The Baalbeck temple, Lebanon.

Just imagine...

... an Arab world where every person is treated equally and lives in dignity regardless of ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, gender, sexuality, etc. Imagine all ethnic and religious minorities enjoying equal rights as citizens among an Arab and Moslem majority. Imagine torture is a thing of the past among Arab police, intelleigence and army. Imagine a free and independent media and judiciary from Morocco to Iraq and from Syria to Yemen. Imagine all people in the Arab region feeling truly represented by officials in power. Imagine an Arab League with open borders between its 22 member states and one stable currency, like the European Union. Imagine in all Arab countries good governance, accountability, transparency and no corruption.

A dream? No. Despite all setbacks in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere.

The Arab road to the rule of law and democracy will be long and bloody. But eventually the Arab nations will be there. Even if it takes several generations. And it will take several generations.

See under "publications" articles I wrote about:

- The 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon, including reports about the Saudi-brokered Taef peace accord in 1989
- The Iran-funded and controlled Hezbollah militia in Lebanon
- Arab cultural topics: architecture, archeology, music
- Islamic traditions and fundamentalism
- Germany´s Middle East policy and German converts to Islam
- Turks and Kurds
- The Syrian Baath regime of Bashar Assad