My friends Scott Lazensky and Mona Yakoubian of the United States Institute for Peace are currently touring Syria meeting with various Syrian officials and dissidents in an attempt to present some assessment of the situation on the ground at this stage. Their visit, however, has given Syrian officials a golden opportunity to issue one denouncement of American policy after another and, more importantly, to make one ridiculous assertion after another. Continue reading “Con Artists, the Moral High Ground and the Future of Syria!”
Tag: The George W. Bush Administration
Of Lions and Termites!
The debate in the comments section below perhaps got unnecessarily heated, but Alex did make some “sober” points that I simply need to respond to equally as soberly I hope.
Indeed, demanding anything like “simultaneous goodwill gestures between the Syrian government and its Lebanese opponents,” and advising that “[i]f the Americans wanted peace in the Middle East, they should make a deal with Bashar,” seem based on the erroneous assumption that Bashar and his henchmen are indeed capable of behaving like true statesmen and not like the sectarian thugs that they are. People who insist on looking at the Assads of Syria as statesmen are in an unfortunate state of denial. Bashar has been out of his depth from the moment he stepped into office, Maher is an unreliable hothead, and Assef is a man obsessed with his sectarian identity and with the necessity of keeping Alawites in control of Syria at all costs. Continue reading “Of Lions and Termites!”
The Case for Regime Change in Syria (1)
The Syrian regime and its sympathizers continue to build our case for why it should be changed, no matter what. Indeed thisarticlein the Christian Science Monitor featuring quotes from Syrian analyst Sami Moubayed and fellow blogger and sparring partner Joshua Landis reveals much in this regard. The case is clearly laid out here. Continue reading “The Case for Regime Change in Syria (1)”
Dissent and Reform in the Arab World
An American Enterprise Institute event
Rather than impose democracy on the Arab world, the United States seeks to support the building blocks for political and economic reform that already exist throughout the region. But as the first installment in AEI’s Dissent and Reform in the Arab World conference series has shown, the brave and bright reformers at the heart of democratic change have little political space with which to work and grow. Continue reading “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 