American political economist, Francis Fukuyama in his book “The End of History” he argued … since the defeat of the Soviet Union, Communism is collapsing, and China heading to the direction of a liberal free market would lead to the end of the history of conflict and wars. Since his book published,1992, wars never stopped, trillions of dollars spent on armaments, millions of people are killed, nationalism, nativism, xenophobia is spreading all over the world . Now with coronavirus pandemic, the old world order is collapsing before our eyes; the free market liberal west seems more helpless than the communist collective one. American hard power is fading away trillions of dollars military and two million soldiers cannot save us from a fragile virus with a few hours’ life spans. Lots of explanations and analysis to the biggest health crisis facing us in modern history, from blaming the Chinese culture, Chinese blaming the American military for spreading it, religious leaders blaming our moral decay, god punishments for our sines, and punishing us for gay marriage, and infidels.
The fragility of the world with the coronavirus is exposing lots of flaws in our thinking, our culture, as Times reported in America we ignored the pandemic, blaming the chines, the “wet Market” and exotic-animal-cuisines culture of Asia” America and the west felt culturally superior to get the Asian virus. Now we realized that the coronavirus is testing us all, regardless of ideology, religion, race, nationalities, gender, wealth, geography, we are all in this together. As my friend Dave Dvorak, an ER doctor, who is putting his life on the frontline every day trying to save lives, “coronavirus pandemi is hitting everyone, rich and poor, young and old, gay and straight, Christian or not. coronavirus pandemic is exposing world leaders and politics. If McDonald’s is the most democratic place in America, where anyone-and everyone is welcomed to have the same treatment and the same junk food. The Coronavirus is the most democratic disease we are facing now. It is not the end of history and the triumph of the west and free-market liberalism, as Mr. Fukuyama professed, it is, however, the end of politics and the end of modern politicians. Rebecca Solnit, wrote in the Times ” Every disaster shakes loose the old order: The sudden catastrophe changes the rules and demands new and different responses, but what those will be is the subject of a battle. ” Trump the clown we loved, is now running the circus and nobody is laughing, the anti-science and America first village idiot, surrounding himself with anti scientists, conservatives, evangelical, asking God for help!!
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was bragging that “ The Coronavirus pandemi won’t stop him from greeting people with a handshake, even when visiting hospital where effected people were treated, now tested positive of the coronavirus and in a self-isolation, wondering what he should do with his hands now. Even the royal family Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles were not spared. Italy that was hit tragically with the worst in Europe is welcoming doctors from communist Cuba carrying Cuba flags with standing ovations. Something, china, and Russia are helping Europ, not the NATO or the US. China is sending millions of masks and help to western Europe and the US. The US still imposing economic sanctions on desperate anemic Iran, with thousands of deaths reported. el-Sisi of Egypt the general who saved Egypt from the Brotherhood virus, built more prisons than hospitals, imprisoned thousands of people, best doctors and scientists, he himself was in-self- isolations fearing the virus, el-Sisi with his billions of dollars new city built in the remote desert to isolated his regime from the Egyptian people and making sure that Jan25th revolution will never happen again, is ignoring and downplayed the crisis. Now as the Guardian reported the country is feasted with the coronavirus, workers at the new city are getting sick, and two of his generals who are overseeing the building of the new capital died in two days from the virus. Egyptian prisons are notorious for being over-crowded with poor hygiene and deplorable sanitary conditions. My nephew Hassan elAdawy , a prisoner of conscience, is stuck there while the Coronavirus is threatening the wellbeing of all Egyptians in the safety of their own homes. Amnesty International in calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Egypt. It is a matter of life or death. MBS of Saudi Arabia went on hiding, modernizing Saudi Arabia can wait, for now, besides Saudi women can’t drive anywhere. Saudi Arabia as they were opening bars and discos clubs, were forced to close Mecca, cancel hajj and left the city to the dvill to room around all by himself . Mexicans are protesting Americans visitors with their American virus, and want to build their own wall. Italian leaving for safe Africa, reversing the refuge direction, still, a mystery why the African and south was not hit as hard with the virus as north. The French government has warned its citizens they cannot use cocaine to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Reported the Independent. The iron doom and Moving the capital to Jerusalem didn’t help the Apartheid Israel, In Gaza where it has been under Israeli and Egyptian Quarantine for almost 70 years, a few cases were found. Now our political leaders are trying to decide who should live and who should die, democrats spent millions of dollars trying to impeach Trump for making a political call to a foreign government.
Now they don’t have the energy and the money to impeach him for a more serious criminal act, like delaying the response to the coronavirus that resukted to thousands of infected and deaths. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York has become the man of the hour for his unpolitical authoritative leadership. After 9/11 shock, homeland security spent billions of dollars on the war on terrorism mantra , suspending our liberties, banning Muslims, conduction massive surveillance, building walls, and detentions, all these couldn’t stop the Coronavirus. Now we realized that the biggest virus we are facing; is not coronavirus, it is the virus of corporate greed, inequality, anti-science, Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, nationalism, and our apathy and indifference to world sufferings, now with the coronavirus pandemi marching crossing borders, and spreading all over the world, with the failure of the free-market capitalism and the profits before people ideology, we are for the first time facing the same fate with the rest world, only collective action, together we can survive and defeat the coronavirus, or we will all together perish.
Ahmed Tharwat
March, 27th, 2020
In sports as in life as you grow older, the game gets slower and the ball gets smaller (pun intended). For me, I moved from playing football (soccer), to tennis and now to the game of golf.
For someone who played football (soccer), a game of proximity and improvisation, the individualistic and much disciplined game golf requires quite an adjustment.
In soccer you can literally use your head, but shouldn’t think so much in handling the ball. It’s better to rely on your instincts. In golf you can only use your head to hit this small ball straight on the fairway, every time. Trying to make that little ball go where you want, is one of the most deceptively simple tasks you will ever encounter.
One of the golf courses in town is surrounded by big houses. My crooked tee shot went straight to the high voltage tower and made a very loud noise! I told my American friend (a former public prosecutors), “I hope you don’t think that shot was a terrorist attack.” He gave me another ball to hit.
Golfing is a mental relaxation exercise, where your cognitive process is taken over by your instincts to stay the course. This is a quite a treat for an Arab-American who had been consumed by the never-ending political wrangling of biblical proportion, years of jihad over the fate of the holy land. In golf the only holy land that I care about is the golf course. This is the only jihad I have and I’m the only one who can do anything about it. Golf anyone?
