The dawn of the new Middle East?

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Michele

“The age of US dominance in the Middle East has ended and a new era in the modern history of the region has begun. It will be shaped by new actors and new forces competing for influence, and to master it, Washington will have to rely more on diplomacy than on military might.” Richard N. Haass

Bourguiba Square in Tunis, Tahrir Square in Cairo, Azadi Square in Tehran , Pearl Square in Manama are witnessing a collective awakening of the Middle Eastern world and this means a major American policy shift in the region. Now that the Arab world is being remade from within, European policy must change too.

I am both thrilled and scared by the middle eastern earthquake…

Are Muslims coming back from a vacation in History?

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Michele

Is the Arab world waking up after taking a vacation from History during the past few centuries (as Daryush Shayegan puts it in his book, Cultural Schizophrenia: Islamic Societies Confronting the West)?

I made this image with the hope of freedom (and finally some democracy – even half baked) in the Middle East.

Recipe for volatile social cocktail: “a youth bulge, vast unemployment, inadequate education, and gross economic inequality. but are the richer Arab states immune? There is anger about entrenched authoritarianism and subservience to America’s strategic agenda for the Middle East – especially its support for Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians”. Middle East’s reaching a tipping point…

To see some of the brave women of Egypt go here.

Sahyegan’s book in English is Cultural Schizophrenia: Islamic Societies Confronting the West

I have read it in French: Le regard mutilé

Hello?… that was just a joke!

Posted on November 26, 2007 by Michele

Ok people I was just joking when I said I was going to have plastic surgery! I talked about the United States’ dire economic situation (true), having a kid in law school (true) and needing cosmetic surgery (maybe true but won’t do it) to make you guys buy my stuff.

These are my 2007/2008 holiday cards:

I hope that you had a good thanksgiving – I always cook two turkeys no matter how many people are coming to my house (one in the oven and one in a pot) and this year wasn’t an exception – great persian stuffing camouflaged as the usual stove top…