Violent Vs. Non-Violent Resistance

 All through history people have struggled against the rulers or the governments, some turned sour and failed some succeeded but created dictators that were far worse than the original ruler, some took the peaceful approach and some chose the armed and violent approach. Looking back at these struggles, what was the percentage of success of each approach and how to measure this success?

 Prof. Erica Chenoweth from the University of Denver's Josef Corbel School of International Studies answers these questions and more in her award-winning book " Why civil resistance works ", she defines the civil resistance as " a method of conflict in which unarmed civilians uses tactics like strikes, protests, boycott and other methods without physically harming their opponents, which could be more effective than armed conflicts in removing a leader or creating an independent territory".

The study explores the strategic effectiveness between violent and non-violent campaigns from 1900 till 2006, and came up with some amazing facts:

1 – Non-violent campaigns have scored 53% success rate compared to violent campaigns that only scored 26% success

2 – Repressive regimes are 12 times more likely to grant the non-violent campaigns some concessions more than the violent campaigns.

3 – Defections of security forces are more than 4 times more likely in non-violent campaigns

4 – Non-violent campaigns are 6 times more likely to fulfill complete success against repressive regimes.

5 – Non-violent campaigns are 4 times larger because all ages could participate thus reducing the risk calculation of security forces which will eventually lead to unlikely violent outcome.

6 – The non-violent campaigns could get the support of big corporates and investors which could lead to a faster compromise from the regime.

7- Societies that emerge out of a successful or even none successful non-violent campaigns are more likely to have democratic institutions with in 5 to 10 years and 15% less likely to lapse into civil war than violent campaigns with in the same period

3 images of world's greats whom led non-violent campaigns and succeeded, Prof. Chenoweth added that behind such successes came important reasons:

1 – Their commitment to non-violent campaigns enhanced their domestic and international legitimacy and encouraged more people to participate thus increasing the pressure on their governments which then started thinking about the economic and security impacts.

2 – Against violent movements the governments easily justify their violent moves, whereas against the non-violent movements, it could easily back fire on that particular government

3 – International condemnation could be an immediate result and that exactly what happened with South Africa which eventually gave in.

4 – leading a non-violent movement keeps the door open to negotiations, since these governments never sensed a threat towards their lives, and what better story regarding this point than Gandhi's refusal to go violent even after the Brits turned the Ameristar demonstrations into a massacre killing hundreds in 1919 and imprisoning him in 1922 and later the massive imprisonments of 60,000 people after the famous 1930 salt marsh were he and his followers covered walking as a protest to salt tax a distance of 241 miles,,,,, but finally the Brits gave up and signed the famous Gandhi -Irwin pact which basically Britain agreed to free all the political prisoners in return for the suspension of civil disobedience.

 

I could not help thinking while reading this great book, about Syria, 207,000 civilian deaths and 11 million left their homes to settle elsewhere , what if  Condoleezza Rice did not bring up the " New Middle-East idea" which sprung the Arab spring which resulted in a million deaths across the Arab world and is still harvesting lives, what if the Saudis, Turks, Qataris and Israelis did not arm the rebellion, and what if AL Assad forces did not use excessive force on the first day,,,,,the what if's could have been stopped if the people were more educated to learn from both studies and history that NON-VIOLENT resistance works better during and after the confrontations.

Trump's Strategy in the Middle-East Level 1

Trump's decision of withdrawing from Syria was not understood by a lot of people even by his secretary of defense whom resigned his post or at least did not know until Trump told him that he had other plans. Other plans!!! Yes the Trump administration have other plans probably Mattis did not agree with. To us in the middle-east it is very clear that the Americans do not want to be involved in any fighting a decision taken during the Obama period, so another strategy was put and was monitored.
This strategy is dived into 3 interconnected levels, the first is IRAQ and LEBANON, the second is SYRIA and YEMEN and finally the third level which is IRAN and RUSSIA, The Americans are focusing the time being on Iraq in an effort to reduce or completely weaken the Popular Hashed militia whom fought side by side with the Iraqi army against ISIS. This militia is close to Iran and Hezbollah and are a powerful political part of the Iraqi government and that's why Pompeo was there, to convince the Iraqi Prime Minister Mr. Abdul-Mahdi that the militia's should be ended and all it's heavy weaponry should be transferred to the Iraqi army.The same is true for David Hale's visit to Lebanon to ask the P.M Mr. AL-Hariri that Hezbollah cannot continue to be in the government and their heavy weaponry to be transferred to the Lebanese army.

The question is, are the American demands realistic in both Iraq and Lebanon? of course not, and that is why they sent a message to both countries that there will be further economic and monetary sanctions on both militia's as a whole and also against whoever deals with them, both militia's are  very effective in the Syrian war joining Al-Assad forces in many fronts. Usually the Americans take certain steps as an introduction or a necessary steps in their way to the final goal. So what could be their final goal?

If you guessed that it has something to do with Israel, you guessed right. Ever since Israel discovered natural gas in it's shores it tried hard to expand it's distance towards the Lebanese international sea boarders and without an agreement with the Lebanese the investors will not show up, and if Israel would intimidate the Lebanese by drilling in what they say it is Lebanese sea boarders then Hezbollah will definitely strike those locations and the Iraqi Hashed militia has announced that if this case occurs then they will fight alongside Hezbollah. 

The case of open fire between Lebanon and Israel is not what the Americans and the Israeli wants so that is why they are trying other means and one of those means was encouraging the Lebanese P.M to continue halting the establishment of the government which has been halted for months now in an effort to put pressure on Hezbollah and the President Aoun whom is an ally with Hezbollah to prevent any majority for Hezbollah allies in the government whom will Vito any compromise with any agreement with Israel to draw sea and land boarders.

So what has this  to do with the American withdrawal from Syria?  The withdrawal is a clear message from the Americans that the US will not be engaged in any fighting in the middle-east any more, but this does not mean that America is out for good rather it will play a pressure game threatening here or there using economic or monetary means to achieve their goal or even produce a new Arabic spring to spread chaos on top of the one that already exists

in the next episode i will discuss level 2 of Trump's strategy in the middle-east. 

Trump's New World Order

I wonder if you Americans are as confused as we are in the Middle-East with regards to President Trump's actions? Since his inauguration his actions were far left , then far right then turns in a circle, I mean we just cannot figure him out!!!  His allies became his enemies and his enemies became all of a sudden his friends that he admires, I can claim that I analyze world affairs and put a number of predictions that usually comes spot on in a few months time, but with Trump i failed big time in trying to predict what would be his next action, one thing for sure is that when he announces something like meeting the North Korean leader, he usually does it even if does not make sense.

Only a few days back i came upon a fantastic issue of the recent New Yorker, and yes we in the Middle -East are reading and watching more US newspapers and CNN in order to understand what is going on, the front page looked this way

"Trump's new world order" now this makes perfect sense !! This does not apply only to the US foreign policy towards the Middle-East but also applies to all of his actions. Now we know it is not written anywhere as a text but we can deduct from the actions where is this new world order leading to. Four major decisions this administration took, first relocating the US embassy to Jerusalem which triggered out rage in the Middle East even in Arab and Muslim allies countries, Secondly applied tariffs to Chinese and European imports which made both parties decide on retaliatory actions against the USA, thirdly the Humiliation of the prime minister of America's closest ally that is Canada, and finally Trump's meeting with the North Korean leader which only a month ago seemed impossible. The question would be " Is this stupidity or is it a calculated risk for a huge cause?and how would these actions fit in the NEW Yorker's headline Trump's new world order?

The Middle-East has got everything to do with this new world order, Iran's nuclear deal & the Arab -Israeli conflict, the first was ignited by Trump's sort of withdrawal from the accord with the help of Israel and the Saudi money, since the Saudi's have now big ambitions in the region they can find no rivalry except Iran which has to be pushed back into the sanctions to prevent it from taking a bigger role in the region. Then the problem rose from the Europeans since they have over a billion dollars trade with Iran especially gad and oil , and they opposed Trump's new even harsher sanctions on Iran,this in a way unified the Europeans whom started criticizing Trump's administration.

On the other hand the Arab-Israeli conflict is taking a new turn with the Saudis and Israelis working together to accomplish the "Deal of the Century" which is the other name for the American peace plan which states that a new home for the Palestinians will be made in the Sinai desert and Jerusalem will be in total the Israeli capital. This plan is rejected by a lot of countries in the region, but with the Saudi money, the American pressure and the Israelis executing the plan they feel confident they can do it. 

A major war is imminent in the region even if the Russians decided to pull out from the Middle East, to reshape the map of the countries or better still to reshape the new world order. 

Trump does not want allies any more, he wants followers and using these economic measures would be the reward if you follow and tariffs if you do not, the new world order is nothing but a new empire that will extend its hands all over the world something like the Trump hotel chain.   

Trump's Flounder

It is essential that the American public knows what is happening in the world because the decisions taken by the US President and Congress affects the whole world, so we in the middle -east wish that the American people not only hold their President accountable for domestic issues but for foreign issues too. Today there are several issues to talk about and in a sense, they are related, N. Korea, French elections, Yemen and South Lebanon, and although they are miles and miles apart but they are inter-related.

On Twitter, Trump warned: “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.”

But after a brief but bracing war scare, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis swooped into moderate the commander in chief. "It's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully,” McMaster, said on Sunday. “We are working together with our allies and partners and with the Chinese leadership to develop a range of options" In other words, the US wants the Chinese assistance in offering the N. Koreans a basket of solutions to disarm their nuclear arsenal. The Americans have reached the conclusion that since Obama's idea of "strategic patience" did not work and a conflict with N. Korea is costly keeping in mind how resilient they are, facing very tough sanctions unlike any other that occurred, that started in 2006, they also have built a very strong army and intelligence systems, all of these reasons combined makes the conflict with N. Korea remote, so the next step would be a treaty similar to that singed between Iran and the US.

Europe's political mood is certainly shifting to the right and the French first round elections singled out Marine Le Pen far right wing and Emmanuel Macron left wing, and although Le Pen is close to Trump's ideas yet she is supporting France withdrawal from the EU and is closer to Russia. Her statement of supporting Russia and Assad in fighting terrorism is clear, which makes it obvious that Macron is Washington's favorite. Yet once again Trump' tweeted following Friday's incident in Paris "Everyone is now saying how right I was with illegal immigration and the wall," although he did not name her yet his indication is supporting Le Pen's ideas, which should be in contradiction to the US and all of its allies' choice, and gives confused signals to the French voters.

Unlike the previously mentioned cases, Trump was very clear when he sent the Defense Secretary James Mattis to Saudi Arabia showing support to the Saudi's and the same time encouraging them to push for peace. Mattis dis-encouraged the Saudi's from attacking the Houthis strong hold at Al-Hodeida port because simply the Americans will find themselves obligated to support the Saudi troops which is something the Americans do not want to do and were clear about it.

Finally, in a very rare and almost for the first-time Hezbollah took a group of journalists to the Israeli border and even allowed them to interview some of the fighters in a show that they are still strong in South Lebanon and the Syrian war have not affected them, and added that they will punish Israel if it violates UN 1701 resolution which prohibits Israeli war planes from entering the Lebanese air space.

It seems that Trump's hands are full in the international arena, and he is not making easier on himself by tweeting contradicting massages and I do not blame him since he is new to all this and does not have past experience.

When we weave those events together the picture may be will look clearer. N. Korea is the main supplier of weapons and weapon technology to Iran and subsequently to Hezbollah and by coming to terms with N. Korea, the US can put their conditions on lifting the sanctions thus cutting the supply of arms to Iran and removing the threat to S. Korea and Japan the US allies in turn will considerably reduce the US military presence in the region. In the other hand the US does not want France a key player in the middle-east and Europe to shift towards Russia and change the French view towards the Syrian war if Le Pen wins the elections  but if not they will definitely support Macron whom already received the blessings of the Democrats when Obama called him.

It is a struggle to keep a balance away from the red lines of Yemen, Iraq where ISIS are collapsing and the Iraqis are not giving them a way out which will affect the balance in Syria which is the main focus.

You,them and I

Sometimes when you take an unwise decision you regret it and then try to fix the problem, but the damage is done and some of them are only a superficial wound that can be mended , but others are deep and beyond any repair.
Sir Issac Newton's third law of motion states " that every action has an equal and opposite reaction" this is true for our decisions too, for every decision there are consequences pointing in the other direction.Nevertheless Newton insists that the action and reaction are equal, so when you say "i did not mean to do that" i believe you and i know you are saying the truth, but that does not reduce the amount of action you applied or the size of the wound you caused. So next time you want to say something or do something towards other people, weigh your action and check its direction , you notice i added direction because those actions are dynamic so they are vectors having magnitude and direction, in other words , what you can say to an X person, cannot be tolerated by the Y person, so you have to check the direction of your actions.
Once the damage is done it is very hard to reduce its effects unless you direct your action towards the positive direction,like an apology which would offset the original damage,But what causes us to take drastic decisions without calculating the consequences? ANGER,,is the most damaging cause to any decision we make because it does not only limit our wisdom but also controls our limbs instead of our brains, spiritually talking, so anger is a power to be recon with and have to learn more about it, and that is not easy at all unless you are prepared spiritually.
I have been very very busy teaching in an extra ordinary college of aviation which drains all my power, yet i find it an opportunity to communicate with the boys and try to deliver not only technical knowledge and regulations but the true meaning of ourselves, consider it as adventure digging deep into us find the defects and try to fix it.I tell the boys the most important thing in college is to be disciplined because as you are abiding by the rules and requirements on the outside of yourself, what you are really doing is teaching your inside to brake anger, laziness,weakness and all the negative emotions.  

Finally a virtue is nothing but an equilibrium point, for example bravery is a virtue, yet if you go left a bit then it becomes cowardliness or go right and becomes recklessness so being in the middle you  are safe,and this holds true for all.To discover ones self makes him realize where exactly he stands. It is a struggle with ones self, make sure you come out victorious.   

MY VISIT TO IRAN

Probably by just mentioning the name Iran your thoughts will immediately goes to the nuclear deal and the revolution and other recent events, and that is wrong because this country is 2500 years old from the first Persian civilization led by Cyrus the great. My first visit to Iran was a few years back in January and i had no idea what to face there, so i landed in the Capital Tehran and it was snowing like hell which reminded of my beloved city in the USA Boston where i studied. For a man coming from the desert the weather cannot be better so much different, went to the hotel which was very nice,

Tehran is a typical middle eastern city with huge buildings and crowded, and you do not want to drive there , my goodness what a mess i mean a red traffic light does not mean anything for a few drivers. their food is what you have to try especially if you like kebab, they have tens of different kebabs may favorite was kebab sultani which was great and they are experts with yogurt drink they add mint to it slightly sour but if cold it is fantastic.this is the image.

I noticed that they have a good industry almost all of their electrical appliances like fridges, tv's is made in Iran including computers, also clothing's, cars and other things, my only problem was the language i do not speak Persian and few speaks English there although Tehran is much better than the rest of the country.

 My next stop was Qum i had no problem there at all almost everybody speaks Arabic over there, they must have over a million Iraqis there whom were deported at the Saddam Hussein era. their market is magic i mean the carpets bazaar, you have to see it to believe it, the designs , the colors the beauty is eye boggling, made from wool or silk the ones made of silk you hang on the wall and if you look at it from different angles it gives you different colors, you have the feeling you want to buy the whole market.

Also in Qum is the shrine of MASOUMA the sister of the 8th Imam of the Shiites , the architecture is old and beautiful and lots of gold in the building structure it is just majestic.This is the image

The next stop was Mashhad an hour flight from Tehran, now this is a city you should visit,it is the dream of millions because it has the shrine of the 8th Imam and the old market is just wonderful. this city is equipped nicely for tourists with hotels , restaurants and a big shopping places. i always prefer the old market which also have carpets and saffron because saffron comes from the Khorasen region which Mashhad is one of the cities, and that saffron is the best in the world by the way. what really encourages the tourists is that the prices are very reasonable especially if we know the Tooman or Riyal the Iranian currency is cheap if compared with the US dollar.

Finally you have to visit the shrine of Imam Mousa Bin Jafar it is magnificent and cannot be described by words, gold all over the place and glass designs from the inside, i have traveled a lot but i have never seen anything like it, and this is its image

  

A POEM BY A LEGEND

ANTARH IBN SHADAD IS AN ARABIC LEGEND WHOM LIVED IN THE ARABIC PENINSULA BORN 525 AD AND DIED 628 AD. ONE OF THE MIGHTIEST HEROES AND POETS, HIS FATHER WAS THE A TRIBE LEADER FROM BANI ABBS AND HIS MOTHER WAS AN ETHIOPIAN SLAVE, HE WAS MADLY IN LOVE WITH HIS COUSIN ABBLAH WHOM HE WROTE SO MANY POEMS ABOUT, HE BECAME FREE AFTER SAVING HIS TRIBE FROM ANOTHER THAT TRIED TO OCCUPY THEIR LAND, HE FINALLY MARRIED HER AFTER A LONG HARDSHIPS TO PERSUADE HER FATHER, HE DIED FIGHTING FOR HIS TRIBE. HIS POEMS WHERE HUNG ON THE KABBAH AND WRITTEN IN GOLD WATER AS THE ARABS DID FOR THE GREAT POETS. THIS IS ONE OF HIS SHORT POEMS ' OH DOVE YOU INFLAMED MY SORROW', HE WROTE THIS POEMS AFTER HIS LOVE LEFT WITH HER FAMILY, SO HE SAT UNDER A TREE AND HEARD THIS DOVE SINGING.

OH DOVE YOU INFLAMED MY SORROW, AND FILLED ME WITH PAIN

IF YOU ARE WEEPING FOR YOUR LOVE THAT LEFT, THEN WE CRY FOR THE SAME CAUSE

INCREASE YOUR WAILING AND MAKE ME HAPPY WITH SADNESS UNTIL YOU SEE WONDERS OUT FLOWING FROM MY EYES

STOP AND SEE WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME,DO NOT BE HASTY BUT BE CAREFUL FROM MY FLAMING BERTH

(1)NOW FLY OVER THE LAND OF HIJAZ . MAY BE YOU WILL SEE A CARAVAN NEAR ALIJ OR BEFORE NOAMAN.

HAVING A CRYING LADY WITH TEARS OF LONGING FOR FAR AWAY HOME AND NEIGHBORS

I BEG YOU OH DOVE , IF YOU SEE THEM OBITUARY ME

AND TELL THEM THAT I HAVE LEFT HIM FALLEN , HIS TEARS HAVE FINISHED AND HE IS CRYING BLOOD NOW.

(1) HIJAZ IS THE OLD NAME OF SAUDI ARABIA NOW
ALIJ IS A PLACE NORTH OF THE PENINSULA
NOAMAN IS PLACE SOUTH WEST OF THE PENINSULA


  

THE HISTORY OF ARAB- AMERICAN RELATIONS

I gathered information from Arabic and American sources to summarize this important history, you can always refer to prof, Thomas A. Byson west Georgia college, whom wrote a  book entitled          " United States, Middle East diplomatic relations 1784-1978."

After the American independence in 1776, the young republic found itself having two major  difficulties, first was international recognition because of the British pressure world wide, and second the sea trade routs were dominated by the Europeans. It all started to look better in 1777 only one year after independence, when Sultan Mohammad bin Abdullah the third, Sultan of Morocco recognized the United States and was the first in the world to do so. In 1778 Morocco and the United States had signed the friendship treaty which was the first to be signed by the United States (still valid to date).
George Washington wrote a letter to the Sultan thanking him( called him emperor instead of sultan) and telling him that he is an ally for the years to come, and the Sultan replied to him with 2 Arabic horses as a gift handed to the American chancellor in Tangiers Mr James Laibe.

In 1784 the congress appointed Benjamin Franklin , Thomas Jefferson and John Adams as a special committee to establish commercial relations with the North African Emirates ( Algeria,Tunisia and Tripoli). Things did not go well as with Morocco ,( it was then when Thomas Jefferson thought of building the U.S navy to secure the trade routes to North Africa) but they finally succeeded  to make relations with Algeria in 1795. Tunisia 1797 and Tripoli 1806, in fact the United States declared the first war against Tripoli in 1801.
The fifth Arabic country the Americans signed a treaty of friendship and commerce was the Sultanate of Oman in 1833 and the Sultan Sayed bin Saeed sent the first ambassador to the United States in April 1840 on board the sail ship Sultana and the ambassador name was Ahmed bin Noaman, whom was the first ever Arabic ambassador in the United States.

This is a brief history of the ups and downs in the relations between the two nations,history that might not be known by a lot of people, but our friendship goes more back in time than any other nation in the history of the United States of America.   

Memories from visiting Saddam's Iraq part 4

As we were standing in front of the museum hesitating to enter, i heard somebody calling my name, hey Nael is that you my friend, i had a stare at him then realized it is Thaer my friend from school years back whose father was working in Kuwait for a few years before they went back home to Iraq. He changed a bit he looks darker and aged twice the years since i last saw him. Come walk with me he said holding a plastic bag in his hands,OK i said what is this bag for? well i want to buy some tomato he said i laughed i thought the place you are buying from should give you one!! suddenly we stopped and a long queue was ahead of us, this will take some time he said, i was astonished you are queuing for tomato i said, he just nodded , Iraq the land of Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent, my goodness Thaer your soil is black exploding with fertility i said with surprise, he replied well my mum wants to make a salad and my other brothers went queuing for cucumbers and lettuce, well i wish you luck shall we meet tonight i said? yes he replied there is a good restaurant called restaurant the restaurant it is famous, OK i said but what a strange name , and left him amazed and as we were walking near the place selling tomato i noticed a university degree hanging on the outside of the shop, a Bachelor of science, so i was reading it and the tomato sales person said angrily yes it is mine and i am not the only one, so i kept walking thinking what a waste.

  
So at night we all dressed up and went out the hotel and as soon as i lifted my arm calling a taxi , the same car stopped again with this guy smiling hello friends it looks like we bump into each other more often, , i just raised my arm i was not calling a taxi i said angrily and walked away, he drove his car right beside us and still smiling nobody except me will pick you up he said,so come on, so we had no choice.
So we met in that restaurant and the first thing my friend told us do not talk to the waiter otherwise you have to pay in dollars, OK i said ,now tell me why are you darker,did you go to the beach or something, he laughed and said no, i just participated in the popular labor  project, it is for all students to help in building new cities, oh so you made some money i said, what money he replied it is participation,so you could have said no i asked , he laughed again and said then they will not give me the end of year certificate. i turned to my cousin who's look was full of disgust , did you hear that? my cousin replied with a low tone ' i want to go home '
  

RELIGIONS COEXISTENCE

It is always a sensitive issue when talking about religions especially the monotheist ones, and this sensitivity i wish to talk about, why are we so sensitive? why is it always that we have to attack other religions to defend ours?did we bother to read their holly books ,did we understand it, if yes according to which scholar? so many questions that drove me to write this article, and probably we should start by defining RELIGION.

Religion is: the belief and worship of GOD almighty ( i will use it as the Creator , G-D and ALLAH) it is a particular system of acts and obedience to faith and worship.

This is a brief definition but good enough for the purpose of this article, and it is best to start with the similarities and semi-similar text in all 3 religions, they all believe that this world was created in 6 days, Adam and Eve story, Abraham story with little difference, Jesus story with a little difference , Mosses story, the Exodus, and the 12 tribes of Israel. i have selected those stories because they are all written with details or referred to in the prophets speeches.
First , regardless which religion you belong to, we all believe in this supreme power called GOD,G-D or ALLAH, and all of our obedience and faith goes to him .So the name he revealed himself in each holy books is of his choosing and we should obey and accept it. Secondly Abraham was neither a Jew,Christian nor a Muslim yet we all believe in him as the father of all the prophets and he was called upon and chosen by GOD to lead his people and convey the massage of GOD , he was a faithful servant whom GOD loved for his righteousness.Third the story of Mosses with every detail up to the Exodus is mentioned in the holly books almost word for word and in the Koran ALLAH says to Mosses ' And I have produced you for myself ' to show the greatness of Mosses.

So why we cannot leave at that point? why would 14 million Jews challenge the faith of 2.2 billion Christians and 1.6 billion Muslims over the existence Jesus Son of Mary, or why would the Christians challenge the faith of Muslims over the authenticity of the Koran , or why would the Muslims challenge the faith of Christians over the crucifying of Jesus? They all defend their points through their holy books, but why do i need to defend my faith against others that believe in one creator, Abraham and Mosses?
History tells us that the Jews were expelled from 109 places from 250 AD onward out of which 107 were Christian countries, so can we really blame Christianity, ignorance in the Christian faith from them leaders or is it a political decision? obviously it is the latter 2 are the real cause, since Christianity is all about peace, love and tolerance, yet one could argue that in the middle ages the church had all the control !!! True, but the church then were following the leaders ambitions and they would bend the faith to the satisfaction of the kings to keep their control over the masses and their positions in the state.
The same happened during the Islamic history when 3 out of 4 Caliphates were assassinated, and the rise of the Amawey state which used scholars to defend the positions of the leaders ambitions approving the likes of allowing the killing of the prophet's grandson whom tried to return the Islamic faith to what it was in the days of the prophet, so do we blame the religion? certainly not since it was about power and influence.
Also can we justify all the crimes that is happening in Palestine to Judaism? definitely not since we see Jews condemning the acts of the Israeli government .

We should learn from history, and the religion should be a guide for the seekers for the truth and people can read and research and follow ones heart and belief , and if one wants to know more about religion one should check different scholars and you will find the huge difference in interpretations of the holy books verses, and finally do not follow men you think are righteous to lead you to religion as Imam ALI said:  Whom enters the religion because of men, the same men will make him exit it.

Coexistence should be a target for all the believers because it will generate peace and harmony.

Memories of visiting Saddam's Iraq part 3

Finally that night we reached Baghdad, and it was as if we are entering a new country, the difference between Baghdad and the southern states is so evident in comparison ,while the southern states roads were full of pits and the garbage was every where ,Baghdad was so beautiful with wide roads huge bridges and the sight of the river was simply breath taking. So we got off the bus terminal and grabbed a taxi to hotel Gilgamesh named after the Assyrian king and poet, the hotel was very nice and comfortable so things are getting better and better,i rested my cousin whom was really in severe pain by now and went looking for a pharmacy which was near by. I want a medicine for stomach ache i said, he looked at me for a while after listening to my accent , did you drink any thing on the way Kuwaiti? i said yes , then he started laughing and said the problem is that you have stomachs made out of plastic while ours is made of stainless steel, i smiled thinking what do they teach these guys in pharmaceutical college. OK he said do you want domestic or imported medicine, i told him are you serious of course imported! Here he said , and i remember it was made in East Germany , that will be 20 Dinars , waw that is cheap i thought 20 Iraqi Dinars may be equal to less than 10 cents , AH he said but you are not an Iraqi citizen so you pay 30 U.S dollars or 10 Kuwaiti dinars, say what!! he replied what do you think, this is how we get even you have to pay in hard currency.

Next morning my cousin was feeling much better after that socialist medicine, so we decided to walk , you can smell history in every corner , here were the Babylonians , Assyrians, Akkadians ,Persians and Arabs ,it was exciting and behold there were this nice book shop and i thought yes time for books, so we entered looking for a book about these civilizations but to our surprise most of the books were under the title of Saddam. like speeches of the leader president, thoughts of Saddam Hussein etc..so i asked for a history books, yes he said i have a few and these are popular, Saddam son of Babel, another was, Akkad, socialism and Saddam, i heard of brain wash but this was brain wash with a hard scrub,so i left empty handed and disappointed . Hey lets go to the history museum my cousin suggested,surly they cannot manipulate that,unless they would exchange Sargon the Great head statue with Saddam's and write Sargon reborn ,nah can  they?So we grabbed a taxi and the driver was the same guy whom took us last night from the bus terminal,you my friends again what a coincidence the driver said, this is more than a coincidence i thought and immediately told my cousin to keep his mouth shut and let me do the talking, obviously he was a secret police.As we reached the museum our earlier thought was very close because there was this great poster with Saddam standing next to the statue of Sargon with a sentence in the bottom which amazed me and reads " THIS CUB IS FROM THIS LION"

Memories from visiting Saddam's Iraq part 2

We left that horrible restaurant and had an hour before the bus moves to Baghdad, so we thought we will go for a walk and the first thing you would notice the ridiculous number of Saddam's posters and between every 2 posters there is a Saddam statue, so my cousin amazed with the sight said what is this he thinks he is GOD, i replied i do not have to remind you to shut your mouth any more i will hit you on the head the next time, i cannot control my tongue it just pops out words he said. So we sat by the river and this old man was smiling so we said hi he replied which Arabs are you from ,we said Kuwait he said welcome then are you happy here? just before my cousin would open his mouth i said said yes we are so happy, but could you explain this sir ,  above us was a huge sign written on it ' ONE ARABIC NATION WITH AN IMMORTAL MASSAGE '  what is that massage? the old man wiped the smile from his face and shouted you ignorant non-progressive people and left, leaving me telling my cousin what did i say? never mind he said and pointed to another sign which said ' WHOM DO NOT WORK SHOULD NOT EAT ' now this is funny he said as we laughed and headed back to the bus.
As we were getting close to Baghdad you can see the beautiful lights from the distance, my cousin started having a pulse of stomach ace like every 5 minutes he would hold his stomach with pain, i knew right away that it is because of those black things swimming in the water we drank in that horrible restaurant , nothing i could do but to wait till we reach Baghdad. The bus suddenly stopped and the driver said OK everybody out, we did not dare ask why, but soon found out that there were military police checking ID's for military run away's, (Iraq had compulsory military a minimum of 3 years service and no maximum)  .the military police immediately pointed at my cousin , you come here,he said so i walked along with him since i had the passports, and to our  surprise the military police had a shaving machine in his hand, and told my cousin to sit down on a wooden chair in front of him , i figured out what the police man was trying to do but my cousin had no clue, i shouted we are Kuwaitis he then stopped the machine had a look at our passports and said go back to the bus,My cousin still did not figure out what was happening, so we sat in the bus then i told him that long hair is forbidden for boys in Iraq and he was ready to shave your hair off, his eyes widely opened with surprise, then looked towards the lights and said are ever going to reach Baghdad  

Memories from visiting Saddam's Iraq part 1

It was late August when my cousin and i decided to visit Iraq ruled at the time by Saddam Hussein, It was my idea since i have visited Iraq with my father but my cousin never been there. So we decided to make it as an adventure and use the public transport ( such a bad idea).From Kuwait we were off in an air-conditioned Mercedes bus up to the Iraqi boarders, were we saw this huge sign Unity..Freedom..Socialism, not knowing what it means my cousin asked what the hell is socialism, told him we will soon find out i guess. I entered  the passport control office and the people were so quiet and 2 officers staring at everybody and one of them shouted you come here i could barely walk from fear he had such a huge moustache and said Kuwaiti huh i thought this is it i am in trouble then i had to answer a 100 questions some of which were strange for us like : what do you think of imperialist USA never new what imperialist means but knew the second part sweating hard and my knees shivering, my answer was they make nice cars like Trans-Am, GTO he shouted enough and turned to his friend ' did you hear what the Kuwaiti just said? i was so scared i thought surely they will not execute me for this answer, can they? (i have heard some scary stories about these BAATHISTS) The officer then turned around and said you go now and when you reach Baghdad you pick up some of the president speech books and educate yourself, i said yes yes yes i will thank you thank you, i was so happy staying away from the rope. As i left that horrible office my cousin was outside smoking, he said you are late lets go. i told him when we leave Iraq it is your turn to stamp the passports(did not tell him what happened , he is in for a surprise lol).
We waited for an hour for the bus and could see it coming with all the dust behind it , then surprise!! the bus is made from wood on the outside, i remember we laughed so hard but as we got inside the smile was turned off, there is no air-condition and it was 125 deg. and the seats were a wooden too, my cousin was upset so i told him look this an adventure right? let us experience socialism, he looked at me with disgust and said i will sleep now wake me up when we reach, oh OK i replied.
Midway to Baghdad we stopped at a place called AL-OMARAH ,and it was lunch time i was starving, so as we were walking to the restaurant my cousin was mumbling how could you sleep on a wooden plank?this country... i immediately put my hands on his mouth and had to shout at him this is not Kuwait, then whispered there are secret police every where are you stupid? so he whispered back what kind of shit are we in? i replied the worst type if you know what i mean, so he said i will keep my mouth shut, i knew he could not he just cannot put the lid on it type of a person.
So we entered the doorless, air-conditionless restaurant  and of course my cousin went to the manager and complained i did not join him because i knew the answer will not be nice, so he came and sat down and the expression on his face made me laugh,so what did he tell you i asked? he said believe it or not he said,' tell your masters the imperialist Americans to fix one', what is this imperialist every so often used and who told him that we are the Americans slaves,, he said, i was trying to shut him up and surprised by the waiter who  is putting food on the table, so i asked the waiter we did not order yet, he looked at me with a half eye and said: look Kuwaiti this is the only meal eat it or starve, thanks a lot Mr waiter i said i will eat it( of course they new we are Kuwaitis from the accent and the pair of jeans which was forbidden there at the time) , and please do not forget Pepsi or 7-up he gave me that look again and said we do not have imperialist soda, i thought not again, then asked for water, he said OK as he picked an empty jug and went to the other side of the restaurant were the Euphrates is flowing by and he filled the jug from there, i stood up with surprise almost shouted at him then i remembered where i am and sat down looking at the water in the jug looking hazy with black tiny things what is it i was wondering ??, OMG those black things are moving and floating, my cousin mean while just poured him a glass and drank it so quickly, i kept looking at him thinking rest in peace dear cousin, so my cousin said with a smile  that was not bad, in fact it is good
in my opinion it was shit and thought how long that smile will stay on his face

RELIGION AND POLITICS JUST DO NOT MIX

If we would define politics as the way people living in groups making decisions and forming an agreement among themselves so that they can live together in the same country or tribe. So it is an art of the possible to govern the people of different backgrounds and beliefs while trying to keep them happy.On the other hand we could define religion as a set of beliefs stated by GOD  all mighty for the human to follow for their good in both life and after life, it also contains rules governing us in how to deal with other people from our own family to the state.

An observer will immediately jump to the conclusion that religion ruling is better since it is made by God and the proof of such a rule is evident in history, the kingdom of DAVID and SOLOMON peace be upon both of them and also the ISLAMIC empire. There are two questions that will follow this, first if they were so great why did they fade away? and second in today's trials of such states why do they look so inhumane and unfair to the minorities? there are a multiple answers to those questions  but the best would be,

1- the founders of these kingdoms were prophets of GOD all mighty, and according to our teaching they were supported by the Holy Ghost with wisdom,faith and courage they were infallible.( could be a slight difference between in belief between Jews Christians and Muslims,nevertheless they all agree that they were prophets)

2- Upon their deaths when one would have thought that all understood the message, human nature of seeking power and wealth prevailed and the kingdom was divided into Judah and Israel which made differences between them and made them vulnerable to outside enemies which came to their destruction in 586 BC on the hands of the Babylonians this is in the case of  the Jewish kingdom, and in the Islamic empire was all the same,the end of the caliphates announced  the beginning  of the Amawytes whom their first action was to kill the grandson of the prophet MOHAMMAD peace be upon him and put his head on a spear all the way from Karbala to Damascus some 600 miles later followed by the Abassayds whom killed every living soul belonging to the Amawy family.

3 - The  different interpretations of the holy books text led to different understanding of the word and that is why we have religious sects and these sects would not tolerate each other in some cases which led to wars and catastrophes.

In conclusion, in politics we can argue about the laws governing us and sometimes you would add annexes or modify them according to the new needs of technology , increasing population or incoming immigration or or ....but you cannot argue,modify or add an annex to the word of GOD  and if you would enforce your interpretation you would make a lot of unhappy people around you believing in different interpretation of the word  .
Some politicians nowadays in all over the world would use the word not in order to implement it but to steal the people's passion to religion and transfer it into votes,they are very dangerous because they will use any interpretation available that would serve their purpose or to create a new one by a popular clergy whom will set a complete explanation of the word in a very new way. Here we have to be very careful in that politics and religion do not mix.