Syria’s opposition meeting was a PR exercise

Quoted in the Guardian

There are protests taking place throughout Syria almost daily, while the city of Hama is reported to be de facto without so much as a traffic policeman. As the Syrian dissident in exile, Ammar Abdulhamid, said, the Syrian revolution is not stillborn – it is a healthy baby that may form the “foundation of a future Syria”.

Change Appears Inevitable In Syria, Analysts Say

Quoted by NPR

So far President Obama has stopped short of saying Assad must go. But his recent speech on the Middle East came awfully close, at least to the ears of Ammar Abdulhamid, a U.S.-based Syrian opposition activist:

“When they give [Assad] a choice between lead democratic transition or, sort of, get out of the way, they really mean get out of the way either with some dignity or without dignity. So in a sense, they are pressing for complete change and overhaul of the system,” he says.

Abdulhamid and other opposition figures plan to meet in Turkey later this week to try to get better organized and lobby the West for a tougher response.

Turmoil in Syria and The Regional Consequences

On May 25, 2011, I took part in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Panel on “TURMOIL IN SYRIA AND THE REGIONAL CONSEQUENCES.” Other speakers included: Tamara Wittes (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs – U.S. Department of State), Murhaf Jouejati (Professor of Middle East Studies – National Defense University), Itamar Rabinovich (Charles Bronfman Distinguished Nonresident Senior Fellow – Saban Center for Middle East Policy) and Paul Salem (Director, Carnegie Middle East Center). Here is the transcript, and here is the video.
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