Eyad Abu Shakra

Eyad Abu Shakra

Where is the World Heading?

It is no longer a secret that the world is experiencing what might be called a political earthquake. Political parties, particularly those in Europe that analysts long regarded as "parties of government" throughout the Cold War era, are now struggling for survival. Political identity…

Democracy in Retreat… Its Adversaries on the Rise

Among the most famous sayings of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him: "If you are in retreat and death is advancing, how swift the meeting must be." I recalled this wise saying amid the clamor that accompanied the words of Jacob Coxon, the British researcher who resigned from the…

A Little Honesty Would be Useful in Lebanon These Days

The issue of the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon has ended as a "distraction" and a different phase has begun—one that changes nothing in the substance of the matter. The Israeli propaganda machine, organized and disseminated by experts in psychological warfare, gave many people, including…

Era of Inventing Identities...to Make Falsifying History Easier

Today, the Druze, or the Muwahhidun, find themselves, wherever they live, prisoners of a situation they did not seek but that was imposed upon them by the circumstances of history, the complexities of geography, the baseness of intelligence agencies, and the savagery of advanced technology. The…

A World and a Human Being...But Without Humanity

The matter is settled. There is absolutely no connection between the ancient Arab poet Di'bil al-Khuza'i, on the one hand, and Elon Musk and Sam Altman, on the other. That is what logic says, and the numbers confirm it. Di'bil was an Arab poet who lived during the Abbasid era in Iraq between 765…

America 2026... Republican Silence and Democratic Ambiguity

The upcoming US midterm elections in early November promise to be exceptional in every sense of the word. They will amount to a series of major “tests” taking place on a single day—tests that could lead to a different set of calculations for President Donald Trump’s second term and redefine the…

Lebanon's Army: Dreaming of an Elusive Joy

Lebanon marked Army Day on August 1. On this day in 1945, France - the mandatory power over Syria and Lebanon since 1920 - handed the military units under its control in the Levant to the national government of independent Lebanon. Yet, the occasion falls this year under abnormal circumstances. One…

Lebanon and the Arab Region... Facing Serious Challenges

Most Lebanese hope to escape their difficult circumstances, and they can hardly be blamed for that. They have every right to build on any glimmer of hope and to wager on any opportunity, however risky. They have lived through harsh conditions since the October 7, 2023 war in the Gaza Strip,…

The Challenging Task Awaiting Burnham from the Right and Left

The hopes of British Labour Party members and supporters are mixed following the end of outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s era. While realists are holding back from over-optimism regarding the future under new leader Andy Burnham, many everyday citizens prefer to wait and see what he will…

Between the Seriousness of Sport and the Absurdity of Politics

It is a paradox of the highest order that real politics is now far more evident on playing fields and running tracks than in the world of official politics itself. Any form of competition inevitably creates winners, losers, and competing loyalties, which in many cases can give way to conspiracy and…