Syria’s Assad a work in progress

Quote in: The Star, MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

“I’m still waiting for him to be presidential. We need to hear his vision while there is still time,” Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid told the Star.

“Either he will come out with a real re-creation of the entire modus operandi of this government, or he will pave the way for international sanctions and internal dissent, leading to implosion, eventually,” added Abdulhamid, the leader of a minority rights project who has been banned from travelling aboard.

Abdulhamid scoffs at what he views as lost decades dedicated to pan-Arab hopes.

“We have Palestinian refugees in Syria but no success to show for it. We have a half million Iraqis now, and prices for everything are going up. We spent 30 years in Lebanon and all we get is hatred,” Abdulhamid said. “Syria has always been the heartbeat of Arab nationalism, and where has it got us?”

But for all its problems, Assad’s Syria feels nowhere near as claustrophobic as Saddam’s Iraq. Here, mobile phones are everywhere, and rooftop dishes draw down satellite television on a scale that would have led to mass arrests in Baathist Iraq. And while the estimated 500 Internet cafes in Syria remain subject to state surveillance, young Syrians have become experts at improvising their way onto sites banned by the government.

Death By Media

My death-wish seems to be rearing its ugly little head again. I am simply giving too many interviews and statements to journalists who seem to be flocking in droves to my doorstep these days. One told me that the word is out that I am simply committing “death by media.” I asked him what that meant, he said that my outrageous statements on developments in Syria, and my frank opinions with regard to its leaders are simply going to get me in major trouble soon. Continue reading →

Assad wins street victory but not the war

Quote in The Guardian:

“This is a dictatorship without a dictator,” a Damascus-based Western diplomat said. Ammar Abdulhamid, a human rights activist, agreed: “It’s a mafia. The capo di tutti capi has died but Michael Corleone [the tough son in the Godfather] is missing and Fredo [the weak son] is in charge.” … Abdulhamid, who has avoided prison so far, said: “It [the regime] is going to come crashing down. They are wishful dreamers if they think they can carry on. They are relics. They have lost their survival skills.”

A Page Out of the Old Book, Or…

“Suffer the cowards, the helpless and the sycophants to come unto me.”

I stand corrected. The “march in support of the President” will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, at 2:00 pm. It will be mostly made up of state employees who will be bused from their offices to the Stadium in the company of military and security personnel, all dressed in civilian attire. These people will represent all of us, all too enthusiastically and honestly, of course, at the scheduled Freak Show. Continue reading “A Page Out of the Old Book, Or…” →