Despite it all, Hezbollah remains a key constituent of the weak and de-facto decentralised state - the legitimate representative of the overwhelming majority of Lebanese Shiites and the ally of the largest Christian Party in the country.
Those familiar with Syria before the conflict would recognize that xenophobic sentiments are contrary to the cultural DNA of Syria. But fears of difference have become much more entrenched as a result of the bloody conflict and the absence of a just authority.
Of course many people might think that ‘public’ refers to people but in Turkey it actually refers to the state. Therefore, the laws and Turkish Constitution protect and serve the interests of the state rather than being in the service of citizens.
Let’s be clear here, Qatar lost in Qusair. It is embarrassing and undermines two years and $3bn of financial support to the rebel movement. And it is time that Qatar began to take some responsibility for things Qaradawi has said, and is saying with regards to Syria.
In interview, Müştereklerimiz, “The Network for Our Commons” argues that the really invisible flag, here in Taksim Square, is that of “our resistance, and the power we can have when we get together on a common ground to reclaim a different way to live together.”
Turkey is in turmoil. Hundreds of thousands are protesting on the country’s main squares against a whole set of grievances. They are facing extreme police brutality. But the AKP dream of unfettered economic growth and mounting regional power within a neo-Ottoman sphere of influence is over.
These developments in Syria, with the involvement of Iraqis, have intensified and widened the divisions among Iraqis themselves.
The potential for arms to be used against Syrian civilians who have suffered most throughout the two years of civil war is not among the primary considerations of the arms-exporting west. One may wonder whether it is of any concern at all.
Some of the most original graffiti - and there is much of it - plays with the teargas theme: “Wipe away your tears: things will never be the same again!”
When the Assad regime is ultimately defeated, Hezbollah will have lost the majority of its military hardware, a significant portion of its forces, and its political clout in Lebanon.
Their actions in Al-Qusayr hurl them far closer to the category of regional militant force, as the architects of a new framework of Middle Eastern skirmishes, in which Sunnis and Shiites become the crucial axis of antagonism, rather than nation states.
