Imagine waking up to the shock, the excitement of the new Germany in 1933, when Hitler became chancellor. An earthshaking moment, promising a new Germany, for Germans. Overnight, the new flag is raised everywhere, children don uniforms, fascist supporters face off against the communists and social democrats.

When Trump sailed to victory in November 2017, there was a similar sense of a new US, now led by a populist man-of-the-people, the little guy’s hero, fighting the good fight. American for Americans. A paradigm shift.

In both cases, the left was split and unable to fight the right wing but supposedly populist agenda of the two outsiders. In Germany, the powerful communist party, the KPD, was pushed by Moscow to break with the social democrats, in 1928 considered more dangerous than the fascists. So communist workers were supposed to abandon their unions and form new ones with the correct line. The sensible communists formed a new party. The rest is history.

Interview on TRT Turkish TV news program Strait Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIiAX5AhpA

Balkans Post: How do you see the consequences of Montenegro’s membership in NATO for the broader region?

NATO continues to creep eastward, now hosting thousands of troops in Latvia, a clear provocation against Russia, which has no claims on it or anyone else. Slovenia is a member since 2004, Bulgaria and Romania are members since 2007, Albania joined in 2009, and Croatia in 2013. (Bosnia and Macedonia are still pending.)

Montenegro joined in June 2017, despite strong opposition. The parliamentary vote was boycotted by the main opposition and hundreds demonstrated outside. The country is a mix of Montenegrins, Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians and Croats, with two thirds of the population Muslim. Serbian is still the majority language. Montenegro's truly multicultural make-up allowed it to survive the break-up of Yugoslavia relatively unscathed, unlike Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia.

It has a small military of about 2,000 troops, but is strategically positioned to give NATO full control over the Adriatic Sea. The other Adriatic nations – Albania, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy – are already in the alliance, so NATO is delighted, if not the Montenegrins.

Balkans Post: What's up with NATO these days?

In 2009, NATO celebrated its 60th anniversary. With its recent deluge of new member states, it needed more space and announced it would build a new HD across the street from the bunker-like 1950s original one.

It was supposed to open in 2015, but in a fitting metaphor for the troubled organization, it was discovered that the half billion euro project would cost twice that, and would not be finished till 2017. Just in time, as the new US president was toying with the idea of dispensing with what he has called an expensive, obsolete organization, even as it continues to expand, long after what many considered to be its expiry date.

So it was with a sigh of relief that the 28 European member heads of state welcomed the abrasive American leader in May 2017 for the dedication of the new HQ.  Trump came, but took the opportunity to lecture his NATO allies for not spending enough for collective defence, and declined to endorse Article 5 of the alliance’s founding treaty, which states that an attack on any member is an attack on all. His subtext: Enough of pulling Euro irons out of fires.

Interview with Eric Walberg Blackhouse.info

Do you think the Arab nations hold the same viewpoint with their countries' leaders and rulers on the issue of Palestine?

From my experience, all Muslims see justice for Palestinians as the most important international issue. That said, most Muslims are concerned with their own struggles for survival, both because of poor economies, corruption and in some cases, direct invasion and occupation of their countries  by the US.

So there is little room for the Palestinian issue as a priority in the struggle.

There is no room for independent grassroots activity in the Muslim world, as there is very weak civil society as yet, and a general understanding that the Palestine issue is one for the government to decide.

My experience as a journalist in Cairo showed me a range of opinions about Palestine, from passionate support to outright criticism of Palestinians, as poor cousins who demand support where there is little room for it, given the sorry state of Egypt, and the restrictions imposed by the Egypt-Israeli peace accord in 1979.