Myriad of festivals, fairs and activities are being held everywhere in the country – a bit unusual really for this Baathist bastion, still the air remains as stale as ever, if not more so. Continue reading “Last Days!”
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”
Serious problems, in fact, especially if we take under consideration the likelihood that Hezbollah’s activities are being coordinated in collusion with regime members. This is exactly what I was afraid of. In lull times, the regime tends to fall back on old habits and old behavioral patterns. Someone in the regime, I am sure, must think it absolutely brilliant to continue to use Hezbollah to apply pressure on Israel in the hope of jumpstarting the long stagnant peace talks with Syria. This is a complete misreading of the situation, of course. But this is exactly the kind of misreading that this regime has been in the habit of doing for many years now. This tendency is bound to get more pronounced as the regime gets more and more desperate. Continue reading “The Coming Fuck Up!”
By Jamie Glazov | FrontPageMagazine.com | March 25, 2005
Syria has announced that it will withdraw its troops from Lebanon. The Syrian-leaning government of Lebanon dissolved itself and preparations are being made for multi-party elections. Syria has handed over to the Iraqi government Saddam Hussein’s half-brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a most-wanted leader in the Sunni insurgency who was operating out of Syria. Syria has also announced that it is shutting down the Damascus office of Islamic Jihad. Continue reading “Online Symposium: Syria’s Glasnost?”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 