Dana Jaf

If Mike Pence was born in Egypt, he would have been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood or even the more extremist groups. But he would also have been removed in a US approved military coup if he was ever elected into office.

Pence is only a step away from presidency but he doesn’t need presidency to do the damage. He has already done lots of damage in Middle East and elsewhere around the world all guided by a political ideology that is inspired by a peculiar interpretation of Christianity

The ethnic-nationalism of 1930s Europe at least was genuine. The guys were genuinely crazy. They were seriously nationalist nutters. This new wave of far right is fake. The only thing real about them is their love of Putin.

The gutless hypocrites on the far right in Britain are silent on the Russian attack on their county. Not only that, they continue to spread Russian propaganda. Then they shamelessly make questioning British Muslims belonging a matter of national debate.

The far right hates immigrants but not the immigration crisis. If they cared about Europe, they would be pressuring their boss Putin to stop Idlib offensive because that means another refugee crisis. But no, they are busy praising Putin/Assad!https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi/status/1039043954103279617 …

When corrupt despots in Middlr East want to show off their governance skillshttps://twitter.com/eha_news/status/1039068760810958848 …

1440 years ago, a man and his best friend started a dangerous 340 km journey from Mecca to Medina to escape religious persecution. Today, at least 150,000,000 men and boys are named after that man, Muhammed. Happy New Islamic Year to all lovers of Muhammed.

The future of democracy in the Middle East is dependant on whether Western democracies find see democratic although not perfect governments that might be dominated by religious parties temporarily a better ally or the current authoritarian regimes.

My dream for Iraq is a decentralised democracy where minority rights are protected, individual liberties maintained & elected officials respond to no one but the electorate. But is it a realistic vision for today's Iraq? Not. But it isn't an all or nothing game.

Western liberal democracy wasn't born overnight. It is the result of centuries of internal dynamism and conflict between opposing forces. It's utterly bizarre to expect other societies adopt liberal democratic forms of government overnight just like what they do to imran Kha now.

Many a time, democratically elected governments in Middle east have been sacrificed for a utopian and unrealistic expectation for liberal democracy. The result has been the death of democracy and birth of authoritarianism with a liberal facade. Look no further than Egypt.

While Western policymaking circles have generally been understanding of this fact in Iraq & in Lebnon to some extent, they haven't been able to maintain this nuanced view to democratisation elsewhere.

Democracy isn't a one size fits all. Societies have to negotiate their own forms of democratic governance. Do i want a clergyman tell me who should be the prime minister? Absolutely no. but what if we needed that to avoid a civil war? Then may be the answer will be different.

The role played by the Najaf myarja'yah represented in Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the current political balancing is a very curious case of how democracy is very context specific.

Given the Western far right movement is backed up by Western & non-western actors w/ huge money & strong propaganda machines, in both mainstream & alternative media, it's a miracle Swedish far right hasn't won over 20%.