A Royal Arab spring

THERE USED TO be a common border between Qatar and Emirates, but that would not have helped as latter is aligned with Riyadh when it comes to recent showdown. Current crisis has Qatar cut-off by land, air and sea by the band of three: Saudi Arabia, UAE and the client state Bahrain.

This is what the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has come to be – a forced alliance with center of gravity in the hands of Mohammad ibn Salman (deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia), and his likeminded friend Mohammad ibn Zayed of UAE/Abu Dhabi.

There are several theories of recent thaw between this alliance within an alliance, against a peninsula-country based on the Arab peninsula – but what is this indicating? What kind of threat is Saudi-led GCC trying to prevent when Riyadh’s prime aim is Tehran? Why did such a daring stunt even unfold, and who is lurking to gain from this once the dust is settled?

Of freedoms and exile

IF ANYONE CAN tell of populism, fake news, conspiracy theories and all that follows strongmen riding a populist wave, then it would be the many Muslim majority countries that can present authoritarians of all colors. Moreover, if you wonder what the cost is of illiberal populism in the hands of illiberal leaders, then the citizens of the same countries have a long tale to tell.

While fleeing authoritarian policies, many a Muslims have found home in Europe and the ‘western world’, where they can safeguard their lives, families and freedoms of ideals, faith and speech. At a safe distance, they have in recent years seen a shrinking space for freedoms in their countries of origin (to a varying degree), with the element of increased demands for freedoms (with their dire consequences).

On populist surge and traditional purge

THE DOMINANT POLITICAL narrative in the recent and upcoming elections are filled with myths that are taken for granted as truths. Political interest on immigration, its effect on the national unity, nationhood and its survival, globalization and the lack of sovereignty and the dominant of them all, populism, its surge, and the apparent almost purge of the traditional political landscape.

All form the central themes in an environment where de-industrialization and inequality increases popular resentment and anger towards an imagined elite. What is myths in this, and what are the truths. Are these concerns of nationhood, national unity, identity, multiculturalism, populism-vs-elitism, a new phenomenon? How to dissect the myths, and the realities in this inflated debate?

What effect does a populism that is based on tribalism have on the rights based order – and how do one enter a global order that can take into consideration the dilemma between choosing both democracy/rights and sovereignty? In the end, how is diversity in the current form, any different from diversity from our near past? Is multi-identity based citizenship possible or is such a project forever dead and bygone?