The ideas
The Arab earthquake
سنوات خمس مضت على ما اتفق على تسميته بالربيع العربى، وأنا أفضل تعبير الزلزال العربى الحامل لارتدادات ما زالت مستمرة ومنتشرة.Five years have passed since what has come to be called the Arab Spring; I prefer the term Arab earthquake, with aftershocks that are still continuing and spreading.
Against 'Arab Spring' he sets the image of an earthquake: an event whose aftershocks run for years, not a season followed by summer.
What Future for the Arab Order? · 25 February 2016
The barrier that became a bridge
سقوط الحاجز العراقى أمام إيران عام ٢٠٠٣؛ حاجز الدور الموازن الذى تحول إلى جسر عبور إيرانى أساسى إلى المنطقة.The fall of the Iraqi barrier before Iran in 2003 - the barrier of the balancing role, which turned into Iran's principal bridge into the region.
His explanation of how non-Arab powers entered the regional order: Iraq had been a balancing wall; after 2003 it became a bridge.
What Future for the Arab Order? · 25 February 2016
Hong Kong or Hanoi
البعض كان يرى فى لبنان «هونغ كونغ» أو «سويسرا الشرق الأوسط» والبعض الآخر كان لبنان له بمثابة «هانوى» لجميع أنواع الثورات أيا كانت عناوينها.Some saw in Lebanon a 'Hong Kong' or the 'Switzerland of the Middle East'; for others Lebanon was a 'Hanoi' for revolutions of every kind, whatever their banners.
His recurring image of the Lebanese divide: those who wanted Lebanon to be Switzerland, and those who used it as Hanoi. The slogans change; the game stays the same.
A Policy of Active Positive Neutrality: A Necessity for Lebanon · 16 November 2020
Active positive neutrality
يستدعى ذلك كله أن نفكّر جميعا فى كيفية صياغة سياسة لبنانية خارجية تقوم على ما يعرف بالحياد الإيجابى الناشط.All of this calls on us to think together about how to shape a Lebanese foreign policy based on what is known as active positive neutrality.
His prescription for Lebanon: neither Swiss-style legal neutrality nor isolation, but an active foreign policy that attaches the country to no axis.
A Policy of Active Positive Neutrality: A Necessity for Lebanon · 16 November 2020
The clash of ignorances
نحن فى حقيقة الأمر كما قال أكثر من كاتب نعيش فى «صدام الفوبيات» أو المخاوف وصدام «الجهالات والأصوليات».In truth, as more than one writer has said, we live in a 'clash of phobias', of fears, and a clash of 'ignorances and fundamentalisms'.
His rejection of the clash-of-civilisations thesis, following Edward Said: civilisations neither converse nor collide; people do. What we live in is a clash of fears, ignorances and fundamentalisms.
Terrorism and the Clash of Ignorances · 15 April 2019
The decision of war and peace
من أهم معايير السلطة الفعلية للدولة امتلاكها الكلى لقرار الحرب والسلم.Among the foremost measures of a state's actual authority is its total possession of the decision of war and peace.
The principle he has returned to in sixteen columns since 2024: there is no real state without full possession of the decision of war and peace.
Lebanon: The Risks of Waiting and the Necessity of Dialogue · 27 May 2024
Partial solutions
الحلول الجزئية تعني مزيداً من الحروب القادمة.Partial solutions mean more wars to come.
A headline that is also a rule. What he tracks, war after war, is the erosion of the red lines that once regulated conflict.
Partial Solutions Mean More Wars to Come · 19 August 2024
A national consensus, not a 'folkloric' one
لا دبلوماسية ناجحة وفاعلة إذا لم تستند إلى رؤية لبنان لعلاقاته الخارجية وأولوياته ولدوره، وإلا نكون كمن يتحدث عن عزف موسيقى دون آلات.There is no successful, effective diplomacy that does not rest on Lebanon's vision of its foreign relations, its priorities and its role - otherwise we are like someone who talks of playing music without instruments.
His foreign-policy programme for Lebanon, in numbered points: political geography governs national security; a real national consensus, not a folkloric one; and from that, priorities - because there is no diplomacy without a vision.
Essential Elements of an Effective Foreign Policy for Lebanon · 12 May 2025