Another witness changing his testimony, political prisoners freed, some reform measures about to be announced, the Syrian regime’s strategy is clear: get the people to rally behind it. And they surely will. For the Syrian people desperately want to be fooled. And they surely will. Continue reading “A Canticle for the Masochists!”
Category: Regional & International Politics
The Falafel Republic – 2!
Despite the advice that President Jacques Chirac seems to have gotten from his Egyptian counterparts and Saudi counterparts, statements made by the French President during his recent address laying out French foreign policy for the year ahead reflect a certain unwillingness to compromise with the Syrian regime at this stage. President Chirac affirmed that the time for dabbling in Lebanese affairs and attempting to destabilize it is over, he then called on the Syrian authorities to cooperate fully with the UN commission and asserted that Syria’s “return to the heart of the community of nations is contingent on a change in behavior.” Continue reading “The Falafel Republic – 2!”
My Big Heretical Heart!
Or, How I Can Love Hariri, Tweini & Syria all at the same Time!
I thought this dialogue is too important and needs to be given more visibility. For it gives me the chance to clarify further my position on why I oppose the Syrian regime. Continue reading “My Big Heretical Heart!”
The Myriad Faces of Heresy!
“…it is highly unlikely that the Syrian regime will voluntarily effect any major changes in its general structure or its modus operandi. Half-hearted pressures on it to do so will probably not be enough. Still, a full-scale invasion with the goal of effecting a regime change, even with a good casus belli in hand, will most likely prove too problematic at this stage. Syria has a relatively new president who has been received with all due honors by many world leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Prime Minister Gerhardt Schroeder, and French President Jacques Chirac. Syria’s relations with the world community are much more intricate and ambivalent than those of the Taliban or the Saddam regime, as we have noted earlier. The case against Syria will never be as clear-cut as that against Afghanistan or Iraq. A full-scale invasion of Syria would seem to require a U.S. administration that is even more oblivious to the rest of the world than the current Bush administration seems to be. Continue reading “The Myriad Faces of Heresy!”
