December 2008

Dear Forward Readers, Our December issue of Forward Magazine includes many exciting Syrian-made features as well as interviews with Syrian, regional and international figures. A special file about Obamania sweeping Bushism away detects the Syrian street's reaction to Obama's change wave, coupled with views by top Syrian political analysts and figures. A former US Ambassador to Syria tells us a moment of opportunity is presenting itself for Syrian-Israeli talks, while Forward Magazine's editor sums up the Syrian wish list for Obama's reign. Our current issue also features a host of interviews with exciting Syrian figures from the business, cultural and political scenes. Top Syrian actor & Bab Al Hara's Abbas Al Nouri gives Forward an exclusive, while our Women Beside Great Men series of articles brings to the forefront a rare narrative by Mahassen Mattar about her life with Syria's famed painter, Abdulkader Arnaout. Wishing you all an enjoyable Eid, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year from all of us at Forward Magazine!

“Well,” my friend, Ahmed, said on the phone, “I guess you were right. Mabruk!” It was around noon on November 5, just hours after I watched Barack Obama give his historic acceptance speech in Chicago. I had stayed up all night to watch the election results. Now, my phone was ringing off the hook with calls and messages from Syrian friends, many of whom seemed entirely shocked that Obama had actually been elected.

In America, custom dictates that you don’t spend election night at home alone fixed to your TV, while one state after another declares its victor. One is usually invited to dozens of get-together parties to watch with friends and neighbors the results as they are announced, exalt on the outcome, or offer a comforting shoulder to whoever needs one to lean on and cry.

Thus, just as I did four years ago, I spent the evening on November 4 watching the elections with friends – but what a difference between these two nights. America is a vast country, spanning three time zones between the East coast and the West coast.

The night Barack Obama was elected, American voters proved that America belongs to the world and not to some doctrinal fundamentalists who have lost track of the heritage of its “founding fathers.” Will the Obama administration recover America’s leading role in the Middle East and elsewhere?

Against all odds, Barack Hussein Obama, an African-American whose mother was an “advanced thinker” and whose father was born in Kenya, has been elected president of the United States. A week after the voting, according to Israeli sources, Obama sent advisor Robert Malley to Cairo to meet with the presidents of Egypt and Syria. Two weeks later, Obama announced Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State. What do these developments mean for Syria?

Syrians have no illusions that the president-elect is going to be a savior for the Arabs. They hope that he will be more fair and evenhanded when it comes to the Arab-Israeli con_lict, and end the tension that started between Damascus and Washington under the Bush administration. They realize, however, that his election shows just how far America has come in terms of racial equality, and everybody in Damascus - young and old - is impressed. Syrians were especially thrilled when Obama refused to praise the US strike on Syria in October, unlike his Republican opponent Senator John McCain. What the Syrians are expecting seven weeks from now when Obama is sworn in as president is:

At his office at the Baker Institute at Rice University, Ambassador Edward Djerejian spoke to Forward Magazine about his long career in the Middle East, which among other posts, included a landmark residency in Syria. Considered a friend to scores of Syrians he left behind in Damascus, the former US Ambassador is an ally to the Arabs; a man whom they respect and trust.

For some, business is an interesting game of “win or lose.” Others value the right choices taken at the right time; yet for Edward Megarbane, CEO of Megarbane Co, the rationale behind achieving success takes different interpretations.

Abbas Alnouri is probably the most popular actor today in Syria. Talented, charming, and proud, he spoke to FW: Magazine from his home in Damascus about his popular roles in Damascene dramas, depicting daily life in the Ottoman Era and under the French Mandate.

A love story that spanned across time, Mahassen Mattar describes her life with advertising, design, and painting legend Abdulkader Arnaout, and how their love boosted both her music career and his various activities, without ever getting in the way or weighing down the other.