Baffled at the pace of recent events in the Middle East? Feel like a bystander or a gawping couch-potato, as history takes place before your uncomprehending eyes? Me, too. It's 1989 all over again. Just as I felt I'd finally understood the USSR, the damn thing fell over and broke into pieces. A hundred promising theses on East Germany became landfill, and the whole category of Cold War genre fiction became as dated as "The Riddle of the Sands" overnight.
Here's a link to an article that may explain things a little. I found it enlightening, anyway. I can't help getting the feeling, constantly, that -- despite its absence from the nightly news -- the events in the Balkans in the 1990s were a seismic event whose aftershocks are still driving huge and unpredictable historical forces.
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7 comments:
Hi,
a very interesting piece. I have some reservations on the parallel at some levels. Think that a bit more relativistic view is needed. The idea that there's must always be a guidance is itself, perhaps, a projection, it may certainly be, but, there is a spontaneous going that seems more connected, as much as the east European side was, to the spread of communications from the western world and the emigrants feedbacks. The satellite driven western junk may be a powerful organizer :-D
Mauro,
Yes, I agree, old revolutionaries in particular always feel better if they can point to a "vanguard" at work ;)
Interesting fact: links between Libya and Serbia are apparently very strong, and some of the "mercenaries" running around shooting people are said to be Serbians.
Mike
Al Qaida have the Koran
Qaddhafi has the Green Book
They have... Facebook?
Well, there's nothing quite like living by The Book you write yourself, I suppose. It does seem improbable, though, I admit.
Mike
Maybe the message is the medium? It's certainly not clear what exactly the message is, other than "Something different, NOW!".
[checkword: pubdo)
True, it's a bit scary really, isn't it, knowing what could be lurking in the wings... I know nothing about the Middle East, mind, other than what everybody knows (or thinks they know). Are you still an Egypt hand, or is that all too long ago?
Reminds me, must (a) fill up the car and (b) check the bike is still working. This could get to be a bumpy ride.
Mike
Yeah, bikes are good. Personal questions usual channel,please
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