Killing at its beginning and killing at its end… The year of the Arab Spring's peaceful revolutions reaped dictatorial rulers who turned legitimate authorities into tyrannical republics. Heads were toppled but the yield of freedom still requires the flow of blood on the squares, from Cairo to Sana'a, Tripoli and even Baghdad which has distanced itself from the spring with the outbreak of sectarian winds and the settlement of scores. The Arabs have not yet rejoiced, while George Bush who invaded Iraq might claim to have planted the seeds of spring through the toppling of Saddam's dictatorship. However, he is certainly using the pretext of his short memory and disregarding the shoe that struck him and equaled between the occupier and the dictator. He is also discounting the unleashing of the retaliation spirit and the fueling of hatred in Iraq under the sponsorship of the quotas system. Barack Obama might claim that his term sponsored the implementation of the Republicans' project for the Great Middle East, through the support of the democratic winds and the elimination of the burdens of allies which hate it instinctively. However, he is forgetting that Washington, which was caught off guard by the fires of the uprisings on the Arab street, seized the opportunity, just like the snipers of regimes which pursued the protesters on the squares that knew nothing but lethal stalemate under the watchful eyes of the intelligence bodies. America adopted a strategy of coincidence following the exposure of Obama's inability to implement any promise he made vis-à-vis the region. 2011 started off with murder and ended with blood. But did it not result in the January 25 revolution, the Jasmine Revolution and the Libyan uprising and war? Just like in America's case, any Arab party or organization claiming to be behind the triggering of the spark or its transformation into a tide which swept away the republics of terror, is also an attempt to ride the wave of the destruction of the Arabs' Bastille, instated since the independence of countries whose ruling legitimate authorities gained autonomy from all justice and freedom in the name of the mother of all battles, i.e. Palestine. However, they betrayed it dozens of times, grew bankrupt with Arab nationalism, caused it to go bankrupt as well, and fought with the leftist windmills following the collapse of the Communist empire. Hence the emergence of the decadent Baath which can only rise with the abolition of the human spirit. Akin to sacrifices on the altar, dozens are being killing every day in the year of the Arab revolutions. This is a fateful battle with a national domestic enemy, while even when the youth win, the parties pounce on the shares. The youth thus offer martyrs and the parties rule the post-revolution state, to try their luck through democracy with America ready to offer its recognition. But in cases where revolutions turned into war against all the sects which are not immunized in the shade of the leader, we are seeing the spring of Israel that is opposed to the fall of the Arabs' Bastille, no matter how much it were to deny it. And while the freedom of choice and the calm elections seen in Tunisia are heralding the rationality of testing the Islamists and holding them accountable after they came from exile and prison directly to power, Egypt's turmoil in the context of the war of intentions, the Yemeni opposition's neglect to contain the bitterness of the youth and the escalation of the militias' crisis in Libya are not allowing hope to see the post-revolution state in North Africa and Yemen soon resulting in constitutions and democratic institutions. Indeed, there is not enough confidence in that the post-spring phase will not witness civil rejectionism shown by the rebellious ruler against anything that might affect his authority. But are we not entitled to merely hope that whatever still exists of the Arabs' Bastille will collapse? Are we not allowed to conspire against our pathological pessimism that has been ongoing for long, ever since the rulers tamed us into remaining silent, enjoying the humiliation and trading our dignity with bread and decent living? Did we not partake in the crime committed by some to smother the history of the Arabs for decades - which they dubbed the years of confrontation with the Israeli enemy - only to wake up all of a sudden to the elimination of our freedom and humanity, the invention of dozens of enemies in each nation, the crucifixion of agents and the flagellation of the other day and night? We are entitled to see a statement of account for the wasting of generations, the misleading of minds and displacement of brains, and for the destruction of societies through the privileges of the ruling class and segregations of all kinds, except at the level of equality between men and women in remaining dutifully silent! As for the question related to the identity of those destroying the institutions with the fires of wrath in Egypt, it should not be too difficult to answer, while the spring's youth and parties should deter the campaign to destroy the state as it is progressing beneath the dust of the war of intentions with the military. Between 2011 and 2012, the question remains the same: In whose favor is the image of the army being destroyed in a country the size of Egypt and which will always remain essential for the protection of the Arabs' spring if it were to survive? Still, this does not spare the military from the presentation of a statement of account for the mistakes that have exceeded the level of crimes – namely the virginity tests to which female activists were subjected on Tahrir Square – while its mission is to place Egypt on the revolution's constitutional track. In the spring of the Arabs, all the prohibitions have collapsed and 2012 will witness the continuation of the labor of the revolutions. However, the winds of sectarian wars in Iraq might change its map, while the presence of Turkey on the threshold of the Syrian crisis and Iran's threats in regard to the Hormuz Strait - if it were to be suffocated by the tensions - are heralding major surprises.
