An old Chinese curse says: "May you live in interesting times." The curse works in reverse. Perhaps we should be grateful this year ends on a mediocre note.


Many would agree 2010 was a dreary year. There were no groundbreaking political stories, no scientific breakthroughs, no dramatic cultural events, and no memorable deaths. The year started with tragedy, in Haiti and Poland, and wraps up on an alarming situation in Lebanon. Probably the biggest news story of the year, in addition to the South Africa World Cup, was Flotillagate, the Israeli assault on unarmed world citizens sailing on board the Freedom Flotilla to break the siege of Gaza. That bloody episode left a dozen people wounded or dead - many of them being Turkish citizens - under the watchful eye of the United Nations and the United States. Then of course we had the miserable peace talks that kicked off - and collapsed - in September between Palestinians and Israelis.

We had the March elections in Iraq, which despite recent developments, have still not produced a final government there, nine months down the road. We also had the continued construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank, the target assassination of a top Hamas commander in Dubai, and a chorus of Israeli accusations, ranging from Syria supplying Hizbullah with Scud missiles to blaming Hizbullah for the 2005 murder of Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Rafiq al-Hariri.

I am loathe to sign 2010 off on a negative note, however.

Therefore, I have looked through the chaos and madness of the Middle East, to find the positives in the year that has passed.

In Syria, we took sound steps towards cementing our secularism, banning women wearing the niqab from teaching at our schools and preventing university students with such un-Islamic attire from wearing it on campus. In academia, we got our first batch of young doctors graduating from Kalamoon, Syria’s first private university.

We famously passed the long overdue smoking ban in Syria.

Politically, 2010 crowned Syria’s efforts at reaching out to all four corners of the globe, witnessing presidential visits to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. Additionally, we hosted leaders of different stripes and colors in Damascus, ranging from Italian President Georgio Napolitano to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. In early 2010 we inaugurated our first woman Minister of Economy, the strong-minded and very capable Lamia al-Asi, and more recently, welcomed Riad Usmat, a respected man of letters, as our new minister of culture.

If we look hard enough, we can find emerging heroes in the world around us - certainly no Recep Tayyip Erdogans or Che Guevaras, but rising celebrities, nevertheless, worth watching in the year to come.

One of them is Julian Assange, the Australian publisher of the controversial website, Wikileaks, which has exposed US malpractices in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Arab world is waiting for a Wikileaks story on Palestine, and certainly one on Lebanon, to better understand what happened in this troubled region, during the era of George W. Bush.

Alaa al-Zaybak, our Forward Guest last November, is a young disabled Syrian who graced the Damascus stage both as an athlete and television star, overcoming his disability and becoming a household name. Thanks to First Lady Asma al-Assad’s vision, 2010 can safely be labeled a year of greater public awareness of those with special needs, given that the Special Olympics were held, under her patronage, last September.

One need not worry, however, at having bid farewell to a relatively quiet and peaceful 2010. In the complex world of the Middle East, the years to remember are those marked by violence, war, and assassination. That is why 1948, 1956, 1967, 1982, 2003, 2005, and 2006 are so deep rooted in our collective consciousness as Arabs. 2010 could have been better - but thank God that it wasn’t any worse.

• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?
• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?