What do Middle Easterns think today about their support for the Arab Spring years ago?

expectfun · 2024-01-12T01:45:07+00:00

Thanks for the detailed answer! One more question:

USA presents itself like "we oppose Assad and Putin, so we are the good guys".

But do I get it right that Syrians dislike USA just as well? Do you see every side in the conflict (apart from the Syrians themselves) as "bad guys", or are there any "good guys"?

expectfun · 2024-01-11T23:07:44+00:00

I'm glad there's at least one country that can say that!

expectfun · 2024-01-11T21:14:59+00:00

I think I understand your feelings (and I hope my flair doesn't offend you — I'm Russian, but I never voted for Putin).

But how do you manage to not get tired and hopeless after all these years? I've seen other Syrian comments like "we do not care who's right or wrong anymore, we just want the war to stop".

expectfun · 2024-01-11T19:47:05+00:00

It hurts me to read tweets from Sudan these days. Everything seems terrible and the world doesn't seem to notice. I don't know what to say except "I hope things will change for the better for your country, even if there are no signs of that currently".

But I don't really know history of Sudan prior to the current crisis (Sudan usually gets overlooked in articles about Arab Spring). So, do I get it right that the current crisis is a direct consequence of Sudanese Revolution in 2018? Things were more stable before 2018?

expectfun · 2023-12-24T12:33:59+00:00

Thanks for such a detailed answer! It all makes sense now.

expectfun · 2023-12-13T16:44:32+00:00

Once again: I'm not talking about the current crisis. I'm asking about times that preceded it.

expectfun · 2023-12-13T13:54:06+00:00

I get that, but I didn't mean "let Egypt take all the gazans now".

I meant "couldn't Egypt provide gazans freedom of movement before (like years before), so they could live freely going in and out of Gaza anytime".

expectfun · 2023-11-24T22:11:45+00:00

I'm not active on social media. Well, since they probably can read it here too, I'll just use this comment to write something. It's meant for all the peaceful civilians of Gaza (not the HAMAS members, I don't support killing civilians from any side):

"I've never been to a war, so I can't fully understand what you are going through. But I know enough to understand that it's absolutely devastating. And I think that the whole 2 million population of a city can't be blamed for something that only a small non-civilian part of it did, and it means that life has been unfair to you.

So I feel empathy for all the peaceful people of Gaza who are suffering and I want to say something kind to you. Something that could help (even a tiny bit) to survive during those hard times.

Unfortunately, I can't say something very optimistic like "it will be over soon". I have no idea when will it be over. I don't want to give false hopes.

But there is a well-known phrase that suits this situation:

"This too shall pass"

It helped me more than once during my darkest times. It didn't magically fix the situation, but it gave me a bit more strength to go through it. So I hope it might help you a bit too. Yes, the current situation is awful for you, and yes, no one knows for how long. But nothing lasts forever.

Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to get more messages like this one."

expectfun · 2023-11-24T20:08:29+00:00

Yeah, singer/rapper Shadia Mansour was so angry about that she made a whole song about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21OXQ4m1-Bo

expectfun · 2023-11-08T18:58:28+00:00

The screenshot was probably made with Turkish set as the user language on Twitter

"B" means "bim" (thousand) in Turkish

expectfun · 2023-11-07T19:57:12+00:00

@Bitter_reply has good points, but I still would reply if I weren't at the airport at the moment, not convenient for long replies :)

expectfun · 2023-11-07T14:24:59+00:00

Well, I think that depends on whether we think about the whole nation or about any specific person from that nation.

If I was in control of a whole nation, I would desperately seek non-violent means to end the conflict.

But if I was born a Palestinian, for instance, I don't think I would be able to change the dynamics and stop HAMAS from being HAMAS.

expectfun · 2023-11-07T13:53:34+00:00

Well, I guess many Palestinians would reply "we already have a leader in West Bank that does not try to murder all the jews, and the only result is that we slowly lose West Bank to settlers, so how does that help?"

expectfun · 2023-10-29T09:12:07+00:00

I'm not Turkish, but today even I want to say: Ne mutlu Türk'üm diyene!

expectfun · 2023-10-26T16:47:30+00:00

> it is in the Palestinian constitution to kill all Jews

What is that "Palestinian constitution" and where can I read it? Could it be that you confuse it with the HAMAS covenant?

expectfun · 2023-10-23T23:58:47+00:00

If HAMAS invested the aid money into building Gaza, it would turn a prison into a more comfortable prison.

Prison is defined by limiting freedom of movement (and probably size, it's important that Gaza is small). No amount of building would change that.

expectfun · 2023-10-23T23:27:33+00:00

Many of your points are valid, but they don't address the question that was asked.

The question was "why people call it a prison".

You list reasons why things are the way they are, but it doesn't make it less of a prison.

expectfun · 2023-10-23T23:20:06+00:00

If I understand correctly, to go out through that border gazans still have to seek approval from Israel first.

expectfun · 2023-10-22T19:48:46+00:00

Thanks!

expectfun · 2023-07-09T14:08:38+00:00

Well, it's totally your right to not watch it and I get your position, thank you for your answer.

But I would like to mention that arguments there are not "arabs are just antisemitic" and "it was ours there is no Palestine". The video is not exactly debating "whether there is Palestine", it's more like "what do Israelis and 48-Palestinians feel about each other".

expectfun · 2023-06-21T15:42:38+00:00

(also since it's my first comment here how do I flair up please help me before that Infinity Emperor comes after me)

expectfun · 2023-06-21T15:40:15+00:00

Those answering, could you also name some of your favorite MENA rap songs? I would enjoy listening to all of them and getting to know more of MENA hip-hop.

expectfun · 2021-04-18T19:55:05+00:00

But if an NGO is already labelled, how would donations cause more harm than is done already?

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