Syrian rebels don’t want U.S. aid, at least for now

By Eli Lake, The Washington Times

Syrian rebels who have shaken the regime in Damascus do not want U.S. assistance, at least for now, a Syrian dissident in close touch with the network of protesters told The Washington Times on Sunday.

Ammar Abdulhamid, who has emerged as an unofficial spokesman in the West for the activists organizing the Syrian protests, said, however, that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was wrong to refer to Syrian President Bashar Assad as a reformer on CBS News on Sunday. Continue reading “Syrian rebels don’t want U.S. aid, at least for now” →

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Corleone Correlations

PBS News Hour

After weeks of appearing immune to Arab world protests, Syria faces escalating unrest as soldiers opened fire on demonstrators. Jeffrey Brown discusses the protests with former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Theodore Kattouf and democracy activist and blogger Ammar Abdulhamid, who was exiled in 2005. Continue reading “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Corleone Correlations” →

Tweeting the Egyptian Revolution (2)

A selection of tweets related to the Egyptian Revolution, I have excluded most retweets as well as tweets in Arabic or tweets that simply link to articles and news reports. Most tweets reflect personal thoughts of information obtained from monitoring reports from the ground sent by in-country activists and journalists.

Some of the tweets below (4-6) reflect an early enthusiasm and hope that we might be able to tame not only the regime but the Islamists as well. In retrospect, that was naïve. But the early days were indeed dominated by more secular and pragmatic forces. The Islamist takeover of the Revolution in Egypt (and Tunisia) happened mostly on account of their relative cohesion and superior organization skills, not their larger numbers. Continue reading “Tweeting the Egyptian Revolution (2)” →

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” →