Syrian protestors want a regime change

An interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (Note: They confuse Maher Assad with his late Majd below. Majd has passed away of a drug over doze two years ago. In the audio interview I clearly say Maher).

MARK COLVIN: Well you heard Mr Rudd outline some of the background there about a country where the Ba’ath Party dictatorship has lasted for over 40 years. President Hafez al-Assad ruled over the country for most of that time, and in 1982 faced with an uprising in the town of Hama, he ordered one of the bloodiest crackdowns in the modern history of the Middle East. It may be one reason why Syrians have been slow to rise up. But after an attack on protesters in the town of Daraa this week, that’s expected to change later tonight; Friday, Syrian time. The President, Hafez al-Assad’s son Bashar, has made big promises, including dropping the restrictive 48-year-old emergency law. But that’s unlikely to be enough for the many who are expected to protest tonight. And the fast changing situation has emboldened exiled democrats like Ammar Abdulhamid. I asked him whether he wanted Bashar al-Assad and his family out of the country and if so where would they go? Continue reading “Syrian protestors want a regime change” →

Syria’s Assad willing to lift emergency law

The Christian Science Monitor thinks I might be going too far for many Syrians by insisting on Assad’s departure. Admittedly such a call might be too early for some, but, knowing Assad and the nature of his regime, I am reading ahead:

But for many Syrians, any compromise that keeps Assad in power is not enough. Exiled Syrian dissident and activist Ammar Abdulhamid said that after numerous human rights abuses, the current Syrian regime has lost all legitimacy, and it has failed to deliver on its promises of reform for more than a decade. Continue reading “Syria’s Assad willing to lift emergency law” →

Normalcy in Syria, a mere façade

Underneath the façade of normalcy that Syrian authorities are good at orchestrating for the benefit of their foreign visitors, the human rights situation in the country is in constant deterioration on account of continuous and intensified crackdowns. Indeed, Syrian jails now host the world’s oldest dissident (Haitham Al-Maleh, 80) and the world youngest (Tal Al-Mallouhi, 19). Indeed, the latter has not been seen by anyone since her arrest less than a year ago, and is rumored to have died under torture. Despite a massive international campaign demanding her release, Syrian authorities continue to withhold all information regarding her whereabouts and condition. Meanwhile, European and American leaders are busy engaging Bashar Al-Assad in the misplaced hope of breaking his regime’s long-term strategic alliance with Iran, and for this, they are willing to put up with the man’s murderous practices in Syria and across the region. Syria is an authoritarian state and the Assad regime is corrupt and repressive. The world should not be made to forget this fact, and the world’s free press should continuously highlight it. CNN needs to do a report to bring a semblance of balance to coverage related to Syria.

On Assad’s Visit to Spain: Pissing in the Wind

Global media fail to accurately report on Bashar al-Assad’s anti-peace statements that he made in Madrid, where he said:

1) “signing peace agreement does not mean actual peace, but more like a permanent ceasefire.”

2) “Should there be peace with Israel, an Israeli Embassy will open in Damascus, but it will be besieged and no one will dare enter.”

3) “Should there be peace with Israel, no tourists will come nor businessmen.”

4) “There will be no popular sympathy for any peace achieved with Israel.” Continue reading “On Assad’s Visit to Spain: Pissing in the Wind” →