No longer a lion cub, ours is now the real grown thing. The Baath Congress, we are told, has gone just as planned, as far as he is concerned, and he has just appointed members of his team to all key positions in the country’s military and security institutions – with General Dashing playing quite the important role I have to say, but then he always had.
Year: 2005
Flexibility allows for hope, rigidity precipitates mayhem
Tharwa Editorial
Despite the authoritarian nature of many Iranian institutions, the ruling elite have long agreed on a certain process for managing their differences. This process is still in effect today and is playing a major role in the country by allowing for a certain amount of political dynamism on the top and, therefore, for a certain amount of hope for survival, if not of the Islamic regime itself then of the country. Continue reading “Flexibility allows for hope, rigidity precipitates mayhem”
Just My Luck!
Well, I have to admit the whole thing was more stupid than ominous.
Something did indeed happen. I was turned back at the airport. But no, not because of a security crackdown in the form of a new travel ban, but because of sheer bureaucratic incompetence. Continue reading “Just My Luck!”
The Risks of Virtual and Other Forms of Activism!
In Syria, we have several cases where people were arrested, tried in a security court and jailed for having an illegal content on their pcs, or in their emails. Still, software to circumvent the government firewall is available everywhere at a cost of less than one USD. Everybody uses this software to access forbidden sites, such as those of various opposition groups abroad. No one has so far been jailed for accessing an actual opposition site, but there was a recent arrest against a well-known dissident who read a statement from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in a public forum. He had received the statement via email.
Continue reading “The Risks of Virtual and Other Forms of Activism!”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 