Ukraine and Democratic Failure

Syrian Newborns in Turkey Face Statelessness, Lack of Medicare

A Weekly Political News Magazine

Absent Rituals and Empty Pockets

A Weekly Political News Magazine

2

Issue 1898- April- 01/04/2022

Fuad Hussein: The Veteran Iraqi Politician

Issue 1898- April- 01/04/2022 www.majalla.com

Ukraine and Democratic Failure

www.majalla.com

Editorial A Weekly Political News Magazine

As the war on Ukraine drags on, mediation efforts by various players have not stopped. Most prominent of which was Turkey and Israel. Last week, Turkey hosted a new round of high-level talks between the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Although with no clear results, some commentators suggest that the talks may have prospects of an agreement in the future.

This week Ahmed Taher discusses how democracy failed Ukraine, and how imposing a democratic template on countries without an accurate reading of the reality of its problems and crises, is embodied in the Ukrainian crisis today. Taher argues that Ukraine’s geostrategic position and demography indicate the aggravation of the crisis and its complexities. He indicated that Ukraine failed to “rearrange its domestic situation according to a national vision that unites the various societal, ethnic and linguistic formations, has given way to arousing the primary affiliations of the most marginalized groups, and made room for foreign interventions.”

What is behind Turkey’s mediation in the Ukraine crisis is a question posed by our writer Samy Amara.

He explores context and objectives of Turkish offers of hosting the warring parties. Ankara was accepted as a negotiator as it is not on the Russian list of unfriendly countries or those which imposed sanctions against Moscow. Meantime, Turkey is supplying Kiev with weapons and equipment. However, reaching a resolution to the current crisis is not the only goal that Turkey is seeking. Amara refers to a list of “self-interests” that includes increasing the popularity of the Turkish President, and reviving the country’s influence in the Black Sea. Read these articles and more on our website eng.majalla. com. As always, we welcome and value our readers’ feedback and we invite you to take the opportunity to leave your comments on our website.

2

01/04/22

www.majalla.com/eng

Editor-in-Chief

Ghassan Charbel The Editor Mostafa El-Dessouki HH Saudi Research and Marketing (UK) Ltd 10th Floor Building 7 Chiswick Business Park 566 Chiswick High Road London W4 5YG Tel : +44 207 831 8181 Fax: +44 207 831 2310

‫الوكيل اإلعالني‬ ،www.alkhaleejiah.com :‫موقع إلكتروني‬ hq@alkhaleejiah.com :‫بريد إلكتروني‬ + 9714 3 914440 :‫ دبي‬،920 000 417 : ‫من داخل اململكة‬ +44 207 404 6950 :‫ لندن‬+00764 537 331 :‫باريس‬ +966 11 441 1444 : ‫ومن مختلف الدول‬

- ‫ طريق مكة‬- ‫ حي املؤتمرات‬- ‫مرخص لها الرياض‬ ‫تقاطع التخصصى‬ +44 207 831 8181 :‫ لندن‬- 4419933 ‫ هاتف‬:‫الرياض‬

A Weekly Political News Magazine

4

01/04/22

A Weekly Political News Magazine

20 How Did Ankara Succeed in Luring

?Moscow into Mediation with Ukraine

Issue 1898- April- 01/04/2022

26

Arab-Israel Relations: From Conflict to Cooperation

34

How to Save Your Business Money

52 Bemused by Bacon

48 Exhibit Marks the Holy

Family’s Flight to Egypt

Ramadan” A Folk Heritage 44 “Fanous for Over a Thousand Years 5

01/04/22

60 Virtual Reality for Chronic Pain Relief

S

napshot

Dubai World Cup horse racing Jockey Lanfranco Dettori (R) celebrates with crown prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashed (C) after winning the final Dubai World Cup horse racing event at the Meydan racecourse in the Gulf emirate, on March 26, 2022. Dubai, , United Arab Emirates )AFP Photos(

6

01/04/22

7

01/04/22

S

napshot

Ukrainians protest in Lebanon Ukrainians who live in Lebanon and supporters hold a huge Ukrainian flag during a protest against the war in Ukraine and in support of peace in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 27 March 2022. Russian troops launched a major military operation on Ukraine on 24 February, after weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia aimed at preventing an armed conflict in Ukraine )EPA Photos(

8

01/04/22

9

01/04/22

SAU

ISRAEL.

EGYPT A delegation from Egypt will visit India in the first week of April to facilitate wheat imports as part of efforts to secure supplies and tide over shortages at one of the world's biggest importers of the staple, Indian government sources said.

Egypt, often the world's biggest wheat importer, is reeling from a surge in bread and flour prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine closed off access to lower-priced Black Sea wheat.

India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, has emerged as a leading supplier of grain to a host of countries that are struggling with cargo disruptions and sky-high grain prices in the wake of the crisis in the Black Sea region.

A suspected Arab gunman killed at least four people in a Tel Aviv suburb on Tuesday before he was fatally shot, in the latest of a string of attacks that have raised security concerns in Israel, Channel 12 television reported.

There was no immediate police comment. Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said there were five casualties but did not give their condition.

According to the television report, the gunman first shot toward apartment balconies in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish suburb of Tel Aviv, and then fired at people in the street.

10

01/04/22

Saudi Arab central ban (SPA) repor economy fa result of the On March 2 around 14 p billions of d markets.

Last week t talks with t (IMF) for po to hedge ag Russia-Ukra

UDI ARABIA

bia has deposited $5 billion in Egypt’s nk, the official Saudi Press Agency rted on Wednesday, as the Egyptian aces new economic pressures as a e war in Ukraine.

21 Egypt devalued its currency by percent after investors had pulled dollars out of Egyptian treasury

the government announced it was in the International Monetary Fund otential funds and technical support gainst the effects of the aine crisis on its economy.

UAE The energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the world's biggest oil producers, said on Tuesday their countries have done their part to balance crude markets.

"We have one mission and only one mission which is stabilizing the market. So we cannot be politicized, or bringing politics to the organization having that debate … our aim is to calm the market," UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told an industry event.

QATAR Egypt and Qatar have agreed to sign investment deals worth $5 billion, the Egyptian cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday, as the two countries rebuild relations following a regional diplomatic feud.

The cabinet gave no details of the investments and partnerships, announced during a visit to Cairo by the Qatari ministers of foreign affairs and finance, saying only that they would be for the "coming period".

Egypt is facing new financial pressures linked to the war in Ukraine, which is pushing up the cost of its large wheat import needs and hitting Red Sea tourism.

IRAN Iran's foreign minister says an agreement to revive the 2015 nuclear accord that Tehran signed with world powers is closer “than ever before.”

"If the U.S. acts pragmatically, we are ready to have foreign ministers of countries belonging to the nuclear deal's joint commission gather in Vienna to finalize the agreement," Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference during a visit to Damascus on March 23.

"We believe that today we are closer to an agreement in Vienna than ever before," he said.

"We have given our latest proposals to the U.S. through the European Union's Coordinator to reach a final deal. We reminded the Americans that we will not cross our red lines," Amirabdollahian said.

11

01/04/22

A WEEK ACROS CANADA.

U.S. A dozen members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged President Joe Biden's administration to push for Russia's removal from the United Nations Human Rights Council, citing its invasion of Ukraine.

In a letter dated Monday and made public on Tuesday, the eight Democrats and four Republicans asked the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to introduce a resolution to remove Russia from the rights body, citing widespread casualties in Ukraine and the destruction of residential buildings, hospital and schools.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that his government can help the world overcome food and energy shortages in the coming months that may result from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"For the coming months, Canada can help put food on the table and keep the lights on," Trudeau said in a speech in Vancouver centered mainly on his government's efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"The leaders I spoke with in Europe over the last couple of weeks are clear: they don't just want to end their dependence on Russian oil and gas. They want to accelerate the energy transformation to clean and green power. And Canadians have a big role in that work," he said.

12

01/04/22

,

ETHIOPIA.

A new front in Ethiopia's war in the Afar region is imperilling efforts to enemies to sit down to peace talks three regional officials and three diplomats said, and a ceasefire declared last week may have been breached in some places.

The flare-up of violence in Afar this year came after fighting in the neighbouring regions of Tigray and Amhara had ground to a stalemate and as moves were gathering pace get the government in Addis Abab and Tigrayan rebels to agree to pea negotiations.

SS THE WORLD

e o get s,

n

s

d e e to ba ace

UKRAINE. CHINA.

The British government said on Wednesday it had issued 25,500 visas to Ukrainians under schemes set up to bring in refugees after Russia invaded Ukraine last month.

Data from the Home Office showed that 22,800 visas had been given under the Ukraine family scheme that allows applicants to join family members in the UK, while 2,700 were offered under the sponsorship scheme which permits refugees with a named sponsor to enter.

The data on Wednesday also showed that 28,300 had applied for the sponsorship scheme, while the overall applications stood at 59,500.

INDIA. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit New Delhi on Thursday for a two-day trip, the Indian foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as the two countries look for ways to maintain trade and other relations despite the Ukraine crisis.

13

01/04/22

The Chinese city of Changchun, capital of the COVID-hit northeastern province of Jilin, on Tuesday apologized to its 8.5 million residents for food shortages related to shutdowns and disruption caused by COVID containment measures.

Due to COVID-19, two major wholesale food markets in Changchun have shuttered, leading to a shortfall in food supply, said the city's deputy Communist Party secretary, Liu Renyuan, a problem aggravated by a shortage of workers that has delayed deliveries to homes.

"We are particularly anxious and angry about this, and we express our deep apologies to the public for the impact and inconvenience caused," Liu said at a local news conference.

C

over story

Ukraine and Democratic Failure A Different Reading of Causes of Crisis

By Ahmed Taher In one of the most painful expressions of the reality faced by many countries that were among the waves of democratization sustained by the post-Soviet countries in the 1990s, the adviser in the office of the President of Ukraine, Alexei Aristovich, commented in late August 2021 on the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan saying: “Thirty years later, it has

become clear that liberal democracies are destroying people, states, and institutions no less successfully than the totalitarian regimes they fought against.”

He added, “This proves that values and ideals are higher than thought, and they are able to obscure the eyes of the most advanced people and institutions,” noting that the events in Afghanistan after the American withdrawal and the handover of power to the Tali-

14

01/04/22

ban group revealed the collapse of the doctrine of liberal democracy that was promoted by some at the end of the Cold War who at the time claimed the victory of liberalism.

According to the words of the Japanese-American writer Francis Fukuyama in his book, these successive events proved the bankruptcy of that American vision.

A young activist protesting for democracy during the Maidan Uprising in Ukraine in 2013.

Credit: Alexandra Gnatoush/Flick

The Ukrainian experience in the Orange Revolution that preceded the revolutions of the so-called Arab Spring represented a warning for countries and peoples in different regions of the world.

It is true that the Cold War ended with the collapse and disintegration of the Soviet socialist system, but it is also true that it did not mean the end of history and its cessation, as much as it meant the start of a new stage of competition and conflict unless the existing reality was acknowledged.

features.

This is what the Ukrainian advisor referred to by saying explicitly that the United States is now reaping the results of its misperceptions about reality, which cost hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives.

The first is the geostrategic position that Ukraine occupies in the Russian neighborhood, as Ukraine represents one of the weaknesses in Russian security which Moscow is keen to protect and defend against any threats that come from Ukraine.

This comes to agree with what Egyptian thinker Abdel Moneim Saeed said about the other exploits that took place in Afghanistan and Iraq and failed.

In these adventures, political engineering processes failed to produce societies according to American liberal standards, which ignored reality and the developments that have occurred and are occurring.

The second is the nature of the geography of the Ukrainian state and its demographical distributions within its regions, which can take the form of a divergence between its eastern part (with the Russian ethnicity, culture and the Russian language) and the western part (with the Ukrainian ethnicity and the predominance of Western culture and the English language in addition to the Ukrainian language).

The truth is that even though these visions preceded the military operation carried out by Russia against Ukraine, which has entered its seventh week, with the crisis still burning on the one hand, and its effects and repercussions on various countries of the world on the other hand, it has confirmed the sincerity of the analyzes that have repeatedly warned against imposing a democratic template on countries without an accurate reading of the reality of its problems and crises, which is embodied in the Ukrainian crisis today.

At a time when the various successive regimes in Ukraine since its independence in the early 1990s have tried to make an accurate and careful reading of the international and regional scene for fear that the country will fall between the hammer of the West and the United States and the anvil of Russia, realizing a Ukrainian reality reflects two important

15

01/04/22

In light of these two features, it becomes important to emphasize a number of observations in an attempt to explain the aggravation of the crisis and its increasing complexities, which may contribute to presenting visions and scenarios regarding its future paths, through two axes: The first is the failure of the inside and the interventions of the outside: In a reading that carries a dimension that has not received attention from many studies and analyzes regarding the interpretation of the Ukrainian crisis and the complexities of its circumstances, this dimension relates to the demographic structure within the Ukrainian state and the failure of the Ukrainian political system after what was known as the Orange Revolution.

That revolution was part of a package of colored revolutions that the region underwent. With the removal of the ruling elite supporting Russian positions, the Ukrainian state entered a vicious cycle of domestic tensions and popular demonstrations that tried to impose its visions on the political process, taking advantage of Western support in general and the United States in particular.

That support did not exceed the specious sloganeering that motivates citizens to go out to the streets as well as the demand for political reforms to strengthen the democratic process that allows for more popular participation in political and eco-

The Ukrainian crisis revealed that all parties (the Russian, Western and the ruling Ukrainian political elite today) did not have an accurate reading of the Ukrainian reality.

nomic decision-making.

This comes in the hope of imitating the Western democratic model with its concepts, mechanisms and orientations, being the most expressive model of popular will and societal aspirations.

This also comes with ignoring the danger of such an approach which is based on imitation without taking differences into account and an analysis that requires searching for other approaches that ensure achieving the goal of establishing a non-corrupt, democratic system of government without compromising the security and stability of the state.

This is what former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had commented on before the launch of the election campaign of the current Ukrainian President Zelensky after he announced his intention to run in the presidential election process.

Poroshenko said that leading the country is a heavy national responsibility not a satirical play or a satirical movie. “I want to remind everyone that it’s not a joke, it’s an election for a commander-inchief.”

Regardless of the nature of the position on former President Poroshenko and what his reign achieved in the Ukrainian state, this comment remains a

16

01/04/22

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, left, and his then-challenger for the presidency, now Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, debate at the Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev on April 19, 2019. (Getty Images)

Pro-Russian protesters they gather outside a regional government building in Donetsk, April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Maks Levin

clear expression of the current reality that Ukraine is experiencing today under continuous Russian bombing and expected Western and American inaction.

It can be said that the Ukrainian experience in its Orange Revolution that preceded what the Arab region underwent in terms of revolutions described as the Arab Spring (which turned into a stormy autumn in the countries for the inhabitants of the region), represented a warning for countries and peoples in different regions of the world that the ready-made democratic template that some of these countries tried to import from Western Europe and the United States only carried with it the destruction of the state.

This can happen if the current reality, its challenges and crises are not taken into consideration.

This was explicitly indicated by US writer George Friedman in an analysis published by the American “Stratford” website during the Ukrainian revolution in 2014, in which he addressed the significance of European intervention and its impact on the exacerbation of crises and challenges that faced the Ukrainian state, stressing that what happened would not lead to political stability or the preservation of national unity.

Rather, he predicted at the time that the Ukrainian

17

01/04/22

state would face challenges and crises in the coming days, a prophecy that was also fulfilled.

The second is a correct reading in a complex reality: The Ukrainian crisis revealed that all parties (the Russian, Western and the ruling Ukrainian political elite today) did not have an accurate reading of the Ukrainian reality, which represented the arena in which the battle is taking place today.

This requires everyone to reconsider their approaches if we want to reach quick solutions for this complex and intertwined crisis, which undoubtedly generates several repercussions on the situation of the entire world at the political, economic, military, security and environmental levels.

In light of this, it becomes important to reconsider many points related to reading the crisis and analyzing its dimensions according to the parties directly involved in it, and this represents three levels, namely: 1- The Western/American level, as it became important to realize the European West and Europe.

2- The Ukrainian domestic level, as one must be well aware that the state has failed to achieve full

C

over story

citizenship for all its residents in the east that is more pro-Russian, and in the western part which is mostly aspiring to integrate with the European Union. This failure led to the occurrence of many crises and demonstrations that played an important role in changing regimes.

The state suffers from political instability, which was accompanied by several failures that led to Ukrainian citizens taking to the streets from time to time to demand their living rights. They even demanded secession, whether this separation led to integration with the Russian state, as was the case in the Crimea, which joined in 2014, or to independence, as was the case in the regions of

The division was the master of the situation inside Ukraine, starting with the Crimean crisis and ending with the current crisis in which the dimensions overlap.

Luhansk and Donetsk, the two republics whose independence Moscow recognized on February 21, three days before the start of the Russian military operation.

It is noteworthy that this independence and the accompanying recognition are what gives Moscow the legal basis to intervene at the request of a legitimate government in two independent republics that demanded the Russian presence, similar to the argument Moscow announced when it intervened in the Syrian crisis.

What we would like to conclude is that one of the main reasons for the start of the Ukrainian crisis, not only from today, but in the past, is due to the failure of the Ukrainian state to adopt a democratic model that takes into account the geographical reality of the state on the one hand, its demographics on the other hand, and its foreign policy entanglements on a third hand.

Its formal democracy resulted in the arrival of a president who failed to avoid crises, caused the creation of more crises, and did not have a clear vision about the goal he wanted to achieve, so the country plunged into a war that threatens its existence.

3- At the Russian level, many understand the Rus-

18

01/04/22

Four foreign fighters from the UK pose for a picture prior to their departure towards the front line in the east of Ukraine following the Russian invasion, at the main train station in Lviv, Ukraine, March 5, 2022.

Picture taken March 5, 2022. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo

A man wearing a sign “Glory to the ordinary participants of the orange revolution” on the ninth anniversary of the Orange Revolution on November 22, 2013, in Kiev, Ukraine. Credit: Ivan Bandura/Wikimedia commons

sian fears of NATO expansion eastward directly to the Russian borders, as well as European expansion through the inclusion of the border countries of the Russian state within the framework of the European Union.

But this understanding does not mean that Moscow suddenly launches a military operation on the Ukrainian territory, which has claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands of casualties on both sides. It has also opened the way for the recruitment of mercenaries to fight the war for both sides, which leads the region into a complex crisis even if Russian-Ukrainian understandings are reached.

But the crisis revolves around how to deal with these mercenaries after the end of the war? Hence, Moscow should have waited until it exhausted all diplomatic avenues that fulfill its minimum demands regarding the neutrality of the Ukrainian state, renouncing alignment to one side or the other.

It is true that Moscow was keen on this, as was evident from the speeches of Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of the Russian state. However, the West, especially the United States, saw this as a favorable moment to ignite

19

01/04/22

the situation in order to achieve its interests at the expense of the lives of peoples and the future of their children.

The bottom line is that the Ukrainian failure to rearrange its domestic situation in the absence of a national vision that unites the various societal, ethnic and linguistic formations, has given way to arousing the primary affiliations of the most marginalized groups, on the one hand.

On the other hand, it made room for foreign interventions to provide support to each of the parties supporting its positions. The division was the master of the situation inside Ukraine, starting with the Crimean crisis and ending with the current crisis in which the dimensions overlap.

The parties are intertwined and without any vision, and its path is dominated by thick fog, which needs a skilled pilot who is able to lead the ship of the homeland to bring it to safety.

Are the Ukrainian people able in those circumstances to produce this skilled pilot who saves his country and the whole world from a crisis that began spatially limited inside Ukraine, but then developed geographically to extend its effects to various parts of the globe?

P

olitics

How Did Ankara Succeed in Luring Moscow into Mediation with Ukraine?

Resumption of Russian-Ukrainian Talks Represent Attempt to Revive Turkish Role in Region

By Samy Amara Offers of political mediation between Russia and Ukraine have not stopped since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 and the tragic events that followed, reaching their climax these days, with the world following the events of a “ferocious war,” which Moscow calls a “military operation” for which no one can predict a date for its end.

The Istanbul talks revealed “signs of light at the end of the tunnel.” These offers came from different eastern and western countries, and varied in accordance with the relations of these countries with the two conflicting parties.

These countries include China and Kazakhstan in the east, Turkey, France, Germany and Poland in the west. Along with them, there are many other countries, including Israel, which declared itself a potential mediator, with a Ukrainian blessing as revealed

by President Vladimir Zelensky in his appeal to the Israeli Knesset and his appeal to the “Jews of the world,” which he made in the early days of the war Ukrainian Russian.

Ankara seeks friendship and cooperation from Moscow. At the same time it supplies Kiev with drones, and trains its armed forces, in addition to the modern weapons and equipment that flowed to it from NATO countries in support and for motivation in its confrontation with Russia.

Here, Turkey is back again to confirm that it seems more appropriate to take over the task of preparing the appropriate site for mediation between the Russian and Ukrainian sides, and that it remains in the most appropriate position and role for resuming

the joint talks between them, which may be more feasible on similar grounds.

Although President Vladimir Putin has not yet revealed his agreement to sit at the negotiating table face-to-face with his Ukrainian counterpart, Zelensky, he has expressed his readiness to negotiate, without specifying who should be the participants and before achieving what might be an appropriate introduction to the desired results.

After ups and downs, quarrels and mutual accusations, the Russian and Ukrainian sides began their talks in Belarus, which hosted the first three rounds of these talks, before turning to their negotiations via video conferencing. This was before their acceptance of Turkey’s offer, and had brought together the foreign ministers of the two Russian countries, Sergey Lavrov and his counterpart Ukrainian Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya in early March.

This also came before returning to resume what I had previously mentioned about the mediation proposals between Russia and Ukraine over the past few years since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, by hosting the last talks that took place in Istanbul on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The offers were many, including what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced from Kiev during his recent visit to the Ukrainian capital in early February, and came in the wake of other offers that had previously been met with a categorical rejection by the Kremlin.

Some attributed that to “muffled anger” towards the Turkish leadership. As for the reasons for this anger and protest, some-

20

01/04/22

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) shake hands after a press conference in Sochi, Russia, where they agreed on the ten points of the RussianTurkish memorandum on northeast Syria/AP

times unspoken, and at other times blatant, some of them are due to the policies of cooperation between Ankara and Kiev in various fields, including the military, an extension of a common history, and based on many economic and humanitarian ties that have always brought the two countries together since the years of the Ottoman Empire.

During his last visit to Kiev, before the outbreak of the military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, Turkish President Erdogan revealed his invitation to hold a tripartite meeting with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky in Turkey, which Zelensky was quick to accept, expressing his thanks for the mediation of his Turkish counterpart “on the path of efforts aimed to end the war, for the sake of peace in Ukraine, and affirmed his readiness to do everything possible on all platforms and in all forms.”

However, this alone, and according to many indicators, cannot be the only motivation for Turkey’s interest in neighboring Ukraine over the past few years.

The recent history reflects that Turkey was one of the first countries to criticize the annexation of Crimea to Russia, and to this day it refuses to recognize it as part of the Russian territory, while it does not explicitly declare Crimea as a Ukrainian territory, in anticipation of a day when it might be declared a Turkish territory.

The Ottoman Empire was forced to cede it as a result of the Second Crimean War between the Russian and Ottoman Empires in the 1870s, during the reign of Empress Yekaterina II. The past years revealed the escalation of the ambitions of the

21

01/04/22

Ankara seeks friendship and cooperation from Moscow. At the same time, it supplies Kiev with drones, and trains its armed forces, in addition to the modern weapons and equipment that flowed to it from NATO countries.

Turkish leadership towards restoring the glories of the Ottoman Empire, and the accompanying fears among Russian political and social circles towards the renewal of plans aimed at restoring the glories of the empire. These plans were not limited only to the area of Central Asia and the adjacent regions, but were also aimed towards a number of the regions of the North and South Caucasus, including Crimea, as well as other lands in the depths of Russian territory, including the Altay province, which appeared on the maps of the “hoped” expansions by Turkey.

Observers recall the events and battles that took place between neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the effort and support offered by Turkey to Azerbaijan, with which it has many historical ties and common assets.

This came in a timely manner in line with what Ankara revealed of its ambitions towards restoring the “glories” of the Ottoman Empire, linking it to historical ties with the countries

P

olitics

of the Turanian dynasty.

Despite Moscow’s previous rejection of many mediation offers, which came from many sources, including Ankara, as we mentioned earlier, it returned to accepting a limited role represented

by Antalya hosting the first direct talks at the level of the foreign ministers of the two countries, Lavrov and Kuleba, under the auspices of their counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in early March.

It did not take much time for Turkish President Erdogan to return to his previous contacts with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who surprised the world by announcing his acceptance of Erdogan’s proposal for Istanbul to host the recent talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations as an alternative to Belarus, which had previously hosted the first three rounds of these negotiations.

This was the prelude to Erdogan’s declaration that his country “will continue to promote peace between Russia and Ukraine.”

Turkish official sources quoted Erdogan as saying that he

Reasons for accepting Turkey as a platform for the meeting, were summed up as it is “not included in the Russian list of unfriendly countries, in addition to the fact that it did not impose sanctions on Russia.”

“stressed the need to establish a truce and peace between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible, as well as to improve the humanitarian situation in the region.” “Turkey will continue to contribute to this process,” he added.

As for the reasons, which official Moscow-related sources said are behind accepting Turkey’s choice as a platform for the meeting, they were summed up as it is “not included in the Russian list of unfriendly countries, in addition to the fact that it did not impose sanctions on Russia.”

Komsomolskaya Pravda, the most widely read Russian newspaper, quoted Marat Bashirov, who is responsible for the Politjoystick Telegram channel and the former Prime Minister of the Luhansk People’s Republic, as saying that: “One can say that this is permissible for France or Switzerland, for example, but they are among the countries that have imposed sanctions against Russia.

Therefore, it would not make sense to conduct negotiations on the territory of these countries.”

However, from the beginning of this process, Turkey announced that it was ready to become a negotiator. This despite the fact that they continue to sell arms to Ukraine.

It helps the prospects for success that the Turks will have an influence on the Ukrainians. It is interesting in this regard that Bashirov, the former prime minister of the Luhansk People’s Republic, indicated that the recent direct negotiations may be the result of a common feeling that there could be a way to make some progress.

Bashirov added that it may also be an expression of the will reached by the parties concerned after US President Joe Biden’s visit to the European Union. “I think they have been given wider avenues for negotiations,” he added.

The political expert went further, declaring that “wide corridors”

22

01/04/22

Four Ukrainian and five Russian representatives gathered at the negotiating table in Belarus on Monday.

Among them were Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov (second from left), young Russian Defense Minister Alexander Fomin (second from right) and new Foreign Minister Andrei Rodenko (right). Photo: Maxim Gocek/AFP

Evacuees walk on a makeshift pathway to cross a river next to a destroyed bridge as they flee the city of Irpin/ Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP

are an opportunity to discuss issues that were not previously trusted. This applies not only to issues of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including issues related to the cessation of hostilities and the surrender of some armed formations in the east. However, despite its importance in terms of timing and content, all of this remains just an addition to the context of the relations of the parties concerned at all levels.

In this regard, the sources refer to Turkey’s imports from Ukraine in the fields of coal, iron and steel, as well as products of the chemical industry, in addition to its exports of industrial products, textiles and foodstuffs. Ukraine is home to many Turkish companies, restaurants and shops.

There are those who point to the active military cooperation that jumps to the fore in bilateral relations, represented in joint naval maneuvers, and Turkey’s supply of 48 Bayraktar TB2 drones to Ukraine, to which the two parties agreed in September last year.

Besides, there is the joint production of cruisers and military transport aircraft An-178, as well as the possibility of opening a plant in Ukraine for the production of unmanned aircraft.

In addition, Ankara shows through its “exaggerated” confident statements that, despite its aspirations to be a global power, it is not fully aware of the extent and dimensions of such responsibility. “The first is with its desires, aspirations and goals, and not with good intentions of cooperation,” according to many Russian estimates. Perhaps that is what was expressed in statements issued by many Ukrainian and Russian sources saying that the agreement is still far away, even though the “light at the end of the tunnel” heralds the possibilities of reaching such an agreement.

Turkish President Erdogan has revealed that “four out of six major issues have been agreed upon between Ukraine and Russia,”

23

01/04/22

including what was announced in particular about “the abandonment of NATO membership and the recognition of Russian as the second official language of the state.”

It is remarkable in this regard that the Ukrainian side anticipated the recent talks in Istanbul through which it admitted the falsehood of the positions of many international powers that continue their attempts to prolong the confrontation with Russia in order to drain it and take advantage of the current situation to serve their own interests.

According to a Ukrainian website, Ilya Kosa, an expert in international politics at the Analytical Center of the Ukrainian Future Institute, accused the United States of its continued attempts to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the reorganization of the oil and gas market, in order to turn into the largest exporter of liquefied gas to Europe by 2024.

He said: “I see that they want to weaken Russia in the long term.

They aim to make this process long, extending for some time.”

From the American point of view, the longer Russia is involved in the war in Ukraine, is subject to sanctions, or loses money, for example, as a result of a reduced role in the oil and gas markets, the more it increases the long-term interests of the United States, and hastens Russia’s gradual exit from the ranks of geopolitical competitors.

As for the Turkish mediation, Kosa said: “There are two mediators who are actively trying to organize negotiations between Russia and Ukraine - Israel and Turkey. These are the most active brokers. France still has attempts, but according to the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron, they did not agree on anything significant with Putin during the phone marathon.”

P

olitics

The Ukrainian expert went on to add, “It is clear that the success of negotiations does not depend on the location or atmosphere of this place or anything else. The key is what the parties will agree on, and what concessions they will or will not be willing to make.

“The mediator only plays a role in organizing these negotiations.” Here, Turkey is considered one of the natural mediators, because it has close relations with both Ukraine and Russia and good relations on a personal level between Erdogan and Zelensky and between Erdogan and Putin.

There are those who say in the same regard that “Turkey may be half a step away from taking an initiative to establish an alliance similar to the formation of the alliance that was announced between Ukraine, Poland and Britain for military-political cooperation.

“In fact, there were expectations that also speak of the possibilities of joining a number of countries in the Black Sea region to such an alliance.”

They said, “It is possible to move from a free trade agreement to a military alliance. And creating a small bloc would also deter Russia from further aggression,” they said.

On the role played by Turkish President Erdogan, Fahrettin Altun, head of the public relations department in the Turkish presidential office, said that Erdogan “offered mediation between Russia and Ukraine as we have strong relations with the two countries.” According to him, Ankara “did everything in its power at the diplomatic level to prevent the current situation.”

“Our calls for reform of the UN system were ignored and we saw the dire consequences of that in the last crisis. This war could have been avoided had our calls been heeded. We have repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution, but now the war is confronting us as a reality. The lack of unity of the international

The results reached by both sides remain buildable, and may be a prelude to a phase of conciliation and agreement.

Some indicate that Putin and Zelensky will have to define its features and the timing of its implementation.

community in a number of regional and global issues was as serious a problem as it was during the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.”

The Turkish official referred to the tragedies the world is facing, of which he referred to as being two in number, the first related to the human dimension of the conflict.

He said that his country would do everything necessary to address it, as was the case during the years of other regional conflicts.

As for the second tragedy, he said, it is related to the media abuses and falsification of facts. He commented by saying: “These are relentless attacks on the truth. We are also aware that we are working to confront disinformation campaigns and misinformation in this media war, and we will defend the truth regardless of its source.”

Fahrettin Altun added: “There are many speculations and comments about Turkey’s policy and its diplomatic moves,” before concluding by saying, “Turkey believes in the constructive and creative power of diplomacy and tries to make the most of all diplomatic opportunities in every crisis.”

There is a summary of the objectives and content of what Ankara has done and is doing over the long years during which Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held power in Turkey. That increases the importance of Erdogan’s intervention to achieve the maximum possible personal gains at the public and private levels.

Arguably, there are goals that Erdoğan seeks without any overt declaration, that can be included in the list of “self-interests.”

This implies arranging domestic conditions from the perspective of his growing popularity in light of the escalation of hostilities near the Turkish border. In turn, this increases the importance of Erdoğan’s intervention to achieve the maximum possible personal gains on the public and private levels.

The results of the first day of the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul came to serve these interests indirectly with the results they achieved being close to positive, which was announced

by Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation in these talks. “Moscow has taken two steps towards rapprochement with Ukraine,” Medinsky said, indicating that they concern the political and military aspects.

In reviewing the political aspect, the Russian official confirmed the possibility of holding a meeting between President Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Zelensky, not after reaching an agreement between the two countries in all its details, but in conjunction with the initial agreements signed by the two countries’

24

01/04/22

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a joint press conference after their meeting on Feb. 2022 ,3, in Kyiv, Ukraine. - Chris McGrath/Getty Images

foreign ministers.

As for the military aspect, the other member of the Russian delegation, Alexander Fomin, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, announced the decision to “drastically” reduce military activity in the Kiev and Chernihiv axes (northern Ukraine) with the aim of strengthening mutual trust and creating the appropriate conditions for continuing negotiations and reaching the desired agreement.

Medinsky also revealed that the Ukrainian side submitted written proposals confirming Ukraine’s quest to be a neutral and nuclear-free state, while abandoning the production and deployment of all types of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and bacteriological, in addition to banning the presence of foreign military bases and foreign forces in its territory. On the other hand, the website for “Russia Today: Arabic-language channel” published a “package of written proposals,” which Medinsky said he had obtained from the Ukrainian delegation during the negotiations, including the following: 1. Declaring Ukraine a neutral, non-nuclear state outside of any alliances on a permanent basis under international legal safeguards, and a list of guarantor states will be presented.

2. Security guarantees do not apply to the territory of Crimea and Donbas, that is, Ukraine abandons the attempt to restore it by military means. Here, Medinsky indicated that this proposition reflects Kiev’s position and does not correspond to Moscow’s position, given that it does not consider Crimea and Donbass to be part of Ukrainian territory in the first place.

3. Ukraine refuses to join military alliances, deploy foreign military bases and units and host military exercises without the consent of the guarantor states, including Russia.

25

01/04/22

4. Russia does not oppose Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

5. Ukraine requests that the decision be finalized in a meeting between the presidents of the two countries.

Despite the tinge of hope and optimism that may appear behind Medinsky’s statements and clarifications, they may appear to be contrary to what was issued by the Ukrainian side and its interpretations.

This was expressed by Sergey Kapitsa, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Security Council, when he said that “an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine can only be signed after the return of Russian forces to their previous positions on February 23, 2022.

Kapitsa stressed that the two sides of the Russian-Ukrainian talks will continue consultations on preparing an agreement on providing security guarantees to Ukraine, noting that this is related to “the mechanism for implementing the ceasefire regime, the withdrawal of forces and other armed formations, the safe operation of humanitarian corridors on an ongoing basis, as well as the exchange of dead, release of prisoners of war, and civilians.”

The Ukrainian permanent representative concluded that “there is still a long way to go towards a sustainable ceasefire and a comprehensive de-escalation.”

Despite all this, the results reached by the two sides remain buildable, as they may be a prelude to a phase of conciliation and agreement. Also, there are those who indicate that Presidents Putin and Zelensky are called upon to define its features and the timing of its implementation.

Arab-Israel Relations: From Conflict to Cooperation

Negev Summit Builds Capabilities Against Common Enemy

By Dalia Ziada

The geopolitical balances of the world are changing and so does the geopolitical balance of the Middle East region. One of the key indicators of this change is the rising profile of Israel as an active and influential actor in regional and international diplomacy, after decades of suffering contempt and marginalization by its own neighbors in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, mainly for reasons related to the deadlocked Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Over the past four months, the Israeli officials have been all over

26

01/04/22

the news, for reasons that have nothing to do with their historical conflict with the Palestinians. Rather, they are roaming the world looking for peace.

On the international level, Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, was the first foreign leader to visit Ukraine, after the Russian invasion, in February, to announce the Israeli initiative to mediate for peace between Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, made a breakthrough visit to Ankara, and met with Turkish President, Erdogan, to put an end to a decade of diplomatic impasse, and discuss ways of cooperation on pumping natural gas from Israel into Europe.

On the regional level, the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, and the alternate Prime Minister, Yaer Lapid, are making an astonishing effort to cement and elevate political and economic ties with their immediate neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, as well as with the Abraham Accords countries in the Gulf and North Africa.

CRUCIAL CHANGE

(L to R) Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, and United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed alNahyan, pose for a group photo following their Negev meeting in the Israeli kibbutz of Sde Boker on March ,28 2022. (Photo by Jacquelyn MARTIN / POOL / AFP)

The concurrent regional and global threats around and within the Middle East have been pitilessly pressuring the countries of the region, for several years. Going through the chaotic security aftermath of the Arab Spring, the socio-economic tortures of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the hasty withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in 2021, created a sense of urgency among the countries of the region that the time has come for the Middle East to be commanded by its own leaders, not by whoever rules from the White House.

That itching desire, which is clearly inspiring most of the regional policies, these days, is expanding the Arab sphere of influence to include Israel. Disappointed by the flawed Middle East policy of the United States Administration of President Biden, Israel, too, has started to consider balancing its historical dependency on the United States with a healthy security and economic codependency with its Arab neighbors. The historical Negev Summit, in March, is one peak point of this crucial shift.

For a long time, the Israel-Palestinian conflict used to be labeled as an “Arab-Israel” conflict. In 2006, when the war erupted between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is sponsored by Iran, the Arab media showed an exaggerated bias to Hezbollah against Israel. Many of them went as far as portraying Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, as a “super hero” of Muslims and Arabs. Fast forward ten years later, in 2016, the Arab League joined the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

For obvious reasons, the Middle East has changed a lot

27

01/04/22

Disappointed by the flawed Middle East policy of the Biden Administration, Israel has started to consider balancing its historical dependency on the U.S. with a healthy security and economic codependency with its Arab neighbors. since the eruption of the Arab Spring revolutions, in 2010/2011. The crucial change in Arab countries’ positions on Israel is not a sudden shift, but it has been brewing for at least ten years. One reason is the fact that the Arab Spring revolutions threw out the long-established dictators, who used to magnify the Israel-Palestinian conflict to distract their citizens from protesting the failure and corruption of their regimes. Egypt is one of the most apparent examples on this shift in government and public attitudes towards Israel after the fall of Mubarak.

After twenty years of war and four decades of cold peace, the landmark transformation in Egypt-Israel affairs was polarized in the period between the revolution on Mubarak, in January 2011, and overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood regime in June 2013. While Hamas was leaking weapons and food to affiliate terrorist organizations in Sinai (e.g., Beit al-Maqdes which became later “ISIS-Sinai”), Israel cooperated with Egypt on amending the 1979 peace treaty to allow military equipment and personnel to enter the military prohibited “Zone C” in northern Sinai to fight against terrorists leaking from Gaza. By 2015, the news about military cooperation between Egypt and Israel, in North Sinai, was making headlines. Then, fortunately, in 2018, the natural gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean provided a non-security common project for the two countries to cooperate on and further enhance their relationship.

On the public level, a survey by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, conducted in November 2020, showed that 25% of the Egyptian public supported normalizing ties with Israel. At that time, the ink of signing the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was still wet.

Singing the Abraham Accords between Israel and three of the Arab countries, during the past two years, was an important step in the right direction, but was not enough.

P

olitics

However, the flawed Middle East policy of the current U.S. Administration is, apparently, creating a momentum that is encouraging Israel to proactively expanding its confidence in its Arab neighbors and thus seeking to become an integral part of the powerful regional coalitions that are currently being formed.

GIVING IRAN SOMETHING TO FEAR On March 27-28, in Sde Boker, in the Negev desert, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Yaer Lapid, hosted his counterparts from Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, and the UAE, in a historic two-day summit to discuss the future of the Middle East in light of the escalating regional and global threats. Of course, the threat of Iran, and its widely spread militia and proxies, was on the top list of the security threats that the summit discussed. At the conclusion of the Negev Summit, the Israeli Foreign Minister boldly noted that this summit is giving Iran something to fear. “The shared capabilities we are building intimidate and deter our common enemies, first and foremost Iran and its proxies;” Lapid emphasized.

Indeed, the unprecedented showcasing of solidarity between Arabs and Israelis, a few kilometers away from the grave of David Ben Gurion, the founding father of Israel, is something that should prevent the Iranian officials from sleeping at night. That is mainly because the summit has undermined the ideological rhetoric of “eliminating Israel,” which Iran and its sponsored militia and proxies, as well as all the terrorist organizations in the region, have been using as a winning card to gain public sympathy and give legitimacy to their inexcusable military and militia interventions, and also for justifying the ongoing process of nuclear proliferation.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who also joined the summit, carried an assuring message from the White House, confirming that the United States will always work with its regional partners to push away the security threats created by Iran. “Deal or no deal, we will continue to work together and with other partners to coun-

The threat of Iran, and its widely spread militia and proxies, was on the top list of the security threats that the Negev summit discussed.

ter Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region,” Blinken said in conclusion of his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister before the summit started.

However, the actions of the U.S. Administration, on the ground, give a different message, especially in relation to Biden’s insistence on appeasing Iran to sign the nuclear deal, and taking radical steps like removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), despite Israel’s pleas, and before that removing the Iran-sponsored Houthi militia in Yemen from the FTO list, despite Arab Gulf countries’ appeals.

Since the Islamic Revolution took over Iran, Israel has remained the foremost target of the Iranian hostility and military attacks. Sadly, this used to be widely tolerated by most Arab countries due to their sympathy with the Palestinians.

However, in the past decade, Iran posed a serious threat to the national security of most Arab countries, particularly in the Gulf and the Levant regions. Since 2015, the Houthi militia in Yemen has been showering Saudi Arabia and the UAE with Iran-made missiles and drone attacks that targeted civilians as well as critical economic facilities.

In Lebanon and Syria, the Iran-sponsored proxy, Hezbollah, is literally running political affairs and coordinating with other militia to block any opportunity for improving the political sphere. In Iraq, the Iran-sponsored proxies are dictating political decision-making in parliament. Two years ago, these militia assassinated, with cold blood, some of the famous young Iraqi activists, who dared to publicly oppose Iran’s intervention in their domestic politics. Last year, the same Iran-sponsored militia attempted to assassinate the Iraqi Prime Minister, using Iran-made drones, in protest of the election results.

HOW DURABLE IS THE ARAB-ISRAEL PEACE? No doubt, we are living a historic moment in the Middle East region. The scene of Arab and Israeli leaders holding hands, in Israel, at the conclusion of the Negev Summit, is definitely momentous. If nothing else, it shows that the Middle East is going through a phase of political maturity, wherein the leaders of the region can effectively cooperate on realistic and pragmatic terms. It, also, indicates the beginning of a new phase of less Middle East dependency on the United States, which will have further implications on the international scene, in the near future.

However, the euphoria created by human love replacing

28

01/04/22

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (C) speaks during remarks at the Negev Summit in the Israeli kibbutz of Sde Boker on March 28, 2022. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP)

decades of political animosity should not blind us from the fact that the core of the disagreement that kept Arabs and Israelis in conflict for decades is still open. That is the Israel-Palestinian conflict. As long as this conflict continues to exist, any efforts for long-term peace between Arabs and Israelis will remain fragile.

It is not enough for the regional leaders to push the IsraelPalestinian conflict to the back burner, while handling more pressing issues like the Iranian threat or the rapidly changing security structure of the region. At any moment, the Israel-Palestinian conflict can pop up to the front, once again, causing severe damage to the hard-won regional peace.

Sheikh Jarrah protests that quickly developed into a war in Gaza, last year, is one apparent example.

Therefore, there has to be a way to use the current momentum of Arab-Israel solidarity to reach a workable solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The positive attitude of the current Israeli government of Prime Minister Bennett, compared to Netanyahu’s government, on the issue of resolving this historical conflict is promising. At the conclusion of Negev Summit, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Lapid, said that Palestinians are welcome to join future regional

29

01/04/22

There has to be a way to use the current momentum of ArabIsrael solidarity to reach a workable solution for the IsraelPalestinian conflict. summits of that kind. “We are today opening a door before all the peoples of the region, including the Palestinians, and offering them to replace the way of terror and destruction with a shared future of progress and success,” Lapid said.

In parallel, to guarantee the sustainable growth of the peace trend in the region, efforts should be exerted on a level deeper than the surface of state-to-state relations. Reaching the core of people-to people relations between the Arabs and the Israelis remains a big challenge, despite the Abraham Accords and the dazzling series of governmental activities reflecting official acceptance of Israel.

E

conomy

Absent Rituals and Empty Pockets

Ramadan Knocks on Doors of the Lebanese amidst ‘Hardest’ Suffocating Living Crisis

By Lara El Sayed “In any case have you returned, O Ramadan?”, ask the Lebanese people entangled in a living crisis that is stifling their worries, exacerbated by economic and social repercussions as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Add to that the impact of the continuous devaluation of the Lebanese pound and the “soaring” fuel prices. This “chain of events” has been aggravating the suffering of a people who

are barely able to secure their daily sustenance, all while equipped with the minimum “steadfastness” elements in the face of the strong winds that have besieged them since 2019 due to an “incompetent and submissive” authority, which has brought the country to rock bottom.

We are a few hours away from the holy month. Meanwhile, the preparations in the streets, shops, and even inside homes, are nothing like before. Despite easing COVID-19 measures that once restricted people’s “welcoming”

30

01/04/22

of the fasting days during the last three years, this year has been “more tough.” People’s purchasing power has “betrayed” them, and their “almost empty” pockets prevent them from reviving Ramadan rituals and social customs. The lights of Ramadan lanterns, street decorations as well as homes have diminished, and group iftar feasts are “absent,” as even family banquets are “limited” due to the current circumstances.

Ramadan preparations are no longer as “copious” as they used to be. The iftar meal has become “expensive,” as the prices of the ingredients for a daily dish are “soaring” up high. This will render the preparations of the Lebanese on the basis of “every day for a day” and “sustenance in the hand of God.” Such indicators suggest that Ramadan traditions are diminishing; nonetheless, the Mesaharaty (pre-dawn drummer) might pop up roaming the streets of some remote villages, towns and the streets of the capital and old cities.

“NIL” PURCHASING POWER, “UNBELIEVABLE” PRICES AND STORING OF GOODS!

A photo of Ramadan decorations in Beirut in the past years.

Lebanon is mired in the worst economic crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990, which led to a record devaluation of the national currency against the dollar. Moreover, the purchasing power of most citizens has collapsed and poverty rates have increased. Adding salt to the injury was the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war, with its repercussions affecting countries around the world, including Lebanon, which in turn depends on imports for its basic supplies of wheat and oils.

Prior to Ramadan, prices witnessed a “fiery” jump amid fear of the shortage of some basic materials due to the suspension of those supplies due to the war. There has been also a “storage wave” - despite the low purchasing power of the majority of the Lebanese, they have rushed to secure basic materials in an “unprecedented” state of panic out of fear of supply shortage.

In this context, Hani Bohsali, head of the Syndicate of Food Importers, confirmed to Majalla that “the difficult economic and living conditions and as COVID-19 persists, are all factors that may make this year’s Ramadan the most difficult over the years in Lebanon,” stressing that “the basic commodities for the month of Ramadan are available.”

He considered that “It is known that the assortment of Ramadan goods has changed due to the circumstances, and the priority for people has become finding the basic types of grain, rice and oil.” Bohsali stressed that “despite the crisis, these supplies are present and sufficient for Ramadan, and there should be no frantic stockpiling, regardless that stockpiling itself is justified as people fear any threats against the security of goods and the increase in their prices, as there are many who are unable to afford their daily needs.”

31

01/04/22

“The difficult economic and living conditions and as COVID - 19 persists, are all factors that may make this year’s Ramadan the most difficult over the years in Lebanon.”

As for prices, Bohsali explained, “The saying that prices always rise in Ramadan is incorrect. The market is based on supply and demand and its developments, especially imported goods, without disregarding the fluctuations in fuel prices globally and the exchange rate of the dollar locally.”

Regarding the percentage of consumption, Bohsali indicated, “The frantic shopping that took place two weeks ago mixed the numbers. The percentage of supermarket sales increased more than their daily or weekly rates, as the purchases were for the purpose of storage and not consumption.” He stressed that “the purchasing power of citizens largely declined to the extent that does not allow them to buy all their needs.”

“SIBANA RAMADAN” … A FADING TRADITION Given the current circumstances, The Lebanese are compelled to abandon the customs they inherited, including “Sibana Ramadan.” Families used to come together and go to a cafe or restaurant to eat food, drinks and sweets on the last day of the month of Sha’ban in preparation for Ramadan. This, however, has become impossible for many in light of the rampant high prices, according to Mustafa Mansour, the owner of a restaurant in Beirut. He pointed out that “the traffic in general is light, and the cost of this tradition now exceeds the minimum wage, which stands today at around $30.”

This tradition is fading away, along with it the popular festive atmosphere that many Lebanese cities and regions used to witness. Adults and children used to participate in these festivities, and scout groups and Sufi ensembles used to hold performances and competitions roaming the neighborhoods, during which participants chanted nasheeds and praises to welcome the holy month.

CRISIS CREEPS UPON RAMADAN BANQUET Lebanese will be welcoming Ramadan with heartbreak,

E

conomy

struggling to provide food and buy goods, as the deteriorating situation has muffled their joy over the arrival of the month of goodness.

Despite the increasing prices, some are trying to “organize” their expenses in light of a “ravaging” crisis. Many of the dishes that once adorned the Ramadan banquet might not be present, from fatoush, to kibbeh, and jallab, among many other. For the main course for iftar and suhoor, some basic ingredients will definitely be absent, such as meat, with prices spiking to levels beyond the affordability of many families.

How will citizens be able to afford their breakfasts? Noha Trabulsi, a mother of three children, posed this question to sum up her “concern” about not being able to afford providing breakfast for her children. Most Lebanese share her concerned. She told Majalla that “Unlike the past years, I am unable to prepare for the holy month this time and provide the usual supplies, and the breakfast meal would barely comprise one dish.”

She said, “I was not able to prepare anything before

For the main course for iftar and suhoor, some basic ingredients will definitely be absent, such as meat, with prices spiking to levels beyond the affordability of many families.

Ramadan with all the electricity outages. Even if there is electricity, the ingredients for the cheese rolls, including the cheese and the dough are pricey, as well as meat and chicken. Additionally, an oil gallon now costs half a million Lebanese Lira.”

She added, “Even the ingredients for a Fattoush bowl need a budget with the increasing vegetable prices. Ramadan this year is different from its predecessors. Even the juices like tamarind and jallab, as well as the Ramadan sweets from Qatayef, Kellaj to Halawat Al Jibn will be off the menu. One will be only be able to have a taste of these in Ramadan twice tops, with limited incomes that do not suffice for one week.”

For his part, Houssam Hammoud, a father of four, expresses his sorrow over the current situation, saying, “Despite the severity of the situation, we hope that Ramadan will bring relief to everyone.” He noted that “the livelihood challenges are significant, as we are unable to secure many food items we were once used to on the Ramadan table, such as meat, chicken, juice, and dates – the price per kilo of the latter has reached 150,000 Lebanese Lira, even more.”

AUSTERITY HITS STREETS, HOUSES DECORATIONS Beirut and all the Lebanese regions are suffering “woes,” as municipalities are no longer able to afford allocating budgets for Ramadan decorations. Once again, rituals are gone with the wind and downsized to memories. The “austerity” resulting from the crisis situation had its repercussions on the streets, as well as the homes that grew “deprived” of a joy that once shined with lights, lanterns, flags and banners.

32

01/04/22

In various Lebanese cities and towns Ramadan Iftar cannon fires a single shot at sunset throughout Ramadan to mark the maghrib prayer and breakfast time.

The mesaharaty maintained his cheerful presence in Sidon during the holy month of Ramadan.

According to Issam Takkoush, the owner of a decorations and Ramadan props shop, the economic and livelihood crisis has taken its toll on the demand for Ramadan decorations. Due to the high prices, and unlike the past years, sales decreased by about 90%, after the Lebanese have let go of luxuries.” He noted that “the priority to buy the basics from food to drinks, among others, is no longer within the reach of several Lebanese who have changed, given the current situation, their patterns of celebrating occasions.

RAMADAN IFTAR CANNON The Lebanese have kept the tradition of the Ramadan Iftar cannon, firing a single shot at sunset throughout Ramadan to mark the maghrib prayer and breakfast time. In major cities, the Lebanese army fires three shots when the month of Ramadan is confirmed, one artillery shell is fired before dawn, and another at sunset. At the end of the month and once the month of Shawwal is confirmed, three more artillery shells are fired to announce the end of Ramadan and the advent of Eid Al-Fitr.

THE MESAHARATY ... A HERITAGE TURNED INTO A PROFESSION! “O! those who of you who are asleep, wake up and pray to Allah” … “Get up for your suhoor, Ramadan has come upon you.” This is how the mesaharaty chants while playing his drum from the first night of the holy month until the night when the Eid al-Fitr crescent is sighted. He wanders in the streets, neighborhoods and alleys to awaken the sleepers and invite people to eat the Suhoor meal. He calls the parents by their names, and the children wait for him

33

01/04/22

Municipalities are no longer able to afford allocating budgets for Ramadan decorations. Once again, rituals are gone with the wind and downsized to memories. by the window panes to call them by their names.

The mesaharaty maintained his presence despite the technological advancements and remained present even throughout COVID-19 lockdowns. The chants turned from a heritage tradition to a Ramadan profession to earn money, so the number of workers increased.

PRAYERS AND SUPPLICATIONS Muslims in Lebanon celebrate the nights of Ramadan in mosques by praying and supplicating and reciting the Holy Qur’an. They will be able to retain such practices after the partial lifting of COVID-19 restrictions on religious places. Some of them are keen on performing the supererogatory prayers (Taraweeh) after breakfast, and others read a daily supplication, while they observe the three Qadr nights until dawn.

Some hold prophetic praises mawlids during the month of Ramadan, and some Islamic societies organize competitions for reading the Qur’an.

E

conomy

How to Save Your Business Money

The Right Data Can Help Your Business Keep Costs Under Control

By John Hall A rapidly growing economy usually brings rounds of cheers.

Business is booming, innovation reaches new heights, and buyers can’t get enough. But when that growth accelerates too fast, inflation isn’t far behind. And too much inflation will start to squeeze corporate pocketbooks before price hikes reach consumers.

Recent economic data shows that inflation shot up 7% in De-

cember 2021. And although this is skewed by pandemic recovery, it’s worth noting that prices haven’t increased this much since Reagan was in the White House. As supply chains break and costs keep rising, consumers and businesses feel the strain.

Inevitably, an inflationary economy shines a spotlight on what companies can do to control expenses. Soaring costs don’t only impact people trying to buy life’s essentials. They’re also a concern for business owners struggling to adapt.

When decision-makers use data and analytics to identify strate-

34

01/04/22

gies that are and aren’t working, they can often discover new cost-saving measures. Here are some ways data can help your business reduce expenses, too.

1. TARGET YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS When the C-suite discusses cost cutting, the marketing budget is a frequent target. It’s easy to see why, since average design and production expenses for national TV and print ads can cost millions.

More affordable digital mediums, such as PPC ads, still eat up thousands of dollars per campaign. And each potential lead or customer that those efforts don’t convert is wasted time and money.

For marketing to be effective, it has to reach the right customer at the right time with the right message. With the help of analytics, survey responses, and A/B tests, companies get a clearer picture of which promotion efforts work.

Experimenting with different copy, media, and audiences is one way to figure out the correct answers for your business. However, you need data from the results of those experiments to reach accurate conclusions. Everything from visitor activity on your website to influencer attribution metrics is an opportunity to learn what prompted -- or didn’t prompt -- customers to make a purchase. It’s vital to make sure that your website load speed on your website is fast. Each second a page loads can cost a website 5% of it’s traffic.

2. OPTIMIZE SUPPLY CHAINS Photo credit: (Tima Miroshnichenko /pexels)

Any business that delivers physical products to customers depends on supply chains working as designed. Getting something from a manufacturer into the hands of a consumer requires the cooperation of every moving piece in a distribution network. While distribution strategies vary between businesses, direct store delivery (DSD) companies offer an illustration of how you can use data to cut supply chain costs.

A typical DSD distribution strategy involves sending sales reps and merchandisers to call on stores using company-owned fleet vehicles that follow predefined routes. DSD companies like Frito-Lay use data such as sales volume, vehicle drive time, and GPS tracking to improve their efficiency. With this data, leaders can design routes and sales territories to reduce fuel costs and the time it takes for the right products to reach the right stores. The upshot is reduced expenses and increased sales opportunities.

One example of this is the recent growth of Tradefull. They use data to help eCommerce companies streamline supply chains by using tools such as warehouse management software. This tech helps shippers with multiple warehouses sift that data to choose the most cost-effective warehouse from

35

01/04/22

Inevitably, an inflationary economy shines a spotlight on what companies can do to control expenses. Soaring costs don’t only impact people trying to buy life’s essentials. which to ship products. Decisions are based on location, which saves the business money and gets products to customers faster, representing a solid Win-Win. No matter your company’s distribution model, leveraging the right data will enable you to cut supply chain costs.

3. REDUCE EMPLOYEE TURNOVER Employee engagement experts agree that it costs much more to hire employees than it does to retain them. Current estimates show businesses spend up to twice a worker’s annual pay when turnover occurs. While it’s true that companies can’t prevent every employee from leaving, managers can use data to mitigate a mass exodus.

Information from exit interviews reveals mismatched expectations, culture problems, and training opportunities. However, exit interviews aren’t exactly opportune times to prevent people from walking out the door. Rather, companies that gather the right data can spot signs of dissatisfaction long before employees turn in their resignation letters.

Use staff surveys, engagement platforms, one-on-one meetings, and onboarding and coaching sessions to glean the necessary information about employee sentiments. These insights make it easier to correct training gaps and leadership or communication failures promptly, before they incite costly resignations en masse.

Education opportunities are an important part of limiting turnover. It’s no secret that if you help an employee become better that they may have an increase in loyalty towards your company. Studies have shows up to 44% of employees are more likely to continue employment if there are educational opportunities.

Companies will always be looking for ways to streamline costs.

It’s part of Business 101. But it’s the full use of data that can improve your accuracy and results.

This article was originally published by Inc Magazine.

S

ociety

Syrian Newborns in Turkey Face Statelessness, Lack of Medicare Opposition Blames Increasing Refugee Numbers for “Demographic Changes” & Economic Crisis

By Jiwan Soz The ruling coalition in Turkey, which mainly includes the Justice and Development Party and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, and the coalitions of opposition parties collide over the issue of allowing Syrian refugees to stay on Turkish soil or voluntarily deporting them. Syrian refugees, however, have other issues to worry about, mainly the registration of births across Turkish cities where children of Syrian parents are born.

How is this done? What are the obstacles impeding registration? Has the issue also turned into a point of controversy between the ruling coalition and its opponents?

Turkish hospitals, both private and public, grant newborns birth certificates that include all the child’s details, including name, family name, birth date, and parents’ country of origin. Later, one of the parents would notarize the birth certificate at the Personal Status Department, which is known in Turkish as Nufus Mudurlugu. The parents could then have a passport is-

36

01/04/22

Syrian refugees in Akcakale, Turkey )Reuters(

sued for the newborn, as several sources from Turkish hospitals told Majalla.

The issue arises not in the issuance of the birth certificate, but during the notarization process. A certificate cannot be notarized if the mother is under the legal age.

In this case, no passport can be issued for the newborn, even if the parents have valid Syrian passports, because the Turkish law does not recognize a marriage if any of the parents is younger than 18 years old.

What happens when a birth certificate is not notarized?

Majalla talked to several Syrian families living in Turkey, who have not been able to notarize their children’s birth certificates because the mothers had not attained the legal age. Accordingly, the children were not registered at the Personal Status Department. The families concurred that the newborns’ vaccines were a major matter for them because their children were not allowed to have them.

The father of a newborn revealed that he managed to secure vaccines for his child, thanks to help of a Syrian doctor working at a private medical center, and had to pay for that. He pointed out that the issue of not notarizing birth certificates could mean that his child will not be able to enroll in a kindergarten or a school in the upcoming years.

He continued: “When enrolling a Syrian child in a kindergarten or a school in Turkey, a notarized birth certificate should be submitted, as well as a proof of a temporary residence known as a ‘Kimlik.’ In case a birth certificate is not officiated, a child is not granted the right to education.”

Although this issue can be resolved once the mother attains legal age, this mostly happens as the child reaches the elementary education stage. This has been especially common amidst the spike in child marriages among Syrian refugees, with many girls getting married at the age of 14 or 15.

Another Syrian refugee who finally managed to enroll his child in school with the start of the 2022-2023 academic year, said, “My wife reached the legal age a few months ago, and we finally managed to notarize the marriage, as well as the birth certificate of our 5-year-old daughter. However, our daughter is currently struggling with learning Turkish because she was not enrolled in a kindergarten.”

Speaking to Majalla, the Syrian refugee warned “against giving birth before both the mother and the father reach the legal age, in order not to jeopardize the future of their children’s education.”

The issue of notarizing marriage and birth certificates

37

01/04/22

There are no official figures on the number of Syrian children with unregistered records inside Turkey.

Children born to Syrian parents face the problem of statelessness if their parents are unable to register their births in Syria. once the parents reach the legal age might appear simple compared to the children with unregistered records who do not have any birth certificate having been born in rural areas in Turkey without their mothers resorting to doctors and hospitals.

Until today, there are no official figures on the number of Syrian children with unregistered records inside Turkey. Children born to Syrian parents also face the problem of statelessness if their parents are unable to register their births in Syria. Several obstacles impede this, most notably having no relatives in areas controlled by the Syrian regime to register them in Syria, or not being able to pay the fees required by Syrian embassies and consulates abroad, especially the fines for delaying birth registration. This contributes to dooming these children as stateless.

Majalla could not get comments from deputies in the Turkish parliament from the ruling party on this issue, especially since the Justice and Development Party is working to “voluntarily return the Syrians to their country,” in coordination with international organizations dealing with refugees through a plan that is not yet clear.

The largest opposition party in Turkey, the Republican People’s Party, describes the Syrian births inside Turkish territory as a “demographic change” in some areas, and accordingly submitted a proposal to Parliament last week.

A couple of days ago, however, the Turkish Parliament rejected the proposal, which called for controlling the number of Syrians and their distribution in the country’s states, most notably Hatay, which is known in Arabic as “Antakya.” Hatay ranked third among Turkish cities in terms of Syrian refugee population.

A source from the Republican People’s Party revealed to Majalla that “the proposal aimed to regulate the num-

S

ociety

bers of Syrians in all Turkish states, so that their percentage in each state should not exceed the percentage of Turkish citizens. However, the ruling coalition voted by a majority against this draft resolution.”

In addition to the demographic change that the main opposition party accuses the Syrians of causing in some states, the same party confirmed that Antakya suffers from economic problems due to the large number of refugees there. About half a million Syrians live in said state, according to official Turkish statistics, but the opposition claims that the number is about 800,000.

Suzan Sahin, Republican People’s Party Hatay Deputy, underlined that “the city’s residents face poverty and that the Syrian refugees are one of the main problems for them.” She also compared the numbers of refugees

The ruling AKP is working to “voluntarily return the Syrians to their country,” in coordination with international organizations dealing with refugees through a plan that is not yet clear.

in Hatay to the number of Turkish citizens who come from the state.

She added, speaking to the parliament, that “the population of Hatay is 1,670,000, which means that half of the population is non-Turkish.” She also noted that “75 percent of the births in the city are given by Syrian women.”

She continued, “Syrian families reproduce at a high rate, with some of them bearing as many as six children in as little as six years.”

The deputy on behalf of the opposition party also noted that economic movement in the state in terms of exports, imports and gold trade takes place only through Syrian merchants who are getting richer by the day. As for the Turkish residents of Hatay, they are getting poorer.

The deputy also opposed granting Turkish residency to the large number of Syrians residing in Hatay. She said, “Another issue threatening Hatay is the increase in the number of naturalized Syrian voters, who now stand at 18,000, compared to 13,000 two years ago.

Sahin did not discuss only the Syrian refugees in Antakya, but also expressed her opposition to their presence in the town of Reyhanli, which is located on its outskirts.

She stressed that “the number of Turkish residents in Reyhanli amounted to about 98,000, but according to official records, 129,000 Syrian refugees live there, which is more than the number of the Turkish popula-

38

01/04/22

A young Syrian girl is vaccinated against polio by a Ministry of Health team in Osmaniye, Turkey )UNICEF/Yurtsever(

A session of the Turkish .Parliament in Ankara )File photo: Reuters(

tion.” She warned that “they are likely to become mayors or representatives in parliament in the future.”

Mayor of Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Lütfü Savaş had warned in early March that the majority of the state’s residents after 12 years would be Syrians. Savaş expressed his opposition to granting the refugees Turkish citizenship, describing the move as a “big mistake.”

Savaş added that “the increase in the number of Syrians has pushed the future of Hatay to the brink,” noting that “three out of four newborns in Hatay are Syrians.” He called on the authorities to take measures in this regard, without specifying them.

He noted, “If no measures are taken in this regard, the mayor of Hatay after 12 years will be a Syrian, because the majority of the population at that time will be of Syrian origin, especially since their number today is 800,000 in the state among the 1,670,000 living in Hatay.” He also questioned the validity of figures that estimate the number of Syrians in Hatay to be about half a million refugees.

In 2021 and 2022, Syrian communities in Turkey have experienced riots. This was followed by incitement campaigns demanding their deportation, waged by Turkish political parties and figures from various parties in the country. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party and the ruling party are an exception, as their leaders speak of a “voluntary return” of Syrians to their country.

39

01/04/22

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is estimated at more than 3.5 million. Most of them fled to Turkey after the war that ravaged in their country more than a decade ago, which followed popular protests calling for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad.

This weekend, former presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, who resigned last year from the main opposition party, warned against the continued presence of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Ince said in a speech he delivered during the inauguration of his party’s new headquarters that “the Syrians’ visits have taken longer than they should, and there will be no such guests in Turkey should I become the president.” He added: “We will send the Syrians back to their country then, and I will establish relations with Assad and appoint an ambassador to Damascus.” His stance is in accordance with his previous party’s stand regarding the presence of Syrian refugees. The Republican People’s Party previously revealed its intent to deport Syrians if it comes to power after the presidential and parliamentary elections that are supposed to be held next year. * Jiwan Soz is a researcher and journalist who focuses on Syrian and Turkish affairs and minorities in the Middle East. He is also a member of Syndicat National des Journalistes (National Syndicate of Journalists [SNJ]).

He tweets at @JiwanSoz1

R

eport

Religious Putin vs. Nationalist Putin

American Analysts Debate Russian Leader’s Personal Motives on Ukraine War

By Mohammad Ali Salih – Washington This is not the first time that the American media is personalizing US foreign animosities and interventions, as the personality of Russian President Vladimir Putin has become the core of the coverage of the Ukraine War. Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, and current Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, have been, among others, the focus of the coverage of US military interventions in their respective countries.

A Google search for the recent mentioning of combined “Putin” and “Washington Post” cited about six million references.

A year before he sent his troops into Ukraine, Putin himself complained about the power of US official and social media, when he addressed the World Economic Forum. Without mentioning names, he asked: “Here is the question, how well does this monopolism correlate with the public interest?”

Now, both US media and public have personalized him as a historical villain, and the US government-subsidized Voice of America has recently asked: “Is Putin the New Hitler?”

The personality of Putin seems to have been analyzed, scrutinized and insulted in the US media like no other recent leader, particularly his personal motives for invading Ukraine: Was that because of his nationalist patriotism? Or his Orthodox Christian spirituality?

David Ignatius, The Washington Post veteran columnist leaned towards Putin’s being a “born again Christian” who, in contradiction to his earlier life, particularly his spying and intelligence jobs, started preaching about the need for a return to Christian morals, not only in Russia, but, also in the rest of the West On the other side, James Krapfl, an American Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, argued that Putin was inspired more by Catherine the Great (died in 1796) who expanded Russia and made it one of Europe’s

great powers.

But Putin, himself, in his recent speeches about Ukraine, didn’t want to separate his nationalistic and spiritual inspirations. At the same time he mentioned Catherine in his speeches, he explained that she was herself driven by Christianity.

History doesn’t agree with Putin on that, because Catherine was more known for being indifferent to religions -- let alone her many lovers whom she exploited to expand her empire.

Putin, in mentioning Catherine, avoided a historical fact that she gained power by fighting and defeating the Ottoman Empire towards the end of the 18th century. Her purpose, she reiterated, was to protect the various Christian minorities who were ruled by the Turks.

About 200 years later, Putin said his invasion of Ukraine was part of a two-prong mission: expand Russia and protect Christianity.

Following are excerpts from Ignatius’ and Krapfl’s opinions, from their tweets, websites and writings.

DAVID IGNATIUS: CHRISTIAN PUTIN “Putin’s personality is more complex — and perhaps more dangerous — than the usual stereotype of him as an ex-KGB officer who wants to revive the Soviet Union. Putin is something different — a Russian Orthodox Christian believer rather than an atheist …

When he invaded Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, he stressed on his religious roots, the same way he did that two weeks ago when he addressed a stadium full of his supporters. He spoke about his duties to ‘to relieve these people (the Ukrainians) of suffering.’ And he quoted the Bible: ‘I recall the words from the Holy Scripture: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’ …

Putin’s words sound perverse, even blasphemous, to us in the West. Putin’s army has bombed maternity hospitals, shopping malls and opera houses in Ukraine.

40

01/04/22

David Ignatius, the Washington Post veteran columnist

James Krapfl, American Professor of History at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada

But this twisted version is evidently what Putin believes.

Putin’s religiosity is a little noted but a powerful part of his personality. Putin’s mother, Maria, was a ‘deeply religious’ woman … who survived the siege of Leningrad in World War II after moaning for help amid a pile of corpses.

When her son Vladimir was born in 1952, she ‘secretly baptized the boy,’ Myers writes…

Putin is said to wear a small aluminum cross that was given to him by his mother … He didn’t display it while serving in the KGB, but when he went to Israel in 1993, he put the cross around his neck. ‘I have never taken it off since’ …

Putin’s passion for the Russian Orthodox Church, he had repeated, was rooted in Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, where St. Vladimir in 988 converted from paganism to Orthodoxy. The Orthodox faithful were often repressed over subsequent centuries but they persisted in Russia and Ukraine…

Putin once wrote, ‘We are one people’, adding a religious call to his bloody invasion of Ukraine …”

JAMES KRAPFL: PUTIN AND CATHERINE THE GREAT “In his speech legitimizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Vladimir Putin invoked 18th-century history …

It was, after all, Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great (1729-1796) who had first acquired the peninsula for Russia. At the same time, she seized what is now Belarusian territory in the first partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth …

In the second partition 21 years later, Catherine acquired extensive lands lying today in both Belarus and Ukraine. She amassed even more two years later, in Poland-Lithuania’s final partition.

Russia’s meddling in foreign elections did not begin in 2016 (in the US). Poland (as the multi-ethnic commonwealth was called for short) had an elective monarchy in the 18th century,

41

01/04/22

The personality of Putin seems to have been analyzed, scrutinized and insulted in the US media like no other recent leader, particularly his personal motives to invade Ukraine: Was that because of his nationalist patriotism? Or his Orthodox Christian spirituality? and Russia regularly intervened to ensure that its preferred candidate won.

In 1764, Catherine dispatched an army to Warsaw to see that one of her lovers, Stanisław Poniatowski, was elected king, declaring that she was acting ‘to defend the republic’s freedoms.’ She expected Poniatowski to keep Poland weak, but he surprised her by undertaking modernizing reforms.

Catherine responded by covertly organizing militias of Poland’s Protestant and Orthodox minorities, and secretly financing a rival Catholic militia, which plunged the commonwealth into civil war.

Poland’s only significant ally, the Ottoman Empire, protested, but Catherine replied that she knew nothing of purported Russian interference. Alarmed Poles formed a fourth, antiRussian militia and appealed to the Turks for aid, sparking a war in which Catherine wrested Crimea and most of what is now Ukraine’s Black Sea coast from the Ottoman Empire …

In other words, Putin, on the steps of Catherine, aims beyond Ukraine – Poland…”

A Weekly Political News Magazine

2

Issue 1898- April- 01/04/2022

Fuad Hussein: The Veteran Iraqi Politician

www.majalla.com

C

ulture

“Fanous Ramadan” A Folk Heritage for Over a Thousand Years Adapted by Egyptians, the Idea was Exported to the Rest of Arab Countries

By Sarah Gamal As soon as the breezes of the holy month of Ramadan arrive, the streets take off their usual cloak to wear a new dress in bright colors, where you can see the lanterns lined up on both sides with their beautiful lighting and different colors.

The blessed month of Ramadan in the Arab countries has been associated with Ramadan decorations that fill the streets and with the lanterns adorning buildings and homes which are associated in particular with the Egyptians. The lantern represents one of the rituals established in Egyptian society to annually celebrate the advent of the holy month.

Fanous Ramadan - Arabic for lantern - is a special symbol of the month of Ramadan, especially in Egypt. This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation.

Children now carry Fanous Ramadan and go out to the streets singing, while many people are hanging large, colorful lanterns in the

streets, in front of houses, apartments, and balconies.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD “FANOUS” The word “Fanous” originates from the Greek word “φανός”- pronounced almost identically - which means lantern, or a means of illumination, be it portable or fixed.

THE BEGINNING OF THE APPEARANCE OF FANOUS There are many stories and tales that are circulated on the origin of this word, and the era in which the Fanous first appeared, as well as how it was used. But despite the differences of these stories, they all agree that the Egyptians were the first to know the Fanous and spread it to all Arab countries. One story goes that it was used on the day when Al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah entered the city of Cairo from the west, which was the fifth

44

01/04/22

Lanterns, Fanous, are lit to invite buyers in a shop in Khan El-Khalili (Photo by Halim ElShaarani).

day of Ramadan in the year 358 AH. Egyptians went out in a very large procession in which men, women and children participated on the outskirts of the Western Desert from Giza to welcome the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu’izz who arrived at night. They were holding torches as well as colorful and decorated lanterns in order to light the way to him. Thus, the Fanous - Arabic for lantern - remained illuminating the streets until the end of the month of Ramadan, becoming a custom that people followed every year, and Fanous became a symbol of joy and a beloved tradition in the month of Ramadan.

There is another story about how one of the Fatimid caliphs wanted to light the streets of Cairo throughout the nights of Ramadan, so he ordered all the sheikhs of mosques to hang lanterns that are lit by candles placed inside them.

A third story relates that during the Fatimid era, women were not allowed to leave their homes except in the month of Ramadan, and when they walked on the street they were preceded by a boy carrying a lantern to alert the men that there was a woman on the way and to keep away from them. The women

45

01/04/22

“The blessed month of Ramadan in the Arab countries was associated with Ramadan decorations that fill the streets and lanterns that decorate buildings and homes, which were associated in particular with the Egyptians.” enjoyed going out and at the same time the men did not look at them. After women were free to go out at any time, people continued to adhere to the tradition of the lantern, when children carry lanterns, walk in the streets and sing.

FANOUS MANUFACTURE Fanous manufacture is not a seasonal industry. Production continues throughout the

C

ulture

year, as its makers excel in inventing different shapes and models, and store them to be gleefully put up for sale in Ramadan, which is the boom season for this industry. The Egyptian city of Cairo is one of the most important Islamic cities in which this industry thrives.

Slowly, the Egyptian Fanous started to trickle into neighboring countries until it became a Ramadan tradition in many of them, especially in Damascus, Aleppo, Jerusalem, Gaza and others.

In the city of Jerusalem, for example, the Old City market and the Bab Al-Wad road are especially designated for the iron lanterns with hand-painted and decorative stained glass, where they are sold during the month of Ramadan. Despite their expensive prices, they are very popular and families are keen to buy them.

Cairo is one of the most important Islamic cities in which this industry thrives, and there are certain sections, such as El-Darb El-Ahmar near the Al-Azhar district, AlGhouriya, and Birkat Al-Fil area in Sayeda Zeinab, which are among the most important areas specializing in the manufacture of Fanous. In these areas you will find the most

“Cairo is one of the most important Islamic cities in which this industry thrives, and there are certain sections, such as El-Darb El-Ahmar near the Al-Azhar district, AlGhouriya, and Birkat Al-Fil area in Sayeda Zeinab, which are among the most important areas specializing in the manufacture of Fanous.”

famous workshops and the most famous families who inherited this craft.

TYPES OF LANTERNS Many types of lanterns have been created throughout history but its beginning was with the fabrication of the “Parliament” lantern which got its name because its design resembles the Parliament Hall. It is the oldest type of lantern and it also became popular in the thirties in relation to one of the lanterns hanging in one of the halls of the Egyptian Parliament at that time.

As for the “Farouk” lantern, this had a completely different design and was named after King Farouk who ordered his servants to manufacture the lantern to decorate the royal palace during one of his birthday celebrations. There are many names that have been associated with the lantern throughout history, such as “Abu Hashwa” or “Abu Sharaf,” “Abu al-Wlad” and others.

The origin of these tales is that the craftsmen who were designing these lanterns were keen to write their names on them so they would become famous for a long period of time, but their names disappeared and only

46

01/04/22

Ramadan lanterns (fanous) on display at a shop in Manshia district, Alexandria. (Photo by Sarah Gamal)

A vendor hangs Ramadan lanterns (or Fanous Ramadan) that are displayed for sale at a shop ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo.

Credit: Mohamed AbdelGhany/Reuters.

the term “Fanous” lasted.

Majalla toured popular neighborhoods of the coastal city of Alexandria to monitor the manifestations of Ramadan preparations, where children and young people who have mastered the manufacture of lanterns are keen to restore their glory, and invent new ideas for lanterns, in an attempt to preserve this traditional handicraft.

Ahmed El-Sayed, one of the makers of Ramadan lanterns in Alexandria, says that he started work about six months ago and manufactures “Khayamiya” lanterns using iron and fabric special for Ramadan. He creates many different shapes, including Aladdin’s lantern, bean carts, Knafeh, crescent and cannon, and other different shapes and sizes.

El-Sayed explained the stages of manufacturing lanterns, saying: “The first stage begins with sending certain shapes to the blacksmithing workshop to design the internal structure of the lantern using iron wire and welding it. After that, we cut a cloth to wrap the structure and cover the iron shapes that were chosen in the beginning, followed by the stage of closing the lantern with Khayamiya cloth and also finishing the lantern, which is the last stage of manufactur-

47

01/04/22

The origin of these tales is that the craftsmen who were designing these lanterns were keen to write their names on them so they would become famous for a long period of time, but their names disappeared and only the term “Fanous” lasted. ing after which the product is sent to shops for sale.”

Regarding the shapes of Ramadan lanterns, the manufacturer Hanafi Ibrahim says; “The manufacture of the Knafeh cart in Khayamiya is done by designing the iron wire in the form of a circle, and a small electric motor is placed inside a wire to run the cart.

Then Khayamiya cloth is attached, a tray is installed from the top, the lamp is placed and lit in order to be a small model for making Knafeh.”

C

ulture

Exhibit Marks the Holy Family’s Flight to Egypt

The Coptic Museum Celebrates its 112th Anniversary by Displaying Rare Icons and Manuscripts

By Salwa Samir

um is located in Old Cairo, a UNESCO heritage site famous for its richness in Islamic and Coptic To celebrate the 112th anniversary of its open- buildings. ing, the Coptic Museum in Cairo is holding an It was opened on 14 March 1910, by Egyptian exhibition on the Holy Family’s Flight to Egypt. Copt politician, Marcus Simaika Pasha (1864– The Holy Family refers to the Christ-child, the 1944), to accommodate materials necessary for Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. According to a the study of Egypt’s Christian history. fourth-century papyrus discovered in the city of Within less than one square mile stands the Amr Fayoum, south of Cairo, and published by the Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, built in 641–642 AH, the University of Cologne in 1997, the Holy Family 4th century Church of St. Sergius and St. Barresided in Egypt for about three years and eleven bara, and the Hanging Church that dates from the 6th century. months.

The Christ-child came The 8,000-square-meto Egypt with his tre museum is within mother, the Virgin the walls of the RoMary, and St. Joman Fortress of Babseph, to escape from ylon, part of the city Herod, who was walls built by Roabout to kill him for man Emperor Trafear of his throne. jan (98-117 AD).

It houses more than 16,000 precious HISTORY OF artefacts includCOPTIC MUing icons, manuSEUM The manuscript of the Pentateuch is inscribed in Arabic. The folio is opened to the scripts, textiles, 17th text mentions the advent of Jacob and his sons to 46th chapter of Genesis. The frescoes, tapestry The Coptic Muse)Egypt. (Photo by Salwa Samir

48

01/04/22

The Coptic Museum in Cairo (Photo by Salwa Samir)

and wooden panels.

There are many examples of ostraca, combs, wooden boxes, frescos, decorated niches, potteries, bowls and altars.

The mixture of Coptic art with Pharaonic, Graeco-Roman and Islamic antiquities makes the visitor forget the present and experience the atmosphere created by majestic ancient art.

ARTEFACTS The Majalla visits the museum and sees the displayed items about the exhibition that vary between rare icons, medals, and manuscripts from the Old and New Testament.

An exhibition banner says that Egypt and Egyptians are mentioned in the Bible in both Testaments about seven hundred times. Egypt was a place for refuge for many people during periods of famine, as well as a safe haven in times of danger.

On display is a manuscript inscribed with the Gospels of Matthew and Mark written in Arabic.

It dates back to the 17th century. The work rep-

49

01/04/22

resents the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in which the lineage of Christ is detailed from the Prophet David to St. Joseph the carpenter who took care of Christ-child.

Another manuscript of the Pentateuch is inscribed in Arabic. The folio is opened to the 46th chapter of Genesis. The text mentions the advent of Jacob and his sons to Egypt.

A linen-wood icon dating back to the 17th century shows the Archangel Gabriel approaching the Virgin Mary and announcing to her the birth of Christ. The Archangel told Mary that she would have a son, whom she was to name ‘Jesus.’

A painted-wood icon also dates back to the 17th century featuring the birth of Virgin Mary taking place in a room where she appeared as a child sitting in her mother St. Anna’s lap. Their heads are surrounded by golden halos. Her father St. Joachim is sitting behind them holding a book in his hands.

A 15th-century manuscript inscribed in Coptic and Arabic represents the second chapter of the

A linen-wood icon dating back to the 17th century shows the Archangel Gabriel approaching the Virgin Mary and announcing to her the birth of Christ. The Archangel told Mary that she would have a son, whom she was to name ‘Jesus.’ (Photo by Salwa Samir)

Gospel of Matthew. St. Matthew mentions the dream of St. Joseph when the angel appeared to him and ordered him to take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt.

A panel icon painting depicts the Flight of the Holy Family on a green-brown landscape with a blue sky and a reddish horizon. The Virgin is depicted in the center, riding on a white horse.

She wears a blue tunic with a red kerchief. The blue color of the Virgin’s tunic denotes her sub-

According to a fourth-century papyrus discovered in the city of Fayoum, south of Cairo, and published by the University of Cologne in 1997, the Holy Family resided in Egypt for about three years and eleven months.

An icon depicts the Flight of the Holy Family on a green-brown landscape with a blue sky and a reddish horizon. (Photo by Salwa Samir)

limity. The Child is sitting on St. Joseph’s right shoulder.

On display also is a number of commemorative medals of pure silver issued in 2018 by the Egyptian Mint Authority affiliated with the Ministry of Finance to illustrate the Journey of the Holy Family to Egypt.

It shows the places visited by them during the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt like Gabal Al-Tair in Minya governorate, El-Maadi in Cairo, Ancient Egypt (Babylon), Ain Shams and Mataria in Cairo, Wadi El- Natrun some 100 km to the north west of Cairo, Sakha in north of Cairo, Samanoud and Tell Basta in Lower Egypt and Al Farma in the west north of Sinai.

There are medals depicting Christ’s disciples, the Lord’s Supper, the Crucifixion and the Sermon on the Mount.

An interesting icon painted on wood depicts Christ in the center and surrounded by Jewish teachers, who seemed surprised by his wisdom.

This incident was recorded many years after the return of the Holy Family from Egypt.

The exhibition is being held from March 14 and runs until June 30, 2022.

50

01/04/22

A

rt

Bemused by Bacon

An Old Painter Still Manages to Remain a Mystery

By Bryn Haworth There is a picture by Rembrandt of the carcass of an ox or bull. It is variously entitled Flayed Ox, Slaughtered Ox, Carcass of Beef or Side of Beef. Apparently, the subject was not uncommon in Rembrandt’s time. The animal has been decapitated, its hooves have been removed, the entrails also, and the skin and hair flayed away. Hung upside down by its hind legs in a cruciform manner, the carcass has a forlorn quality – particularly for a Christian viewer, recalling the martyrdom of Saint Peter – though it might also be taken as a symbol of plenty; cattle were slaughtered in this way at the end of autumn, because it was difficult to feed them in the winter months, and feasting would follow. So, the mood of the picture is best judged by the solemn palette that Rembrandt employs, made up of umbers and ochres, with a definite gloom about the scene, which seems to be a basement. So far, so banal. Then, just as we assume this is a straight forward still life or nature morte, we spot someone lurking in the darkness…

It’s a girl, in all probability a maid, popping her head round the doorway behind the massive, suspended animal. Is she just there to give us a sense of scale? Possibly. But her posture suggests that she has this instant happened upon the scene, and that her likeness was painted at speed, or else from memory, as no model could hold such a pose for long. It is a snapshot. Unlike the pictures of rich patrons who sit for hours as the artist’s meter registers the passing of time, this face is hastily adumbrated. She gazes at Rembrandt, not at the meat, because the meat would inspire no curiosity in a maid. What would pique her curiosity is the sight of a person sitting in front of the meat and painting its likeness. You can almost read her mind in that bemused expression: ‘Why would anyone think a butchered carcass was worth painting? It’s hardly a thing of beauty, is it? And yet this strange gentleman, this artist, is fixing his gaze on it, exactly as if there was something beautiful in front of him.’

If indeed Rembrandt had been in search of beauty, now, suddenly, there it was. Not a woman lolling on a chaise longue, admittedly, nor the classic siren of the Venetian school, deco-

rously bedridden and scantily clad. Not even a whole woman, as the head and outline of her bust are all we can see of her. But, simply by popping her head round the door like that, the maid has managed to transform Rembrandt’s work from a still life into a genre painting. The carcass is no longer a forlorn denizen of eternity, a memento mori like so many still life pictures before it. Instead, it occupies a passing instant of everyday life. Beyond changing the category of the painting, the maid has replaced the pathos of death with a mere fact of life: the unsentimental human need for sustenance.

The bemusement we see in the maid’s face is pretty much what a lot of people feel when confronted by the subject matter and style of Francis Bacon’s work, now on view at the Royal Academy in London. Bacon didn’t just know the Rembrandt painting; he borrowed its carcass for one of his many popes, himself borrowed from Velázquez’s much-admired portrait of Pope Innocent X. In an interview with Melvyn Bragg, Bacon admits that on a visit to Rome he didn’t get round to seeing the original – didn’t get round to it as, among other things, he was feeling too depressed!

This must count as one of the artist’s more playful attempts to shock us. What, you mean a bout of depression prevented you from looking at the single most important painting of your career? Of course, Bacon was kidding. I recommend any visitor to Rome to head straight for it, even before they dash off to the Sistine Chapel.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of this image in Bacon’s work. The screaming pope was the making of Bacon. He repeated the image over and over again, with the pope in various states of terror and entrapment. Not to have got around to making the original picture’s acquaintance would have been a bit like Andy Warhol standing up Liz Taylor because he was feeling a bit under the weather. But Bacon also offers Bragg another explanation for giving the Velázquez a miss – that he didn’t feel up to seeing it ‘because of the stupid things one had done with it.’ Is it possible he felt just a soupçon of guilt about the way he’d treated the pontiff, or was it more the guilty feeling of someone who had vandalised another artist’s work? Velázquez is no stranger to

52

01/04/22

Bacon didn’t just know the Rembrandt painting; he borrowed its carcass for one of his many popes, himself borrowed from Velázquez’s much-admired portrait of Pope Innocent X.

Painting by Rembrandt

vandalism, as we shall see later. It’s quite possible that Francis Bacon saw himself more as vandal than fawning imitator.

The fact that, for whatever reason, Bacon blew Innocent X off also tells us something else about his methods: he preferred to work with reproductions. In one passage of the Bragg film, standing in front of a table strewn with photographs, he announces with a mischievous grin that ‘these are my models’. He got John Deakin, the trendy Sixties photographer, to supply him with photographs of people he would then use as ‘reference’ for his portraits, rather than have the actual people sit for him in his studio. Deakin was very obliging. He took lots of pictures of Bacon’s drinking companions in the notorious Colony Club in Soho. He also took a shot of Francis himself, caught in flagrante after personally ripping a pig in two with his bare torso: Such stunts came naturally to Francis, as they would one day come naturally to Damien Hirst. For a long time now, morte nature has had a greater appeal to certain English artists than still life could ever have, though thankfully the appeal remains somewhat niche.

If she’d been able to visit a Bacon exhibition, Rembrandt’s maid would have found precious little that might be called conventionally beautiful, but maybe she would have been mistaken. Bacon perceives beauty in places others see only ugliness and even the grotesque. Take his repeated praise of the mouth. He claimed to have seen the beauty of the human mouth as a result of reading a medical text on the diseases that could afflict it. In all probability, that was his little joke. In the same interview he launches into an encomium to the orifice seldom heard outside dentists’

53

01/04/22

conventions. “I love the mouth… it’s rather like a Turner… it’s got all these beautiful colours, it’s got these lovely vibrations of colour, between the tongue, the lips, the teeth” (Bragg interview, 1985). This is the mouth as The Fighting Temeraire. Not the old ship itself, but the deep reds of the sunset in Turner’s celebrated picture. Elsewhere, he praises the “beautiful colours of the mouth, as beautiful as Monet landscapes.” If anything, this is surely a sly way of deprecating the anodyne beauties of Monet.

It’s pretty unlikely that any mouth could resemble one of his landscapes. In actuality, the typical Bacon mouth has very few colours. Often, it’s monochrome. But you know he’s getting a kick out of trivialising the landscape artists, in a similar manner to his debunking of Jackson Pollock (he habitually compared Pollock’s work to old lace, much to the indignation of American art lovers), or his dismissal of abstract art as dreary. Gazing, with lip curled, at a Rothko, he tells Bragg it’s spoilt by the artist’s choice of ‘that dirty maroon colour’ and claims he wouldn’t want to visit an exhibition of such paintings lest he got depressed by their dreariness. This is funny too. I dare say there is not a person on the planet who visits a Bacon exhibition to cheer themselves up. Nor do most people seek beauty there. With Bacon, beauty is a poke in the eye of the beholder, and his repeated avowals that he can only see beauty in what everyone else finds ugly come across as affectation, rather like a paradox operates when constructed by Oscar Wilde.

Francis Bacon’s concept of beauty is a pose, like his cut-glass accent in the interviews, his habitual use of ‘one’ for ‘I’ as if he was practising the Queen’s English on us – well, a queen’s English – or using his phone voice when he’s communicating with the public. In a documentary that manages to capture an encounter between Bacon and William Burroughs in the former’s London flat, he momentarily lapses into Ealing cockney when making tea for his American guest. The beat novelist looks gaunt and inhibited. His cheeky host, on the other hand, is having a hoot, perfectly happy in his chubby skin. You feel he wants to say “Shall I be mother?” – only he calculates that this element of English tea-making etiquette will be lost on the self-conscious American.

The interviews are never so revealing. They are repetitions of a carefully scripted press release, a little reminiscent of politicians, but more charming. Like the average politician, the position has always been rehearsed beforehand. I actually began to wonder if

A

rt

fame had come as an unwelcome shock for him. The fabrication of his public persona is quite as exhaustive as his triptychs. No gaffes. Give nothing away. By sticking to the repeated themes, he manages to simulate candour.

Repetition is the key to Bacon’s art too. He repeats winning formulae without embarrassment, returning to the crucifixion, the triptych, the anguished popes, the ghostlike shapes and the beaten-up faces, over and over again. It’s a fairly extensive repertoire, but ultimately it feels constricted. You only have to compare the painter who first turned Bacon on to the idea of becoming an artist, Pablo Picasso. Bacon attended an exhibition of the great Spanish artist’s drawings. It’s possible he saw a drawing such as this, of Igor Stravinsky.

What we see in the handful of sketches from this time is Picasso’s absolute command of likeness. He has a knack for grasping the character of a person. Look at the hands, for instance, the oversized hands of the pianist. Or the composer’s short-sighted air, that of the driven intellectual. Throughout Picasso’s work there are moments when he captures these quirks in his sitters, often with a style that borders on caricature. Even when he is hellbent on distorting faces, he usually manages to preserve some kind of authentic likeness. If he doesn’t, you know he’s in a really ugly mood. He had trouble getting Gertrude Stein right and went off, brooding over the problem, until coming back and getting her to a tee. Picasso had an unmistakable flare for these things. If he failed to get the likeness, it was because he didn’t care to.

Contrast all of this with Bacon. A recurring claim of his ‘press release’ interviews is that he doesn’t want to ‘illustrate’, by which he means capture a likeness. Shunning the convention of having a model sit for a portrait, he prefers to avoid the sitter altogether. In the conversation with Burroughs, from around 1982, he asks “How are you going to trap reality… how are you going to trap appearance without making an illustration of it – and that is one of the great fights, and one of the great excitements, of being a figurative artist today.” One wonders how many times Burroughs had heard that one while the two of them dilly-dallied in Tangiers.

However, this avoidance of illustration cannot account for every effect we see in Bacon’s work. Picasso’s distortions are quite

With Bacon, beauty is a poke in the eye of the beholder, and his repeated avowals that he can only see beauty in what everyone else finds ugly come across as affectation.

different, they can even have a tenderness about them, whereas Bacon invariably bruises and beats up the faces of his absent subjects. This led to a confessed reluctance to portray people he liked. “I don’t want ‘to practise the injury’” is what he told David Sylvester in 1966. It’s hardly surprising that friends were equally reluctant to undergo a process akin to assault, which left their faces, like those of murder victims, so badly mashed up that their closest relatives would have been hard pressed to identify them. To solve the paradox of a portrait that was not an illustration, Bacon bludgeoned his subjects with paint to the point where their heads and bodies would hover on the verge of unrecognisable, even as human beings, let alone as themselves.

Then he placed them in a setting that was exaggeratedly ordered and formal. It’s the same trick, over and over again. Except I think the actual evolution of individual images was the other way around. He started with the setting.

There are birds of paradise which prepare stages for their elaborate courtship displays. They set out an arena for attracting a mate, tidying everything obsessively before they are ready to dance and pose before a visiting female. Bacon had spent a few years (before taking up art) as an interior designer, and this is the expertise he uses in his backdrops. There’s a certain mechanical simplicity to the first phase of the painting, tidying, getting things geometrically correct and in the right relationship with each other. This is when he arranges the furniture of his torture chamber and works out where the walls and cages should go. All these things he can do easily while hung over after an all-night session at the Colony Club. The same is not true when it comes to the second phase, which is desecration. This is the phase that demands all Bacon’s alertness. He has to be mentally prepared for it, because this is when he abandons himself to inspiration, or to chance.

54

01/04/22

Maid behind carcass in Rembrandt painting

Repetition is the key to Bacon’s art too. He repeats winning formulae without embarrassment, returning to the crucifixion, the triptych, the anguished popes, the ghostlike shapes and the beaten-up faces, over and over again.

Bacon borrowed the Rembrandt carcass for one of his many popes, himself borrowed from Velázquez’s

We know he was a gambler as he is very keen to tell us, and to relate this pastime to his artistic method. “I must be the perfect compost for casinos,” he tells Bragg, “because they must love someone who comes in and always loses.” That word ‘compost’ is a gorgeous example of his idiosyncratic diction. “I’m profoundly optimistic about nothing,” he insists. “I’m born with that kind of optimistic nature.” Isn’t this the optimism of the gambler who knows the house always wins, yet gambles anyway? That is to say, what any normal person might call pessimism. Surely it amounts to a negation of the term ‘optimism,’ if the ‘optimist’ cannot conceive of a better future. The effect of this paradox is similar to the aesthetic impulse which negates the pursuit of beauty. I think what Francis Bacon cultivated with all that compost might be called amoral paradox. It’s even there in the famous quip about the crowd in the Colony Club, which he referred to as a ‘concentration of camp’ – he has to defile the joke with a chilling allusion to the places where camp individuals were routinely murdered. The same dark tinge is detectable in the pun he repeated at every opportunity as a toast: “Champagne for my real friends; real pain for my sham friends!” The convention is to drink to your companions’ good health, but here it’s exactly as if we can only enjoy our good fortune if our enemies are unfortunate. This is also the nature of luck in gambling. For anyone to get lucky, someone has to lose out.

He may have been a loser in the casino, but Bacon was definitely a winner when he took artistic chances. His boldness and recklessness came to the fore when the formal, ordered backdrop was ready and he could execute the inspired splurge, the jet of jism or ectoplasm no Dutch maid would care to witness. It was now that a strange fit took over and left, deposited on the ordered scene, the bruised, beaten up and collapsed body of a man, less often that of a woman, with flesh seemingly devoid of structure, as if

55

01/04/22

the bones had been removed. For however long it took, he would desecrate the ordered scene with these broken figures, spatchcocked like chickens, or with random spurts of paint. Then the fit would pass, the paint would cease to drip, and Bacon would slope off, spent, back to the Colony Club.

Of course, I have indulged in a fantasy of Bacon’s work practices here. He gives little away and, unlike Picasso for example, never consented to being filmed in the act. But for birds of paradise who renounce beauty, how many other ways were there to go?

You could be as anal as you liked about the context, but your centrepiece was never going to be a pretty sight.

This is the repeated gesture of his work. The paucity of themes derives from an over-conscious narrowing of options. No illustration. No abstraction. No stories. No expressiveness. The fetters Bacon put on himself were a kind of aesthetic masochism.

He can see the voluptuous beauty of Michelangelo’s drawings of men, but unlike the devout Catholic fresco painter and sculptor, Bacon the atheist cannot permit himself a vision of beauty.

He can recognise the beauty of Velázquez’s Venus, he can even gaze admiringly at a harem by Ingres, but unlike those painters he cannot permit himself to indulge in pulchritude, even if it be the beauty of men as befits his ‘attitudes’ (the odd way he describes, in the Bragg interview, his sexual preferences: “my attitudes are different. I like men”). Instead, he persuades himself, or he tries to persuade us, that he is looking at reality, the Truth, with an unflinching eye. Could it be he is fascinated by a projection?

It was Keats who said that beauty was truth. For Bacon, the suffering and pain of the world were the only valid criteria. They were the truth that society chose to hide. And yet we know, because it’s well-documented, that he had a sado-masochistic streak. One of the paintings in the Academy is of a grown man reduced to a cowering foetal heap on a sofa, presumably because he has been humiliated, perhaps even beaten, by a lover.

If desire and joy are inextricably connected to humiliation and pain, another paradox takes over. Bacon might like us to think he is mirroring the violence of the modern world, or of human existence itself. What compromises this empathy, this apparent cry of

Dead weight. Francis Bacon by Deakin

shared pain, is the sadistic or masochistic pleasure that might be mixed up in it. There’s a hint of bad faith.

The Grand Guignol theatre – Bacon’s work has often been characterised as ‘Grand Guignol’ – used to be situated in the Pigalle district of Paris. There, people would pay good money to see horrors. It was a former church, and cubicles that had once been used to protect the modesty of visiting nuns were rented by members of the public, some of whom got aroused by the spectacle. For others, the horrors were too much. There were accounts of women fainting or even miscarrying. In the theatre’s heyday between the wars, it was frequented by royalty and celebrities in evening dress. However, its fortunes declined after

To solve the paradox of a portrait that was not an illustration, Bacon bludgeoned his subjects with paint to the point where their heads and bodies would hover on the verge of unrecognizable.

Picasso picture of Stravinsky

the Second World War and by the early Sixties it was forced to close. The management attributed the closure in part to the fact that the theatre’s faux horrors had been eclipsed by the actual events of the Holocaust two decades earlier. “We could never equal Buchenwald,” said its final director, Charles Nonon. “Before the war, everyone felt that what was happening onstage was impossible. Now we know that these things, and worse, are possible in reality.”

The horrors Bacon strives to present suffer from the same comparison. They seem unreal. Adrian Searle, one of the Guardian’s art critics, highlighted this unreality when he complained that Bacon was an almost entirely mannered and theatrical painter. He was detecting the inauthenticity that lurks behind the paintings. Bacon would never miss an opportunity to insist that ‘all reality is pain’ and quote from Aeschylus to back this assertion up – the reek of human blood smiles out at me. The problem is that, coming from a sadomasochist, this assertion is somewhat ambiguous. The followers of Messrs Masoch and Sade go in search of pain, after all, for themselves or for others. If it didn’t already exist in the world, they would have to invent it.

We can see the problems this penchant for pain creates if we look at Bacon’s pictures of the bullfight. Wouldn’t he have been better advised to leave the depiction of the bull and the matador to Goya, say, or of the bull/minotaur to Picasso? It seems only prudent to leave such an un-English ritual to the Spanish painters. But no, Bacon wanted to commit it to canvas himself. The results are peculiarly ineffective. Being the one trick pony he is, Francis sets the scene while nursing a hangover, a very limited

56

01/04/22

Man on sofa

Bacon bullfight

scene, as if the stadium has shrunk to the size of a bedroom.

There is a crowd, but that too is reduced in number. Then he places within the frame of the scene a mess of paint showing animal and human in deadly conflict. And yet nothing here evokes the passion, the danger or the cruelty of the actual event.

That’s because it is remembered, for one thing. I don’t think Bacon, as he sat through the experience, was sketching furiously. His models (as usual) were photographic. More tellingly, he says somewhere that the bullfight was an ‘excellent aperitif’ to sex. One is bound to wonder whether it was the the lifeand-death struggle that got his juices flowing, so much as the shapeliness of the matador’s buttocks. The fact is, he has allowed his ‘attitudes’ to interpose themselves between the spectacle and his aesthetic sensibilities. There is far more of Sade & Masoch in all this, than there is the unflinching depiction of suffering. Even the oft-repeated quote from the Oresteia gives the game away: the reek of blood can bring a smile to one’s lips, I expect, if one is either a murderer or a guilt-laden fantasist.

One would hope the great Painter of Pain was the latter. A little bit of guilt never went amiss. The bemusing thing, though, is that we will never know what possessed him to sit in the same gloomy basement, again and again, painting one imaginary carcass after another. He just might have been enjoying the experience.

Footnote: I mentioned above that Velázquez was no stranger to vandalism. At the National Gallery, Ali Cherri, the Lebanese artist in residence there, has had a look at the paintings in the Gallery’s collection that have suffered from vandalism over the years, the most famous being the Rokeby Venus by Velázquez.

57

01/04/22

Bacon had spent a few years (before taking up art) as an interior designer, and this is the expertise he uses in his backdrops.

The story behind this particular assault is fascinating. It was slashed with a meat cleaver by Mary ‘Slasher’ Richardson, a militant Suffragette, before the Great War. Cherri’s response to the vandalism is to place a recumbent wooden ‘Venus’ – it resembles a neolithic figure – in a vitrine, along with a one-eyed female head gazing at itself, or us, in a mirror. Richardson seems to have had a violent disposition; she went on to join Oswald Moseley’s party, the British Union of Fascists. I would like to have known more about the identities and motivations of the other vandals, who attacked a Barocci, a Rembrandt, a Poussin, and a Leonardo. Cherri’s responses to the desecrations are beautiful, if bleakly so.

‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’ is at the Royal Academy in London until 17 April 2022.

‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’ by Ali Cherri is at the National Gallery in London until June 2022.

You can follow the author on Instagram at cavemanwithabrush.

Po

rt

ra

it

Fuad Hussein: The Veteran Iraqi Politician

By Majalla Illustration by Jeannette Khouri It is known that in post-2003 Iraq, every-

thing is shared on the basis of ethnic and sectarian quotas, particularly between the three main components, i.e. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. And if the Arabs of Iraq are divided by sect into Sunnis and Shiites, then the Kurds, in turn, are also divided into Shiites and Sunnis.

The Shiite Kurds, who are called “Feyli Kurds”, are considered a minority compared to the majority of Kurds who belong to the Sunni sect. Moreover, the majority of Feyli Kurds live in areas in eastern Iraq outside the borders of the Kurdistan region.

Among them is Fuad Hussein himself, who failed to contest Barham Salih for the presidency, so he took the position of Finance Minister in Adel Abdul-Mahdi’s government, and today he holds the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mustafa AlKadhimi’s government.

Fuad Muhammad Hussein was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations, and was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Federal Republic of Iraq on June 6, 2020, and before that he

held the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Finance from October 24, 2018 to 7 March 2020.

Dr. Fuad Hussein, born in 1949 in Khanaqin into a Shiite Kurdish family, is a longtime activist of the Kurdish cause and resistance. He had, during his studies at the University of Baghdad, joined the Union of Kurdish Students and later the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of General Mustafa Barzani. In 1975, after the resumption of the war against the Kurdish resistance by Saddam Hussein, he joined the maquis of Kurdistan.

After the collapse of the Kurdish guerrillas following the Algiers Agreement of March 5, 1975 between the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein on the back of the Kurds, and like very many Kurdish resistance fighters, he had to take refuge in Europe. He settled in the Netherlands where he completed his curriculum with a PhD in International Relations.

In addition to his work as an academic and independent consultant on the Middle East, he campaigned within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) created in 1975 by the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani who later be-

59

01/04/22

came president of the Iraq.

He held the position of Deputy Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers for Economic Affairs and Minister of Finance between October 24, 2018 and March 7, 2020, and he also held the position of Chief of Staff of the Kurdistan Region Presidency with the rank of Minister between 2015 and 2018, and the official of the Iraqi Media and Communications Commission in the same region during 2005.

Also, Dr. Fuad Hussein worked as a supervisor on re-examination in Iraqi schools at the Ministry of Education during 2003, as director of the Middle East Office for Studies, Training and Consultations between 1996 and 2003, as an administrative director for governmental refugee organizations between 1995 and 1996, and as a teacher at the Academy of Social Sciences between 1984 and 1995.

His appointment to the Foreign Affairs portfolio crowns a long career in which his knowledge of the Western world and the Arab-Muslim world were highly valued in both Kurdistan and Iraq.

Dr. Fuad Hussein is married to a Dutch Protestant with whom he had two daughters.

H

ealth

Virtual Reality for Chronic Pain Relief

VR May Have the Potential to Become a Regular Part of Your Treatment Plan

By Heidi Godman

WHAT IS VR?

The latest tool to help reduce chronic pain sounds like it belongs in your grandkids› video game collection. It›s called virtual reality (VR) -- a computer-generated three-dimensional environment you can see with special goggles -- and it›s gaining traction as a promising therapy.

In November of 2021, the FDA approved a prescription home-use VR device to help reduce chronic low back pain. And Harvardaffiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital has been studying VR for a few years now to see if the approach has the potential to manage any type of chronic pain.

«In the past, a lot of providers were using opioids as a way to treat chronic pain. As has become clear in recent years, opioids have many downsides, and providers are thirsty for alternative treatments. That›s why there›s increasing interest in this technology, and that›s why we›re studying it,» says Dr. David Binder, a physiatrist and director of innovation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

VR is an immersive technology that makes you feel as if you›re in another world. While sitting comfortably, you put on a VR headset -- goggles that give you a 360° view of a virtual environment. You can look anywhere in the virtual space -- up, down, left, right, or behind -- and you can hear sounds from speakers in the headset or headphones.

In a video game, you might put on a VR headset to ride on a virtual roller coaster. You›ll see the track ahead of you, the amusement park to the sides, and the sky above. You›ll experience the thrill of seeing your car bolt forward, twist, or turn -- all while hearing the rattling of the car on the track and the shouts of other riders.

VR FOR CHRONIC PAIN For chronic pain reduction, VR isn›t intended to excite you, but to calm you. The virtual environments are serene nature settings, such as a grassy field with a brilliant blue sky and a rolling stream

60

01/04/22

nearby. You might hear sounds such as birds chirping and water gently bubbling along rocks. And the environments aren›t always computer-generated. The system Spaulding Rehab experts are studying uses video of real places.

VR devices for chronic pain reduction incorporate other features as well, such as a narrator›s voice guiding the wearer to take in the virtual surroundings, do breathing exercises, redirect negative thoughts about pain, or learn about pain responses.

The device Dr. Binder›s team is developing is accompanied by additional education.

«Patients view the content in four sessions and use a workbook.

And if they hear things in the educational content about pain that they don›t understand, they have a trusted clinician right there to talk about it and reinforce the concepts,» says Lorna Brown, a physical therapist and lead clinical researcher for Spaulding›s innovation team.

HOW IT MIGHT HELP

Photo credit: (TNS)

The strategies used in VR for chronic pain reduction can include mindfulness (focusing on the present moment), meditation, guided imagery, or cognitive behavioral therapy (redirecting negative thoughts to positive ones). They›re all used to control stress and mood. «Stress, anxiety, depression, and fear all contribute to pain,» Dr. Binder says. «A lot of evidence suggests that if you›re able to treat those, you can help reduce pain.»

«Where VR might take these other therapies to a new level,» Brown says, «is by putting them together and immersing someone into an environment where it›s easier to focus.»

It could also be that VR and its many stimuli simply distract your brain from receiving pain signals. «We already take advantage of this wiring all the time. For example, if you hit your elbow by accident, and it hurts, you rub the elbow and it feels better. You›re tricking the brain by producing the sensory reaction of touching the elbow, which cancels some pain signals,» Dr. Binder says.

DOES IT WORK? The bulk of the evidence about VR for pain deals with treating sudden, severe pain -- for example, using VR to distract people undergoing treatment for burns. VR is already used in many hospitals to ease pain after surgery, or during labor or cancer treatment.

While we don›t have a lot of evidence yet that being in a VR environment reduces chronic pain, some studies are encouraging. For example, the evidence that swayed the FDA to approve the VR device for chronic low back pain (EaseVRx) was a randomized trial involving 179 people. Half used the three-dimensional VR device, and half used a sham device (with only a two-dimensional environment).

After eight weeks of treatment, pain levels were reduced by more than half in 46% of participants using the VR device compared with 26% of the other group.

The device Dr. Binder and his team are developing hasn›t yet

61

01/04/22

For chronic pain reduction, VR isn›t intended to excite you, but to calm you. The virtual environments are serene nature settings, such as a grassy field with a brilliant blue sky and a rolling stream nearby. been tested in a randomized trial. So far, researchers have been trying it out in three Spaulding clinics to see if it›s promising enough to do a large study. «We›re learning how patients with persistent pain respond to the content. Based on that, we›ll modify and improve it, and find out if there are any barriers to using the VR headset,» Brown says.

CAN YOU TRY IT? Spaulding›s VR device isn›t yet available, and the back pain VR device requires a doctor›s order. It›s not covered by insurance, and Dr. Binder doesn›t anticipate that any VR device for chronic pain will be covered until VR becomes mainstream.

However, there are a number of VR devices with pain relief programs (not FDA-approved) available for purchase either online or through private physical therapy practices. Some hospitals and rehab centers also use VR for chronic pain.

And if you just want to try the technology, you can buy a VR device (starting at about $300) and download a meditation program for it. It won›t have the same education and guidance found in a program designed for chronic pain reduction, supervised by a physical therapist. But it probably won›t hurt -- as long as you don›t have any conditions that would make VR use dangerous, such as dizziness or balance problems.

WHAT’S THE FUTURE FOR VR FOR PAIN REDUCTION? It›s too soon to know if VR will become a standard part of chronic pain management. The answer depends on what happens with research, and how much value VR adds to treatment for chronic pain. «If VR content shows clear improvement, lower pain scores, and faster recovery, and if there›s evidence from respected academic centers, the big technology companies would likely be interested. They›re already investing heavily in VR,» Dr. Binder says. «You might see VR being adopted at a level never imagined.»

This article was originally published by Harvard Health Letter.

o

pinion

The Arabic / Islamic Project of Modernity

By Saif Al-Abri

We do not have to confine ourselves to following the literal steps of western modernity with its negative implications where external freedom has been overvalued over internal freedom .

The 20th century and contemporary Arabic and Islamic thinkers have been obsessed with modernity. This is because of the belief that its analysis will somehow carry with it the remedy to our productivity slump. However, this effort ended up with two camps apart from fundamentalists that both misunderstood modernity. The first camp of thinkers is trying to transform Islamic tradition and conception with that of western modernity, as such switching concepts such as ‘shūrā’ (consultation) to ‘democracy’ and ‘umma’ to ‘state’ thinking it will bring us close to modernity.

The other camp is of traditional thinkers who deny all western concepts and try to reproduce Islamic ideas with more rationalistic labels. Both lack creativity and the ability to influence the contemporary situation. A respected philosopher, Taha Abdurrahman, proposes a different viewpoint whereby he distinguishes between the spirit of modernity and the application of modernity.

As we can see, modernity is not a homogenous thing but is actually somewhat different; different countries applied it in different ways. We can see that Germanic modernity is different from that of the French. Not only that, but modernity can also be distinguished by fields whereby there can be differences in economic modernity and political modernity, as evident, for instance, in China. Taha Abdurrahman sees the spirit of modernity as an aggregated form, which all countries formed but fully applied in Western countries for the first time. But he also stresses that western application has failed. In better words, the spirit of modernity can be used more humanely, leaving behind violence and destruction of the environment and many other things. The spirit of modernity is built on three principles: maturity, critique, and completeness.

The principle of maturity means the transformation of humans from immature

62

25/03/22

to mature. This is defined in Immanuel Kant’s essay on ‘What is Enlightenment’.

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one’s understanding without another’s guidance”. This transformation is built upon letting go of any constraint of what he ought to think. As such, it allows him to be more active. Another is that the mature human seeks to establish new values or reproduce and create old values creatively, and they become as if they are unique. The second principle is that the origin of modernity is the transformation from dogmatism to criticism. The prior means accepting things without being critical and demanding evidence, and the latter means the opposite. And this is based on two things: firstly, subjecting nature, politics, law to rationalism. We see this in natural sciences, the rise of bureaucracy etc. Secondly, it is based on differentiating, distinguishing, and drawing lines between things. The last principle is completeness. Whereby modernity bypasses the specialization of societal roles and specialization of the fields. It is not confined to specific fields influencing sciences, thought, religion, values, economics, etc. Furthermore, it is not limited to one geographical area or society but spreads, as seen with globalization.

As such, this process of distinguishing between the application of modernity and its spirit implies that Islamic modernity is possible, which is what Taha Abdurrahman is proposing. Whereby the spirit of modernity is creatively and originally applied to suit and fit the historical context of the Arabic situation. As such, we do not have to confine ourselves to following the literal steps of western modernity with its negative implications where external freedom has been overvalued over internal freedom, where human is viewed as subjugators of their surroundings. This is a general expedition of Taha Abdurrahman’s works. More can be found about the project in his books.