Hassan was quoted in Cyprus Mail's December 19 article, "'The ‘Arab Spring’: unfinished business, ten years on."

As quoted in this article: “The toll has been terrible in terms of the destruction of social, economic and basic infrastructure,” Kawa Hassan, vice president of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Programme at the East West Institute, told the Sunday Mail. “You can’t even recognise countries like Syria and Yemen anymore.”

“The history of these protests has not been written yet,” says Hassan.

In Syria, “The inaction of the West exacerbated a disaster,” says Hassan, “giving room for regional states to intervene.”

Yet, “With great historical events like this, there is always unpredictability,” says Hassan. Few could have predicted the uprisings would happen when they did and where they did – with recent events in Sudan and Algeria also a big surprise to many.

One thing is certain, however: “The genie is out of the bottle,” says Hassan. “One thing we shouldn’t take at all for granted now, is the status quo.”

Click here to read the full article on Cyprus Mail.