Gone with the wind

Thirteen years ago in Shenzhen, Anna and I would be watching CNN when the programme was repeatedly interrupted by an image of a satellite dish and a sign saying “Connection lost” as the Chinese censorship desperately tried to prevent its population from learning about the Arab Spring that was unfolding in Syria and elsewhere. Little did we know that those days in March 2011 would mark the beginning of all the horrors of the Syrian Civil War and that it would take until December 2024 before Bashar al-Assad would finally lose his dictatorial grip. While Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (or the Al-Nusra Front as it was known as back in 2011), certainly has a lot to prove when it comes to making Syria a free county for “Syrians of all sects” as they now claim, getting rid of Assad was always going to be a necessary first step.

For my own part, I left Kalmar about an hour ago, and I am now on the train back to Gothenburg. At Pressbyrån, I was thrilled to see that the December issue of Condé Nast featured the Lamu Archipelago which for so long has been on my list of dream destinations. Though the security situation remains complicated, it is one trip that I very much hope to make in the years to come.