The Coming Fuck Up!

Indeed, Hezbollah’s adventurism against Israel is going to create ample problems for the Syrian regime.

 

Serious problems, in fact, especially if we take under consideration the likelihood that Hezbollah’s activities are being coordinated in collusion with regime members. This is exactly what I was afraid of. In lull times, the regime tends to fall back on old habits and old behavioral patterns. Someone in the regime, I am sure, must think it absolutely brilliant to continue to use Hezbollah to apply pressure on Israel in the hope of jumpstarting the long stagnant peace talks with Syria. This is a complete misreading of the situation, of course. But this is exactly the kind of misreading that this regime has been in the habit of doing for many years now. This tendency is bound to get more pronounced as the regime gets more and more desperate.  Continue reading “The Coming Fuck Up!”

Syria Faces Pressures to Democratize

Quoted by NPR

Syria is under intense international pressure. It was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April; Washington accuses it of supporting insurgents in Iraq. In the second story of a series on the prospects for democratic change in the Middle East, a look at whether the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad can survive. Continue reading “Syria Faces Pressures to Democratize”