I have with me the statistics pertaining to British newspaper sales in 2011. The numbers show that the circulation of all daily papers fell behind the circulation numbers for 2010. While some Sunday tabloids increased their circulation last year, the circulation of major papers, the pillars of British media, has taken a slump.

I go over these figures month after month, and at the end of the year, I compare the figures with those of the previous year. The numbers are always in decline, confirming the opinion of many that the print media is on the verge of extinction.

Lebanese politicians like to link the Arab spring to the Lebanese rise against Syrian tutelage in 2005, i.e. following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. However, if this connection is true, it should summon concerns and frustration over what awaits the rebellious Arab populations, rather than give the small country credit for the inauguration of the march toward the future.

Vladimir Putin, the leader of the Kremlin who is strongly returning to it in a few weeks, has made up his mind and is tickling the dreams of the Russians who have become sick and tired of the West’s orders and wish that their country would restore its power, although they are definitely not a majority. He has made up his mind with “red lines” in regard to Syria and Iran, not only to avoid losing the last two allies in the region, but also to use them as platforms in the face of the storms of the Arab spring, to prevent these storms from hitting his own country.

The Iranian leadership has made its final decision, and started the countdown to wage a war on multiple fronts under the slogan “let me die with the Philistines”, a war for which it will not wait long.

Tehran is not hesitating to send “friendly” signals to its neighbors in the Arab Gulf. These are daily signals that are too numerous to count, but practically fall under general headlines.

Among these headlines are the following:

The non-discontinuation of the various military maritime, land and air maneuvers, and the testing of all sorts of missiles, in parallel to the suspicions surrounding its attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

In recent days, Chinese and Japanese leaders have visited Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, where they signed cooperation protocols in several fields, demonstrating how these importers of Iranian oil are looking for commercial partners that can more reliably meet their supply needs from Iran. The Islamic Republic was the second leading exporter to Asia in OPEC in 2011, with 1.3 million barrels a day through the Strait of Hormuz. Its exports to China stood at 466,000 barrels a day, followed by India (313,000 barrels a day) and Japan (221,000 barrels a day).

“Think like a terrorist”. As I read this, I thought that what’s meant is to think like Benjamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman, Eli Yishai or the other terrorists in the Israeli government. However, I was reading the Washington Post online. While the Post is a liberal newspaper, its op-ed section routinely hosts pro-Israeli apologists, and some of the most despicable warmongers, like Charles Krauthammer.

Rejoice, dear reader. For despite the misery of life, the stench of civil wars, and the disintegration of states into warring islands and regions, waiting for the opportune moment to pounce, and despite the flourishing trade of corpse-making and the fear from -or for- the spring, rejoice!

It is not strange, after decades of autocracy, nominal democracy and the absence of state institutions, for “basics” to be reestablished in Egypt. Most surprising is the way Egyptian media outlets have been dealing with issues of alliance or coordination between political parties and forces, as if they were committing a crime or doing something unethical, or even illegal!

The recent political positions of the Russian, Syrian and Iranian leaders reveal that the sides of this tripartite axis have become tightly connected in the face of the American policy and the Western one in general. It is as though their fate has become one and the same. Hence, it is not surprising that extremism is the headline of this trio’s political rhetoric. Indeed, for weeks now, Iran has been threatening to close the Hormuz Strait if the Western sanctions were to affect its oil sector.