Arab Spring

We are at the end of the year 2011. Arab countries were at the top of the news all year around in what we have called the Arab Spring. Countries get rid of their dictators and others started to raise up against their leaders, like Syria and Yemen. Others have not yet started as the regime is strongly controlling the people, like Algeria. Others, like Morocco, have done very few changes in an attempt to control the situation the way it is. What will 2012 be for those countries? Will we see others revolutions in the Arab world?
We all hope so.
But in the meantime, I wish all of you a Happy New Year 2012.

What are the news on this month?

July is a month where Europe stops working. Or almost stops working. Everyone only thinks of holidays and where to find some sun and to rest. As it is important to rest, it is also important to know that a lot of countries go on on their lives as usual. For instance, in the US the White House is struggling to avoid default of payment in August if no agreement is reached by the Congress and the president. It is business as usual and it is a good thing to see that countries are working. Yesterday, a terrorist, a Norwegian, put a bomb in central Oslo, the capital and killed around 80 people in an island nearby. It is the worst catastrophe the country has seen since WWII. And Syrians are still demonstrating against their government and the president, who is a dictator like his father. Libya is still on war and no side is winning, at least yet. Europeans are struggling to help Greece, a country with the Euro and a phenomenal debt that could shatter the whole financial system. And there are plenty of other events happening in the world. Holidays? For some, probably but not for the majority.

Strauss Kahn

The story has taken another path that nobody would have believed. The maid, who claimed that the French politician has raped her and made love to her without her consent, is not believable. That is what the prosecution has discovered this week, of June 30th. They have doubts about the truth. The maid has accused Strauss Kahn but there are a lot of discrepancies. First apparently she cleaned another room before calling the police about what has happened to her with the French. But more than that she has gotten some 100,000 dollars in her account, in cash, a week before the claim. And she is in constant contact with a drug dealer who is in jail. And finally, she has supposedly lied about her arrival in the US. Therefore the prosecutor has asked the judge to free Strauss Kahn from house arrest. Although the trial is not yet finished, it appears that it would be completely different that one had supposed when the former IMF chief has been accused. But what's important is that is shows that the judicial system in the USA works well. And now depending on the issue of the trial (next appearance in front of the judge is programmed for July 17th) he might still be candidate for next year presidential elections. So let's see what will happen.

Obama and the Middle East

The speech given by Obama about the Middle East and Israel

What a story!

Dominique Strauss Kahn in jail in New York City. Who would have guessed that the (former?) general manager of the International Monetary Fund would be put in jail, in the infamous Rikers Island prison in NYC? Well it is the reality of the American judiciary system which doesn't make any difference between poor and rich. In a way it is a great system. What is the story? DSK, as everybody knows him, was in an hotel room in NYC before taking off to Europe for a meeting of the IMF, on Saturday May 14th. A housemaid entered the room to clean and he would have tried to rape her, and he practiced sex without her consent. She escaped and was taken to hospital and then to the police. DSK was localized in a plane to Paris and the police delayed without his knowledge the departure until they took him in it.
From there the judiciary system started working: precinct, lawyers, judge and on Monday the latter decided to hear the story in front of a Grand Jury on Friday 20th and refused to release him on bail. He could very well fly to France where he would be untouchable by the American law. So he is in Rikers Island until the Grand Jury decision. Well if it is sad that he, a potential candidate and winner of next year presidential election in France, has been involved in a sexual affair, as it happened in NYC, he has to live with the US judiciary system. And all French who criticize it should be happy that in the US anyone having committed or suspected of a crime is treated equally. Although it is sad for him and his family, he should have been more cautious and wise. Let's see what the Grand Jury will decide.

Arab countries

Unrest hasn't stopped yet and fortunately because it shows that the people are not impressed by the deaths and the inflexibility of their rulers. Recently the Tunisians have announced that former president Ben Ali will be judged by a military court. He is not in Tunisia but that means that his fate in his country is sealed. He won't go back there anymore. In Egypt, former president Moubarak is also under a warrant and should also be judged. It is a beginning but it has to go on further. Syrian ruler and his entourage should also be judged but for the moment he is still in power and his army is killing his own people. The good news is that noting will ever be the same in Syria even if he wins this time. Even if he stays in power. It shouldn't be for a long time, not any more. But what about the other Arab countries? Their rulers are still running the country the way it's their property. Algeria, Morocco and the Gulf states are, for the moment, rather quiet. Some demonstrations in Morocco and Algeria did happen but nothing more. When will their rulers understand that if they don't change their regime now, it'll be too late very soon.

Unrest in Arab countries

The Arab countries did not stop showing their leaders that they are fed up by them. Now it is the turn of Syria where the leader responds with his army. He is killing his people without hesitation. But where this will lead him and his regime? Syrian people might stop because of the deaths that are growing every day. But that doesn't mean that the regime is or will be saved from unrests. And one can only think about how this will end? And when? How many deaths till something will happen that would stop bloodshed? Is it enough from western countries to impose sanctions on Assad and his men? And what about Yemen? When those rulers, those dictators will understand that they are finished?
But there is one last thing that we should think about. What will happen after? Let's say that Assad contains the unrest and take over as it was before. But will he be able to rule his country like he has been doing for years and like his father did too? In a way we could say that he is finished because he will not be taken seriously and his ties with the international community should be like they were before. Let's just hope that it will end quickly, without any more deaths and violent.