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Two Syrian cities are among the oldest in the world going back to 3000 BC. They are Aleppo and Damascus. This is close to when Varanasi on the Ganges in India was settled. Aleppo is older than Damascus.  The only European city that comes close is Plovdiv, Bulgaria, says this report in The Guardian. Most of the Syrian region is populated by Syrian Sunnis about 75% and there are Christian, 10%, Shia Alawite 11%, and other minorities in Syria.  The Syrian Civil War 2011-2024 destroyed most of the old city of Aleppo. Syria has 110 miles of Mediterranean coastline, mountains along the coastline and and area inland of wheat cultivation along the Euphrates river and the Syrian desert near Iraq in the east, Turkey to the north with Kurds in that area, and Jordan in the south. The Ottoman Turks ruled from 1516 to 1918. In 1920 a French Mandate was setup in Syria till 1943. Following the Second World War Syria was an independent nation and briefly joined Egypt in the UAR United Arab Republic.  ...

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Two of three obese people live in developing countries. About 29% of the global population is obese in 2013, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Between 1980 and 2013, obesity increased by 47% for kids and 27% for adults in the global population. Dr Murray of IHME says no country was the exception. Diet and inactivity are the principal culprits. About 37% of world's men and 38% of women are obese. Obesity increased rapidly first in developed countries, becoming noticeable by 1980 and slowing since 2006, and now is growing fast in developing countries. Germany is a surprise No. 8 on the list. The U.S. No. 1 ranking tells a lot about the misguided priorities of living in the U.S., lack of education on healthy eating and healthy living, and not putting healthy habits at the top of things to do above making more money. An extreme case is South Africa where 42% of women are obese. The most obese countries are by rank - U.S., China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Germany, Pakistan, Indonesia. Middle Eastern and North African countries have high obesity rates for children. The study is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation....

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This editorial in the Economist says the new unity government setup through the United Nations sponsored talks in Tunisia is the best hope for bringing peace and recovery for Libya. With the attacks and presence of ISIS in Libya the oil production has declined by 75% since 2011, and the UN sponsored 6000 troop stabilization force is the next step to bring a measure of peace and stability to Libya so that it can recover. It is not enough for the west to just watch as happened following the fall of Gaddafi, a grave mistake, it is important that the west and the UN take steps to give Libya the stability it needs to recover, says the Economist. Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other powers in the Middle East that turned the region into a proxy war also need to work together and see that it in the best interests of the region to bring peace and development to Arab North Africa.

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Scott Anderson of the NYT provides an indepth look at the Arab World and its fragmentation through the eyes of five people from each part of the Arab world- Egyptian, Kurd, Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian. He says the countries that fell apart are precisely the ones that were formed by the British and the French, and Italy, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire  using divide and rule policies- Britain in Iraq, France in Syria, and Italy in Libya- without much thought given to setting up viable nation states. This is why Iraq has a Sunni-Shia divide, Syria has similar divisions, and Libya with a largely tribal based structure, never really held together after the colonial powers left, and were held together only by strong dictators. Today's problems trace back to these historical events. This is complicated by the largely young demographic and restlessness of the people for change coupled with problems of underdevelopment in education, tribal loyalties, religious loyalties, and lack of political and social structures that could keep the countries together as change and transition to democratic processes took place. The role of the military further complicated matters in Egypt. Even Iran experienced these divisions because of the intervention of the great powers including Russia in Iran since 1900, leading to swings between liberal governments, foreign power supported governments, and a swing back to religious leadership as at present. This is one view of the region, others are presented by Ramadan (Oxford),  Bernard Lewis (Princeton), and leaders in Qatar and Emirates, other experts, some of whom point to the failure in leadership and the elites to find solutions to the problems of underdevelopment, in education, health, infrastructure, and aspirations for a voice in their governance. As the same divisions left by colonial powers affected Asia- in India, China, and Korea, but a larger vision of progress prevailed through crises and difficulties.        ...

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Condoleeza Rice, personally worked with Ayman Nour and other opposition figures during a visit to Cairo to promote democratic process in Egypt. Michael Gerson who was also present at that meeting in June 2005, writes about it in the Washington Post Feb 2, 2011. This is a really rare instance of a Secretary of State supporting dissent in this manner. She says here that the unsettling and the unfamiliar, the turbulence of a transition to democratic processes is preferable to the false stability of autocracy. Such a false stability can be seething with malignant forces and deep animosities which surely spell trouble in the future, and as Rice puts it, find a footing when autocrats suppress democratic voices. Rice calls into serious question the whole policy of the US to seek stability at the expense of democracy in the Middle East, more than it does in any other region and in sharp contrast to its policies in Eastern Europe. See the link to Karen Elliott House, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and a Pulitzer prize winner for covering the Middle East ( Feb. 15, 2011, WSJ), and the link to Elliott Abrams, former deputy national security advisor to President George W. Bush (Wash. Post Jan 28, 2011), for reasons why this is totally out of touch with conditions in the Middle East, and simply sets up problems for the future. The founding principles of 1776 are a better guide to conducting US foreign affairs and can be trusted to serve the country well....

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Many of the young people joining terrorist groups come from Tunisia. A security expert tells DW.com that the radicalization of youth in Tunisia began with the overthrow of Ben Ali and his government in Tunisia at the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011. Ben Ali's regime detained many of the people in opposition groups, leading to the release from prisons during the revolution. The radicalization of Tunisia's youth began during this period, according to this report. The Benghazi attacks on American embassy from Libyans opposing Gaddafi who had crossed the border into Mali, also followed a similar pattern after the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya. In Libya many radicalized people in opposition groups were released from detention following Gaddafi's overthrow. The current democratically elected government of Tunisian president Beji Essebsi is monitoring the situation. This report describes the experience of some Tunisians in terrorist groups who were brought back home from other countries by their families. EU countries and the U.S. supported the Arab Spring but the aftermath was not well managed leading to further upheaval, and now terrorism. Some of this happened as the governments changed in the U.S. with Obama replacing Bush in the U.S. and Hollande replacing Sarkozy in France, and showing little interest in managing the aftermath or helping the new governments in Libya, Tunisia and other countries make a smooth transition with aid, security assistance, and maintaining the basic services provided by government. A well formulated and conducted effort from the West could have prevented the worst effects that are seen in 2014-2016. The costs to contain the crisis that has ensued are far greater than what would have been needed in material resources and expert assistance from the developed countries of Europe and the U.S.- without military involvement as there was a general sense of being lifted from years of dictatorship in Arab North Africa, and general sense of goodwill towards the West during the Arab Spring.   ...

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The Egyptian military cracks down on non governmental organizations promoting democracy.

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The 3 hour televised debate in Egypt between presidential candidates Amr Moussa, former foreign minister, and Abdel Moneim Foutouh. Presidential elections will be held on May 23 and 24, with a runoff in June. It marks the end of dictatorships since 1952, and the first time Egypt is experiencing the democratic processs, as the period before 1952 involved rule by monarchy and strong influence of British colonial interests in the Suez Canal.