If I were to claim that I wrote this small book with the calmness that would be expected from a knowledgeable person after several decades of public interventions, I would not be honest.

Since the first Memorandum in 2010, but mainly since the outbreak of violence in the spring of 2011, I too have lost certainties that I held for a lifetime and I cannot explain how, without quite realizing it, we have reached the brink of the abyss.

On the other hand, the misery around us is so pervasive and the tension so great that even if you wish to, you cannot always keep your mind clear for study and sober analysis.

On a personal level, the crisis has changed the way I see myself as a lawyer who wants to voice opinions on public matters. I have come to understand that it is no longer enough, as it used to be, to simply denounce the wrongdoings to have a quiet conscience.

I increasingly feel that I must equally defend the "essentials" of democracy and the rule of law.

N.K.A.