But now it is here again in Lebanon, the country that suffered most from the Palestinian conflict and the country that is used as a scapegoat for the uncanny incompetence of the Arab world. I count the Lebanese governments in.

Now we’re here…amidst the old ugly smell of death and destruction.

"Get rid of Hezbollah?" I hope that by now the world watched enough CNN to get the sense that Hezbollah is not a terrorist group they can eliminate like a bad headache. Didn’t the USA try to ‘get rid’ of Al-Qaeda? Of Saddam? Hezbollah is an ideology and a social structure that is used by Iran as a proxy to balance the power in the region. So let’s establish this fact: Hezbollah, “The Party of God” is an organization ideologically and financially supported by Iran, that filled a religio-socio-economic gap for a large segment of the Shia population in Lebanon. This organization won the hearts of its civilian members through social services-hospitals, schools, picking up trash etc…Its military faction uses terrorist tactics to negotiate with Israel. Try to ‘get rid’ of that…
Same old, same old…The old war paradigm is an unhealthy one, deadly and costly, with the kind of shortsightedness that keeps misery going in the world!

Let’s establish one thing here: Israel, a sovereign democratic country, had the high-moral grounds on July 12th and could have gathered the whole world around it even Lebanese and Arab support. The Blood of the Lebanese children killed by Israel now and the horrible damage to the Lebanese infrastructure is creating a wider gap between Israel and Lebanon, and a stronger battle cry for the extremists. And Israel, Hezbollah, the Arabs who dumped the so called ‘Arab Cause’ on Lebanon, Syria, Iran, the weak Lebanese Leaders and the Western world should pay the price for such atrocities.
How dare Israel destroy Lebanon’s infrastructure and kill 375 souls and displace more than half a million Lebanese? I understand that Israel should defend its sovereignty and protect the Israeli citizens. But didn’t Israel learn that use of force and power alone is not protecting its other borders?

And Hezbollah!!!

Who put you in charge of Lebanon and who asked you to act on our behalf??? When over 70% of the population wants you to disarm like the rest of the Lebanese militias?

I understand and commend the services that Hezbollah provided to the disenfranchised Shia that were forgotten by the Lebanese government and kept weak by their corrupt leaders. As Lebanon has had its share of notoriously corrupt leaders from all sects and affiliations.

How dare Hezbollah sacrifice Lebanon for their own agenda??? They are sacrificing their followers first, innocent Shia children, women and elderly…as well as innocent Lebanese struggling to make ends meet...They have no moral qualms hiding heavy armament in a basement of a building housing several families and businesses.

My Heart Cries for Lebanon

2006-07-23T11:15:00.001-07:00

I rushed to the phone to call family and loved ones in Beirut and the Bekaa valley , while watching TV in disbelief as the unfolding of yet another tragedy was taking place in my home country of Lebanon. The uncertainty in their voices and the despair in their words took me back to my teenage years, growing up during the civil war in Lebanon. I could even taste that despair and smell the ugly stink of war.

It was only last year that Lebanon resurrected from the crucifixion of the 20-year civil war and the cruel hold of Syrian troops. The United States called it the Cedar Revolution and the 1.5 million Muslim and Christian Lebanese who gathered in downtown Beirut called it “Freedom, Sovereignty and Independence.”

This dream was shattered on Wednesday July 12, when Hezbollah crossed the Israeli border and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group that still refuses to disarm like other Muslim and Christian militias did at the end of the civil war. Hezbollah is an arm of the Shiite revolution in Iran with strong loyalties to Iran and Syria, not to Lebanon and its religious and cultural diversity.

Hezbollah acted independently guided by Iran and Syria. This armed militia initiated an act of war against Israel regardless of the consequences on Lebanon. Seventy percent of Lebanese do not approve of Hezbollah’s armed factions, and denounced the kidnapping and Hezbollah’s unilateral decision.

However, Israel’s response to the assault of Hezbollah is not only disproportionate but irrational, a sovereign country gone wild! Israel says it is trying to destroy the infrastructure of Hezbollah. What is really happening is that it is destroying the Lebanese infrastructure.

If Israel is thinking of destroying Hezbollah they are in for a surprise and the Israeli people have the right to know the truth. Hezbollah is not a radical party, Hezbollah is an ideology. It has gained more than a million supporters in Lebanon, largely through providing social services for the Shiite disenfranchised. Providing a safety net combined with their fiery rhetoric has taken this party to the legendary level of a mythic hero even though they are willing to sacrifice their people for their beliefs

My friend Bashir, a moderate Muslim from Beirut who never supported Hezbollah, choked on the phone when talking about the 500,000 displaced refugees and the death of innocent young children. He told me, “Of course we are against Israel now. They destroyed our dream. They want to eliminate an ideology by destroying ports, bridges, farms, electric plants, mosques and churches of a country that supports democracy and celebrates excellence in business and education. They are failing to destroy that ideology, and Lebanon is dying…” He couldn’t finish his sentence for the emotions welling up in him.

As a Lebanese-American, I didn’t sink into despair until the third day when I called my brother for the 10th time. He had just escaped the bombing around his workplace in the Bekaa. Now, my Christian brother has no income, no prospect of work, no way to support his wife and three beautiful children. Israel‘s actions are madness. The Lebanese people have suffered enough and if the world community had kept their commitment to UN Resolution 1559, which called for a disarmament of Hezbollah and a peace-keeping force on the border, this nightmare might have been averted.

I am proud to be a citizen of the United States of America, and as a concerned citizen I want us to understand the implications of a war on innocent civilians and the way it impacts their thinking about who is their friend and who is their enemy. I grieve for my homeland and its great promise for democracy in the Middle East. Beirut, only a short while ago considered the “jewel of the Middle East,” lies in ruins and the multi-cultural, multi-religious population faces once again the ravages of war and its aftermath of rage.