Protests against unemployment in Tunisia aren't isolated or exceptional, observed the columnist Mazen Hammad in the Qatari daily Al Watan. They express a widespread feeling of frustration among the young population as their chances for employment and a decent life are constantly diminishing.
Deterioration in the job market is due the excessive specialisation of economic growth and the extreme reliance on one market, the EU, which cannot accommodate Tunisia's demand for employment. Tunisia has based its development strategy on low-skill sectors that require cheap manpower such as textiles and clothing, as well as tourism for low to medium income Europeans.
These sectors don't offer sufficient job opportunities holders of college degrees. Meanwhile, local and foreign investors do not have adequate protection due to a lack of transparency and good governance.
The government must inject the Tunisian community with necessary incentives to direct resources towards knowledge sectors and encourage technological creativity. Tunisia needs a strategic vision that would enable the economy to incorporate the large human capital available.
In short, Tunisia requires an economic revolution along with advising from international market experts to help create jobs in the coming years.
A review is needed of Arab intelligence
If leaks published in Egyptian papers about investigations into an Israeli spying network prove to be true, then Arab national security has been badly breached, not only in Egypt but also in Syria and Lebanon, commented the pan-Arab daily Al Quds al Arabi in its editorial.
The prime Egyptian spy Tareq Abdulrazak Hussein confessed that he was appointed by the Israeli Mossad to be the link with a high-ranking Syrian intelligence official charged with overseeing the Syrian nuclear reactor near the town of Deir el Zor, which Israel eventually bombed and destroyed.
Syria prosecuted and executed the culprit a few months ago, but the main question is how he was able to continue working unexposed with the Mossad for more than 13 years in a country renowned for its vigilance in intelligence matters.
Such a shameful breach of Arab national security by Mossad requires a comprehensive review and a re-evaluation of the performance of Arab intelligence systems. Despite peace agreements and diplomatic normalisation, the Mossad still regards all Arabs as enemies. In light of the recent discovery of spy networks, the Egyptian government must avenge its dignity and defend its sovereignty by ceasing all kinds of security cooperation with Israel.
Sudan's division starts an old Israeli plan
"The palestinisation of Sudan and sudanisation of Palestine." This will be the US and Israeli slogan in the Middle East in 2011 and their plans will be carried out fast, wrote the columnist Saad Mehio in the Emirati daily Al Khaleej.
During the first days of the new year, the referendum over the future of Southern Sudan will set in motion dramatic and crucial events not only for this country but for the Arab world as a whole. These events will officially realise an Israeli strategy aimed at segmenting the Arab world into sectarian and ethnic sub-nations.
In 2011, Sudan will be divided into two and its oil wealth will guarantee that Sudan will become a battlefield for US and Chinese competition for energy resources.
The "palestinisation of Sudan" would start by dividing it into northern and southern cantons, then by supporting separatist movements in various regions. Southern Sudan will become a platform for the control of the sources of the Nile.
This Israeli project will not stop at Sudan. It will herald the beginning of the official segmentation of many Arab countries. Israel is ready now to make this next step in Iraq that the Sunni-Shiite conflict would facilitate. As for Lebanon and Syria, they are in grave danger of falling into the segmentation trap, and soon, unless they jointly take preventive measures before it's too late.
The consequences of tribunal indictments
Various reports and rumours are undermining the Saudi-Syrian efforts to contain the Lebanese crisis in light of the imminent issuance of the indictments of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the columnist Daoud al Sharyan wrote in London-based daily Al Hayat. "To describe the Saudi-Syrian efforts as a deal is misleading and untrue. There is no deal, but a serious attempt to deal with probable political circumstances."
Riyadh isn't about to sabotage the decisions of the tribunal, and Damascus cannot defy the international community.
The Saudis don't manage their politics through secret deals. They have no intention of magnifying Hizbollah's importance to favour its conciliatory relationship with Syria. At the same time, Riyadh will not mediate to take concessions from Syria.
Riyadh is playing its traditional role of protecting the region from crises. The tribunal will issue its ruling on the Lebanese issue, and that is when the Syrian-Saudi role begin. There is a good chance to protect Lebanon through the mechanism of the implementation of the awaited indictments.
