Amit's Blog

An unflinching indictment of the post-colonial myth that blames empires for divisions that were always already there The most durable lie of the post-colonial era is that European empires manufactured the ethnic, religious, and caste fractures that continue to tear Asia, Africa, and the Middle East apart. This narrative is comforting. It allows the descendants of the colonized to cast themselves as innocent victims, their hands clean of the blood that has been spilled for generations. It is also, with very few exceptions, historically illiterate. Colonialism was not a creator; it was an opportunist. The divisions were deep, endemic, and indigenous long before a single European ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The colonials walked into houses already ablaze and simply poured gasoline on the flames that best served their extractive interests. The post-colonial elites who cry "colonialism made us divided" are not telling a historical truth; they are telling a politica...

Lebanon at the Crossroads: Gas, Geopolitics, and the Fragile Promise of Sovereignty Over the past century, Lebanon’s identity has been shaped by colonial design, sectarian power-sharing, civil war, foreign domination, and chronic state failure. Today, the discovery of offshore natural gas offers a glimmer of hope for economic salvation—but only if Lebanon can navigate treacherous geopolitical currents, institutional decay, and the ever-present shadow of conflict with Israel. French cultural influence endures, yet real power lies in the hands of militias, regional patrons, and a bankrupt political elite. The entry of QatarEnergy into Lebanon’s gas consortium adds both legitimacy and complexity to an already volatile mix. This essay examines Lebanon’s historical fault lines, current energy geopolitics, and the stark divergence between its best- and worst-case futures. Lebanon’s fate hinges not on gas reserves alone, but on whether its leaders can transcend sectarianism and embrace tra...