NM's blog

Realpolitik and selective accountability.  “The UAE is a strategic partner of the West. It is a buyer of arms, a major collaborator with Israel’s genocidal regime, a conduit for intelligence, and a financial hub. It has hosted US military bases, participated in counterterrorism operations, and invested heavily in Western economies. In short, it is too useful to punish.” Counterrevolution, gold and global impunity

“ What future for Syria, particularly for democratic aspirations? Looking at HTS and SNA’s policies in the past, they have not encouraged a democratic space to develop, but quite the opposite. They have been authoritarian. No trust should be given to such forces, quite the opposite. “Only the self-organization of popular classes fighting for democratic and progressive demands will create that space and open a path toward actual liberation. Their capacity to do so, however, will have to overcome many obstacles from war fatigue to repression, poverty, and social dislocation. Only the development of civil society’s organizations (not narrowly defined as of NGOs but in a Gramscian sense of popular mass formations outside of the state) such a as trade unions, feminist organizations, local popular associations , etc… can constitute a political and social alternative for a democratic future… Joy and fear are not contradictory feelings for the future of Syria. While it is important to remind ...