AMMAN, Jordan — When the Arab Spring reached Jordan last year, a newspaper columnist, Muwafaq Mahadin, was one of the first to march with protesters demanding reforms in his country.
He also backed Syrian demonstrators who began taking to the streets in March 2011. But a few months later, he made an about-face, aligning with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Like many other Arab intellectuals, he says he did so out of fear for the future of the region.
