Some thoughts on a mundane Baath event

Special to The Daily Star

Syria has been abuzz with all sorts of nasty and hopeful rumors regarding the Baath Party congress that will begin today. Some predict that a virtual coup will take place as a result. Others, claiming to present a more sober assessment of the potential outcome, assert that only a few, albeit important, reform measures will be adopted. But these measures, they argue, are simply bound to pave the way for more critical developments in the years to come. “Years” being the operative word here.  Continue reading “Some thoughts on a mundane Baath event”

Who’s Next?

Hariri, Maashouq, Kassir, all killed… Who’s next? In what pit of hell are we exactly descending?

 

While we go on with our eons-long slumber, the dark forces of chaos (not-so creative after all) are wasting no time. Soon, we will have nothing to wake up to. Soon we will be killed while we sleep. Now that is not my idea of a quiet death.

Mr. Assad, take down our wall

Special to The Daily Star

On May 24, at around 6:00 am, the Syrian authorities arrested all eight members of the board of directors of the Jamal Atasi Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Syria. The forum was the only tolerated independent political forum left in the country, and the only one to survive the earlier crackdown on political dissent that the regime organized in 2001, putting an end to the so-called “Damascus spring.”  Continue reading “Mr. Assad, take down our wall”