Managing Transition!

The VP bombshell will definitely overshadow what I was planning to do by way of ending this year. Still, I will end this year by sticking to my plan. The following link is to a little effort of mine meant to help the opposition inside Syria get their act together over the next few months. It is not something that would not have occurred on the minds of many of them, but I think that framing things in this manner might help stir a necessary and more focused debate. This is the link to the English text, and this one is to the Arabic.

Happy New Year everyone! There is hope for freedom yet.

Heretically yours,
Ammar

إدارة المرحلة الانتقالية: مقترحات عامة لقيام ثورة الياسمين في سوريا

(النسخة الإنكليزية)

اتّصف نظام الحكم في العقود الأربعة الماضية من تاريخ بلدنا بالطابع الاستبدادي والفساد المستشري وسوء الإدارة الفاضح من جانب الزمرة العسكرية الحاكمة وأزلامها من المدنيين. وقد شهدت السنوات الخمس الماضية على وجه الخصوص نزعة مغامراتية سياسية واقتصادية من قبل حكامنا الحاليين، ممن يدعون الحرس الجديد، أدت إلى تضييق أكبر لدائرة الممسكين بزمام السلطة ضمن النظام. وفي الواقع، لا يخفى على أحد الآن أن عملية صنع القرار باتت مقصورة على عصبة صغيرة فاسدة تتمركز حول شخص الرئيس وأفراد عائلته وأصدقائه المقرّبين. Continue reading “إدارة المرحلة الانتقالية: مقترحات عامة لقيام ثورة الياسمين في سوريا”

Managing Transition: Few Guidelines For A Velvet Revolution In Syria

Towards A Jasmine Revolution in Syria

(The paper was also presented during an opposition conference that was held in Washington, D.C. in late January, 2006)

The preceding four decades of the history of our country have been marked by tyrannical rule, unbridled corruption and gross mismanagement on part of the ruling military junta and their civilian lackeys. The last five years in particular have witnessed much political and economic adventurism by our current rulers, the so-called New Guard, with their policies leading to a further narrowing down of the power base of the regime. Indeed, it has become obvious now that the decision-making process was, in effect, reduced to a small and corrupt clique centered on the President and his immediate family members and friends.  Continue reading “Managing Transition: Few Guidelines For A Velvet Revolution In Syria”

The Vice-Predator!

The Arabic Satellite News Channel Al-Arabiyah has just aired an interview with the former Syrian Vice-President, Abdul Haleem Khaddam, currently living in Paris ostensibly to work on his memoirs in the quiet peace of the Parisian suburbs (the BBC also covered this in English).

 

In truth, of course, Mr. Khaddam, who resigned his post back in May 2005, is actually living in exile in Paris, his growing disenchantment with the current regime and its President having reaching a certain climax with the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafic al-Hariri, his longtime friend and business partner.  Continue reading “The Vice-Predator!”