The current changes in the middle east

[WinterHold]

Hello

After the Arab spring, many people had great expectations about the future, including me, we thought that freedom would soon lead the Arab countries into prosperity & civilization ; sadly the opposite scenario was the conclusion of the spring.

I'm very scared, really. The situation is a disaster, something is wrong but nobody can know what it is ; arabs are acting in a very chaotic way, without showing any sine of wisdom or change in mentality. Yet Arabs are still thinking in a religious & suicidal mentality which promises a new dark age for the middle east ; all of it.

Syria was the starter of that sad scenario. The Syrian revolution started as we all wanted it to be : protests against a tyrant. Soon enough the killing started, mostly against the protestors.

The first days of the Syrian revolution harvested many lives. The protestors started to change their motto, from "freedom & prosperity" to "Jihad & Sunna". The Syrian revolt turned into a religious civil war in a surprise that nobody could've imagined.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war

It's officially a civil war right now, between Sunna & Shia.
I gathered some links over the net which might show you how many this change is really true, not just a myth that I'm broadcasting.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-mat...s_in_1.php

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/02/sunni-...jihad.html

http://pietervanostaeyen.wordpress.com/2...nal-level/

Especially the last link contains some very interesting mentality :

Our brothers in faith, we are the Brigade of Mujahidin in the Levant and we have arrived to fight in the name of Allah and to raise the word of Allah. How many opportunities have we missed ? The reason is because we haven’t unified the word of Allah and we ask Allah that the fall of this tyrant would be done by us and that we will be able to raise the world of Allah in the blessed land.

This speech reminds me with Al-Qaida. This is the same mentality which we saw many times.. If Al-Qaida reached syria & stationed there ; may god have mercy on us from what's going to happen..

Iraq is witnessing a similar scenario.

Right now, there are protests against the government, many think it would also turn into a civil war between "Sunna & Shia". The current Iraqi government is Shia, the majority of the protests are taking place in Sunni cities & provinces.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/0...BT20130109

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast...57532.html

http://news.yahoo.com/sunni-protesters-d...06341.html

This scares me a lot.

You see, for almost a whole century Arabs never thought this way. There was no civil wars based on religion.. The middle east is very multi-culutral, civil wars in there would mean a disaster.

Sadly Iran is providing the perfect fuel for that war for Shia, while Saudi Arabia is doing the same for Sunna.
The main reason for the Syrian revolution to turn into a civil religious war was the Saudi propaganda ; the first to declare it as a holy war.

Let's also not forget the west, which acts like a ballet dancer around this matter. If the west didn't provide supplies & support for these leaders, we wouldn't have faced this scenario in the first place. If the west remained silent without supporting any faction, we also would've not faced this.

The west is providing help the Sunni fighters in syria, everybody knows it. But after the end of that bloody war, those factions would start raiding on us, OTHER MUSLIMS AROUND. This devastating conclusion means that we're facing another afghanistan ; but on a massive scale.

This area is facing a dark future if they continued to do what they're doing. I don't blame foreign countries only ; the main problem is from us.

The only way for Arabs to skip this dark fate is to start living in this world. Arabs must put their differences away & start doing something for themselves, start acting like humans..

It's sad to see human beings reaching this level of ignorance & lack of primitive mental abilities to unite & accept..

Funny thing is ; Jihadists are fighting for "god" since the cold war. Why didn't we see them win a single objective ? they literally achieved nothing. The west crushed them almost everywhere, and now they turned their fire against other Muslims after loosing hope in defeating the west.

I really don't know what to do.. Should I run & turn into a self hating arab, or simply hold my ground with the knowledge I have, and try to fix my community ? which would make me an "infidel" in the eyes of these people ?

Maybe I need to start doing something for myself. Maybe I must ignore everything around me & just like many other Arabs are doing..

IDK...

If somebody read this topic seriously ; you can share your answer with me, what would you do if you're in my shoes ?

[Dee Dee Ramone]

Where do you live and what's your religious background?

[WinterHold]

Where do you live and what's your religious background?

I live in egypt now, but previously in Saudi Arabia. I spent 19 years in saudi -was born there-, I'm supposed to be a Sunni, but I changed my views (I don't follow any faction ; I'm going on my own).

[Something completely different]

Saudi Arabia is the last place you want to be with your opinion.

[The Grand Nudger]

I hear there's a fortune to be made in contraband and arms at the moment, perhaps you should opt in?

I jest, I jest. I don't think you're limited to any of the options you presented in the extreme. You don't have to hate yourself or your heritage for what others who share that heritage have done or may be doing. You can hold alot of ground at once if you're willing to move the place you're holding it at. If your community reminds you very much of a sinking ship there is no battle to be fought over it. Those that wish to go to the bottom with it will, all you need to do is ensure that you aren't one of them. You always have to look out for yourself, but that doesn't mean that you only look out for yourself.

Heres the question, the problems you mentioned are pervasive, regional all the way down to the community level. What -can- you do?
(if Europe's history with religiously steeped politics is any indicator, it's going to run it's course regardless. Perhaps it'll run its course faster now that troops and information move much more swiftly.)

[Something completely different]

You live (as far as I know) in a country in which critics of the regime and activists are assaulted and sometimes even murdered.

This may sound like a cowards advice.

Please do nothing that could get you harmed or even killed.



Other than that: your life, your opinion, your responsibility, and most importent of all - your right and will to express yourself freely.

[The Grand Nudger]

You live (as far as I know) in a country in which critics of the regime and activists are assaulted and sometimes even murdered.

-which only provides opportunity for "martyrdom". Hellish win-win for nutjobs aint it?

[WinterHold]

I hear there's a fortune to be made in contraband and arms at the moment, perhaps you should opt in?

I jest, I jest. I don't think you're limited to any of the options you presented in the extreme. You don't have to hate yourself or your heritage for what others who share that heritage have done or may be doing. You can hold alot of ground at once if you're willing to move the place you're holding it at. If your community reminds you very much of a sinking ship there is no battle to be fought over it. Those that wish to go to the bottom with it will, all you need to do is ensure that you aren't one of them. You always have to look out for yourself, but that doesn't mean that you only look out for yourself.

Heres the question, the problems you mentioned are pervasive, regional all the way down to the community level. What -can- you do?
(if Europe's history with religiously steeped politics is any indicator, it's going to run it's course regardless. Perhaps it'll run its course faster now that troops and information move much more swiftly.)

Do you think it's better, I mean gun smuggling ?
I was thinking about working in an organized assassination agency under codename "agent 47"..the tattoo would be painful though :p

I think it's a sinking ship. The history I know about the middle east didn't mention anything similar. The "sunni/shia" war is just so new ; people didn't make it that personal back in the past. It's the first time we see "protests" going out against somebody just because of his religious views. It was rare in the past & only about politics , but now I feel it's personal.

But one thing I don't wanna experience ; is living in medieval Europe xD if -as you've said- the Arabs followed the same path which Europe went through, then we're looking at 500 or 600 years of darkness, let's say it moves a little bit faster, I would say it might stretch to 100 years..

And I can't really do anything ; many outcomes might include prison or even death.

Running sounds good if this was the case..

[The Grand Nudger]

If the springs dry up and the land won't bear fruit, then the only choice is to become part of the diaspora. Unless you feel that prison, or death, or what have you is an acceptable price to pay. I don't know if I'd call the posibility medieval europe, even the middle east has pockets which are beyond that a a possibility, just that there are analogues, and we might expect similar situations with more modern flavor.

(and I don't really apply "better" or "worse" to shit like running guns)

[Anomalocaris]

I think you should start by laying low. The secret to being successful in an project that has ended in failure so many times before surely lie not only in resolve, vision or courage, but in timing and above all, subtlety.