Editor’s Note: The following is an edited portion of an interview with Joshua Landis, author of the blog Syria Comment and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Assad moves from promising reform to unleashing violence
In his speech to parliament on April 16, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad drew a line in the sand. He said ‘I’ve given you all these concessions’ and he enumerated them - a new government, lifting emergency rules and the end of the security courts – ‘so there should now be no more demonstrations.’ But the movement didn't stop. In fact, it transcended the demand for reform and became a call for regime change.
So Assad redefined the protestors. He and the Baath Party began to call the protests a ‘rebellion’ and the protestors ‘terrorists’.
In the subsequent days, Bashar al-Assad sought to ‘shock and awe’ the protestors through violence. He took a page right out of any standard military handbook, which is that if you go fast and strong you have better luck at stopping protests before bloodshed gets out of hand.
But Assad cannot win over the long-term
But even if Bashar al-Assad wins in the short-term and the opposition can't mount the sort of operation necessary to overturn him and take on the military, the opposition is not going to give up. It’s going to continue to demonstrate. And we’re probably going to see the arming of the opposition groups.
All of this is going to undermine the economic footing of the regime. Syria’s economy is already extraordinarily weak. We’re seeing massive unemployment. 32% of Syrians live on $2.00 a day or less. The young people are the ones who are turning out in big numbers for these demonstrations.
The country is midway on its move away from socialism toward an open market system. Syria has instituted a stock market, a bond market, a private banking system and insurance companies - the whole gamut of free-market reforms.
These were supposed to stimulate the economy and place Syria on a new footing that would create jobs and begin to mop up some of its large unemployment problem created by the youth bulge and by an economy that’s been anemic for decades.
Attracting foreign investment and growing tourism and transit trade were key to that economic growth plan. But none of those things are going to materialize now. That means that the regime is going to be able to provide less and less of the things that it needs to provide to stay in power. There is going to be a grinding disintegration of the state’s ability to provide services for its people.
The middle class will abandon Assad as the economy weakens
Currently, the broad middle class in Syria is still sticking with the regime. But the broad middle class, particularly the urban middle class in places like Damascus, has stayed home. They have not come out and joined the movement. There has been no Tahrir Square moment in this uprising. That’s because the middle class fears a civil war and because some of them have vested interests in the state.
Over time, that middle class will begin to abandon the government once it begins failing economically. If there’s no foreign investment and there’s no tourism and nobody’s bills are being paid, the whole economy will begin to freeze up.
That’s what all my businessmen friends are saying: they’re not getting any checks in the door because everybody is holding their cash and because they don’t know what’s going to happen. You can't run a country like that.
American sanctions will hurt Assad
The U.S. is going to be driven by ideology on this - to support the Arab Spring and freedom and democracy. That means placing sanctions, withdrawing embassy staff and trying to isolate Syria and undermine the regime diplomatically.
But this doesn’t mean democracy in Syria. It means a collapse of the state and probably a civil war.
America is not going to be willing to send in any military. So this puts America in a rather bad position of kicking out the supports of the present state without being willing to build up any alternative.
A sectarian civil war could start
Over time the opposition groups will begin to go to arms. There are arms in Syria. There are also arms in Iraq and Lebanon, along with smuggling rings that have been operating in Syria for decades.
We saw how porous the Iraqi border with Syria was during America’s invasion of Iraq. Al Qaeda and others were streaming across that border. Arms will go the other direction, undoubtedly, as well. All this will fuel a civil war that will be largely sect against sect - majority Sunnis against ruling minority Alawites.
Drawing on the diffused opposition
The great strength of the opposition today is it has no leadership, which means that the regime cannot arrest its leaders and stop it. The real leadership of the opposition are lots of young activists who are in their 20s and early 30s who are working the computers and also organizing on the ground, getting out these demonstrations. But there is no unified leadership that has common goals.
So far they’ve been able to stick with the notion of democracy and freedom as the major demands, which everybody can subscribe to whether they’re from the Muslim Brotherhood or they’re secular, Europeanized university graduates.
But if the state cracks down, as it’s doing now, it’s going to make it very hard to carry out demonstrations and the opposition is going to have to figure out what their next move is. Some will choose to go for a military option because that’s what they’re being met with.
The government is now trying to arrest leadership and it will go after networks and so forth but it will be hard because a lot of new networks have been established. This young generation has become organized.
The Syrian intelligence knows very little about this young generation. It never had to contend with the young generation, which was completely depoliticized a month ago.
Syrian intelligence dealt with the older generations - the old Communists and others - who they kept on throwing in the clink and then letting out every few years. They played rope-a-dope with those guys. They knew where they lived and they were listening to their phones and they you knew they could roll them up easily.
This is a whole new world. The opposition just blew up. Facebook, Twitter and the video effect have been monstrous. It’s mobilized this generation. In three months that this Arab Spring has been going on, the Syrian younger generation has turned from being a rather apathetic crowd that were materialistic, uninterested in politics and atomized, to being deeply mobilized and galvanized around this movement.
Great consequences for the region
Syria is the cockpit of the Middle East. It has borders with most of America’s major allies in the region: Israel, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and it might as well have one with Saudi Arabia because the Jordanian border is small in between those two. And it will be Saudis that undoubtedly fund much of the opposition as they did in Iraq.
Saudi Arabia will be sucked into this and it’ll be very torn because the monarchy does not want revolution in Syria by any means. It wants stability. But there will be many Saudis who see this as an opportunity to get rid of the Shiite regime that’s pro-Iranian and anti-Sunni. They see the current regime as deeply heterodox and non-Muslim. So all the Wahabi instincts will be to bring down this regime. The monarchical instincts will be to support it.
There aren't good outcomes for Assad because even if Assad manages to terrify the opposition to stop in the short-term, over the long-term it’s going to kill the economy, which was key to Assad’s plans because his mantra was that he was going to be like China and follow China’s model. He was going to keep one-party rule and he was going to liberalize the economy. But he was too little, too late. He didn't create jobs. He didn't get growth up beyond five-percent. That’s what he needed to do.
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Syria can't help sinking into a civil war with Hilary Clinton using millions of dollars of U.S. tax money to finance the opposition there. The hope,of course,being the possibility of installing another right-wing,pro-Western stooge!!!
The rebels in Libya have shown their peers in the Arab World, that if they are tough enough to challenge their ruling elite and let blood shed, the West will side with them and topple the regime. This example will spread like a wildfire and protesters elsewhere follow suit. I don't see any risk, that the West will help the Syrians the way they help the rebels, as there is no oil in Syria.
Oh, I hadn't read that Daffy was out yet. It seems to me that if the west wants you out badly enough, they will support whomever will give them an excuse to bomb you.
Syria will never descend into civil war. If it did then this regime has succeeded in planting the seeds of this war. Syrian ppl continue to live together for thousands years peacefully with all shades of religions and ethnic groups. Promoting fear of civil war and fundamentalist has been always the argument of this regime to defend its weak position.
Are you sure? People in Syria live together with no issues? 3alawie, Sunne, Shi3a, Drouz, & Christians love each other? This is a nice dream....
Did you hear the chanting in the streets by these protesters? A civil war has started... Unfortunately.
Just check from the names the religion of the people who died from the protesters and from the army, you can tell how divided Syria is.
One thing Syria needs, to have Sudia Arbia and its people out of it!
Yes Matt and No to the boys, their expectations of civil war in Syria at the wishes of the USA, Israel and the Western powers will not be met. Like in Iran where you tried very hard to support your agents and failed you will in Syria fail at changing a regime that does not have peace with Israel. The Arabic revolutions are against the tyrants supportive of the West and in favor of Israel which they were protecting and Syria is not a member of your team of Meat Packing Glitterati. The reality is different with your ongoing debts (http://www.usdebtclock.org/) in trillions for the USA and about 3,350 Billions for Germany, France and Italy, you are looking at wars to escape the realities and the end of Western Domination. BRICS are coming in fast speed (Brazil-Russia-India-China-SouthAfrica) and other wealthy nations are just taking their distances and creating their own markets. Wake up and smell the homos before it is too late, Syria is not your solution, the solution is on the other side of the border where your money is going!
Americans as a whole could care less about Syria. I don't think our leadership is concerned one bit, or we would have pushed for a nato response already. The only reason they got envolved in Libya is because our allies get oil from there. Like it or not the people of the muslim world are tired of being run by royals and dictators, and this is the result. They are catching up to the rest of the world. Israel WANTS the Assad regiem to stay in power, because they are affraid they will end up with someone worse, and they are probably right
You're right about one thing. The USA is basically bankrupt, and has been for a while. I think the people of the USA will eventually demand the reduction of military in order to combat debt, and we will probably shut our doors and leave the rest of the world to slaughter each other. We can't keep the peace anymore, and I think everyone else will see the reality of what happens when NO ONE comes to the aid of people who are being butchered by the Husseins, Assads, and Gaddafi's of the world.
Wake up and smell the homos? (Adamcool) you just show your bigotry and stupidity. You sound like Donald Trump, be proud.
I hope that Assad is overthrown, the sonner the better. Remember back to Kent State, when four protesters were killed. It almost brought our countrie's government down. The Assad regime can kill as many as they like, What is it now,about 600. There will be A time of reconing. And democracy is messy. But according to Winston Churchill, it is the best form of govt., that we have. I guess that if it is the "Homos" that are leading the revolution in Syria then they are A tough bunch to stand up to live fire.
You "Amar C. Bakshi" are a deceitful lier. Armed people / protesters are shooting government employees. The people responded and need back up of the military, Because the armed "protesters" have american payed for military weapons, websites, TV channels. huh i don't think any western country in the world would not respond the same way. In fact America invaded Afghanistan. Are you a reporter ? A pundit ? What the F*** ? Stop spreading lies. As hole!
John (as if that's your real name – LOL) Doesn't the government of Syria or Iran teach it's paid bloggers how to disguise their posts better than that?
What has Bakshi done? What makes you think he's a liar? Please mind your language!
I fully agree with you,John. You're right about all this propaganda. Unlike Egypt and Tunisia,the uprising in Libya is not altgether spontaneous and strongly Western backed. The right-wing media will never tell us that Mohammar Qaddafy did a lot for Libya as they don't care to have us to know about that!!!
You mean CNN, MSNBC, and CBS?
Apart from providing entertainment as a world class clown, what did he do for Libya?
The US invaded Afghanistan... at the behest of the Northern Alliance, the people that the Taliban opposed
Thati s patently false.
how much are getting paid dude for this,, i realy dout that is worth your effort, it only add to the unmistakable reality that syrian goverment state run tv trying to paint... come on guys seriously you can macke up better stories than this rubbish nonesense... get some drama writer and give a better beliveable story if you really care and not trying to save on that too... since everything in syria is belong to the goveremnt.... serously after the protest and the killing in the street the best thhing you can come up with is that people are thanking their god for rain... they risking their life and getting killed becuse they are that happy for the rain.... rain... you know you can do better than that,,, i know i can even while i am a sleep.... get really and stop the massacre the people are fed up.. fed up... fed up and ready to give up their life for their freedom...i know i am...down with assad...
The U.S. military has paid internet ranters like you bro. The foreign govt. you work for could take a few training hints from the U.S. as our guys are almost impossible to spot.
It's time for protests here in america hopefully we can get Euro people to protest to. Obama turned out to be just another statues quo political rich guy. Time to kick them all out. As wikileaks and Iraq leaks have shown lies lies and more lies. Then these leaders tell us we can't have health care not enough money but they have enough money to spend on the stupid rebels and Israel. Stop sending my tax dollars to some rich religious extremists and I want a real investigation of 9/11. Something Smells sick in DC time to protest these freaks out of congress, senate and white house. Time for McCain, Obama and the rest of the political celebrities to just leave.
Sounds like you don't like it here. Why don't you go back where you came from
yaa John or who ever the ... is your name go back to where you came from if do you not like it here... stop this rubish none sense and enough about that,,, trust me dude... bashar dont care what someone like you JOHOn think of him, he has to worry about himself at this point...
This is what we need to demand that our "Representatives" immediately enact –
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. Term Limits.
12 years only, one of the possible options below.
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term andthree Two-Year House terms
2. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in
office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen arevoid effective
1/1/12.
9. The Congress will be in session five days a week just like their boss
(the American People),
no more of this T-W-Th part-time job nonsense!
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then
go home and back to work.
This would illuminate careered politicians with CEO's and professional
experienced men and women who contribute back to their country!
Yes, YES & YES!!!!
I presume you are discussing the Congress in Syria, right?
I for one voted for him in 2000, I thought I am voting for a new era, with a guy educated in the west and understands that the government is to serve their people. fortunately like millions of Syrian abroad and at home lost their trust in him.
He is out, to me at least, and I like to see him and all his thugs tried in the court for all the crimes they have committed in the last 42 yrs. This revolution has liberated me from the fear they have created in our hearts even though I love in the USA for the last 31 yrs. This is a brutal regime and I hold this regime and any entity support this regime responsible and accountable for all the crimes. My parents are 100+ each are stranded in Deraa, Syria and they are US residents. This regime has no mercy at all, they'v cut off power, telephone line, cell phone, water and no bread at all!!!!!!
Where is our humanity, I call on President Obama and the American people to hold all these thugs accountable now before it's too late, better late than never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who ran against Mr Assad in that election?
I assume you know the answer but here goes: Syria is a one-party state. There is only one name on the ballot. For the last 40+ years it has been spelled "al-Assad". Officially he only got 99.7% of the vote in 2000. Nobody knows where the 22,439 who voted against him are today but I doubt they all lived happily ever after.
Since the dawn of Christianity, Christians lived in the Middle East, the original place from which the prophets and Christ himself came.
The Assad regime, which is brutal, repressive, and backwards, is however based on a secular system, the Baath ideology. A secular system, such as the Baath regime, ensures the protection of such minorities as the Christians and Shias in countries like Syria and Lebanon. The Iraqi Baath protected the Christians. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Christians were targeted by Muslim extremists. The number of Iraqi Christians is now negligible.
The Arab countries have a Sunni majority. The Sunnis in Lebanon are already well financed by Saudi Arabia to create a Sunni Muslim state out of what was once Christian Lebanon. The Sunnis in Syria are the majority amounting to 74% of the total population. Since Syria has always played a significant role in Lebanese politics due to the country's geography and the history of the political system, the fall of the Assad regime and its overtake by a Wahabi Saudi-backed Sunni regime would mean that minorities such as Christians and Shia Muslims would become 10th class citizens. This would lead to an even higher immigration rate from the Christian side, leaving the Levant, which was once the home of Christianity, without any Christians. This would be indeed unprecedented in human history.
I am very shocked to read your comments when I was in Syria all 60's and 70's had very good Christian friends they are indistinguishable from the Durzi and the the Shai and the Sunni, many family members are Bathi as well, they tell me these thugs are running the show, Bath is just a name!!!!!!!!
Tony, the Christians lived in peace and harmony with Sunni Muslims in the Middle East for more than a millennium. Why are you buying this ideological garbage that Sunnis will oppress the Christians when (not if) they regain their stolen, legit rule? Do you think it's in the long term interests of the Christian community in Syria to side with the brutal, war-crimes-infested rule of the minority Alawis against the majority Sunni? Do you think the status quo (10% minority brutalizing the 80% majority to monopolize rule) is a stable and viable long term political order? Think about it. What does history teach us?
Christians amount to about 10% of Syria's population. As you state, they have a longstanding presence in the country. They enjoy good relations with all Syrians-Alawite, Shia, Sunni. Just as theocracy is not always a good thing, neither is secularism. Take Israel, for example, a secular country which persecutes Christians as well as Muslims.
I appreciate your caution. I also am ambivalent about Syria. It actions against protestors are horrendous. Yet, I appreciate its steadfast opposition to Israeli hegemony in the region. Still, one cannot condone its brutal tactics against domestic protestors.
@eric claderone Back up your statement that "Take Israel, for example, a secular country which persecutes Christians..."
Give some example of this if you can. You obviously you have an agenda to promote that anyone with half a brain can see through.
Before the secular Baath regime took the grasp of power, Christians in Syria couldn't even do the Easter Sunday procession by circling the church. The Sunnis in Lebanon are buying Lebanon via Saudi money. They are shameless, and the Christians in Lebanon hate the way the Sunnis are shamelessly usurping power, and marginalizing the other minorities. That's why you see in Lebanon an alliance between the Christians, Shiites, and Druze to face the shamelessly power-craving Sunnis and their Islamizing agenda. They want to Islamize Lebanon and marginalize the other minorities. Why wouldn't the same happen in Syria?
"Take Israel, for example, a secular country which persecutes Christians as well as Muslims. "
Uhm, how does Israel *persecute* Christians and Muslims? (Not including people in the Palestinian Authority – that's a different debate)
LETS JUST RENAME THE ARTCICLE , FAREED, WOULD YOU PLEASE ? How about " Why every Arab nation is descending into civil war ?
Algeria, constant unrest for 20 years
Morocco, the monarchy is about to fall, very discreetly....
Tunisia, where more it changes , more it remains the same....
Libya, in progress...we think...
Egypt, see Tunisia above....
Sudan, splitting in 2 countries (should have been done in the late 1880)....after over a 100 years of brutalities...
Mauritania, run by integrist factions, one foot away from chaos....
bahrain, no people, no problem.....cleaning by vacuum, thanks to th Saudis...
Oman, can't mess up the tourist season....
Saudi Arabia, no comments
Syria, see Libya 2 months ago...
Lebanon, where most of the citizens want the country dissolved and put back correctly this time !!!!
Jordan, so quiet right now...hummmm
Iraq, still very unstable....
Yemen, only a country on paper, really !! where tribes and terrorists really run the show....
And then the not so important, but on the waiting list of future troubles ahead : Abu Dhabi, kuwait, Dubai and the emirats, countries surviving only by the will of Oil co. they just cannot buy themselves love....
I will not mention Tchad, Erythrea, Somalia, Nigeria, Niger, Afghanistan or Pakistan or Iran , because of their ethnicity being different. Still on my top 20 of boiling kettles.
How do you tackle this ?????????????? what is the common factor in this troubled places, i would love to hear your input !!! thanks for reading my post....
Dude, sorry to see that you are afflicted with the disease of reading too much. I too suffer from this disease.
At least your perspective is dead on even though you did not openly advocate one extreme over the other. I feel you bro. It is all coming to a head all over the world. Asimov was right, too many mouths too feed and too many chiefs instead of indians and not enough to go around anymore.
Syria is going through tough times .However, it is not the first time that syria faces the storm.and after the storm Syria always get stronger .I'm syrian and i know that Syria will be okay cause i lived there for 18 years .
I think you forgot to finish your comment with the Syrian slogan: (Allah, Syria, Bashar, and no one else)
I live in US, but I have relatives in Syria, the army and government is protecting the people of syria from well armed and financed militia groups; my relatives told me, a well known business man in my city in Syria was arrested last week, because a warehouse he owns was filled with automatic weapons and grenades in the city of banyas; you don't hear any more trouble in city of Banyas recently; because they arrested those gangsters and criminals who are killing people.
If Syrian government is true in their claims, let the western free media to go and report on these incidents, I will be the first to believe them and believe such claims!
I'm American – 100% good old white American – but I married a Syrian. The reports that we get from our family in Syria is not one of fear from the government. In fact they are telling us the same, it's not the governement starting trouble, it's "gang" like people mostly sponsered from Saudi who are starting the fights along with being responsible for most of the death toll.
to Syrian Wife, from the report that you are getting from Syria, I would expect that either you're married to a Christian or an alawit Syrian, those are brain washed by the Syrian regime to justify their brutal actions against the people.
Im Christian but my husband is not. If you want to see more search u tube, you can find the actual footage of the Syrian farmer who along with two of his sons and a family friend who was brutually murdered. The other man who man who survived tells how when they brought the bodies to the mosque the same men came in to take pictures of the dead and told him to tell the public that it was the syrian forces did this and if he didnt tell the people this he would come back to harm him and his family. Stories like this show that the truth is not always show, it is better for the US to have its people think that the government is behind this so that if they need to get invovled people will believe that it doing something good for Syria. I have been in syria twice now, even wearing my old navy flag t-shirt and never experienced anything remotely rude or felt in danger. I've visited all the main cities and walked the streets at night, never did I feel any sort of danger. More than anything I was welcomed by all – I once had the same thoughts of Arabs and muslims that most american have – it wasnt until I met them and saw the truth that I started to realize that the news that we see on tv and in the media are not accurate at all.
I am glad that you went to Syria and saw the face that is always hidden, however, is it difficult that the Syrian regime would fake such clips and use them as propaganda? Why they don't allow any respected news media to go inside Syria to show the truth? Because keeping the fuzzy picture about the situation is in their own benefit.
So, how long have you been employed by the Baath Party??
Assad is lucky Syria doesn't have any oil.
I would correct your statment:
Assad is lucky Syria doesn't have oil anymore, in fact Syria were producing oil for the past 10 years and using that money to fund the regime.
These uprisings will only just provide alternate dictators like the army in Egypt that will give in to the people’s desire for hostility with perceived enemies. Once we realize that 50% of the residents in the region are illiterate, over 90% of Egyptian women are genitally mutilated and that the fewer books have ever been translated into Arabic (ever) than what is translated in Spain per year we can begin to understand the "root cause". Only 36% of Egyptians want to maintain peace with Israel. This after Israel gave the entire area in dispute and America gave 50 Billion in aid. The only good news from all this unrest is that Obama (and other naive souls) can no longer blame Israel for all the region's troubles. Clearly, solving the issues with that tiny country will do nothing to calm the fires in the other 99% of the area. In fact, it is undeniably clear that the Jewish state is the only reliable American ally in the region and the only democratic nation by a long shot. It will take generations to erase the brainwashing from dictators that diverted the attention on to "the great Satan America" and its "illegitimate child Israel" for the dismal failure of the region.
I have a few disagreements with your reasoning. 1. Educated people do not always behave in a civilized manner. Take Germans in the 1930's: a very educated country which caused a world war and tens of millions dead. 2. Not wanting "peace" with Israel is not in itself evidence of lack of rationality. Israel since the 1940s has sought to expand its territory at the expense of its Arab neighbors; has sought to take control of natural resources in the region and to use Arab workers as cheap labor for its economy. 3. Israel indeed is the only reliable ally of the American government. That is explained by the fact that America's foreign policy aims in the region are to install arab governments that are subservient to its interests, which center around controlling Arab oil. No wonder that "friendly" Arab countries are the likes of Mubarak's Egypt and the Saudi Arabia. Any nationalist or democratic Arab country could not possibly find itself in the good graces of America, for their desire to control their own destiny would conflict with America and Israel's desire to ensure they don't control their own destiny. Therefore, America and Israel are aligned for malevolent reasons: they both want to control the mid-east.
Eric,
You are out of your mind. Israel wants nothing more than to live in peace. Imperialist? Are you kidding me?
Since 1973 territory that Israel has occupied has shrunk. Part of Golan Heights to Syria in 1973, Sinain Penisuela to Egypt 1978, land given to Jordan in 1990s after peace treaty. Gaza Withdrawal around 2004. Israelis for the most part want peace, the muslim arabs, they don't.
Seems the worst option is for Assad to survive. So off with his head. Assad is no friend of the US and his only real friend is Iran.
Obama should be encouraging democracy and hoping for the best.
I hope United states will come and help the poor syrian people. Alassad family are ruthless and they will kill millions to stay in power. May Allah help our people to gain their freedom
Abou Omar, don't expect USA to help you for free, so if you have the price to pay then ask for help, or better try to follow the Egypt model to get back your freedom.
Bashir Assad is doing exactly what his father did before him. On February 2 1982 the Syrian army massacred thousands of Syrians in the city of Hama, an evemt apparently forgotten by nearly everyone. This regime is only interested in keeping power not in protecting its citizens. Perhaps if somebody had stepped in then this problem would have been avoided, but people like Assad can only be convinced to leave by the threat of violence. They do not seem to understand any other way.
To Norm,
The best Assad father did back in 1982 was to get rid of islamist. May I remind you the brother hoods (so called brothers) were putting bombs on passengers' buses between Damascus and Aleppo. Putting bombs in schools such as Laïc, small children were bombed in the name of Islam. Assad did not attack Hama without them starting first!!! Yes, there were victims in the middle but you cannot pinpoint and fine comb, it's too risky and jeopardize security. Look at the Americans when their national security was threatened after Sept.11th. They captured the flies and put them in Guantanamo jails, Innocent or not, security comes first. They waged two wars killing more that the numbers in Hama for defending their security. Did anyone call Bush dictator? Where are the freedom rights activists? Look at Bradley Manning being tortured in American jail for speaking the truth, so where is the freedom of speech? The double standards make the guts puke.
Please don't compare apples to oranges, when USA catches those flies, they are not a US citizens. In Hama, Assad killed his own people. In addition, what you say it's your own version of truth, others have different one.
stop hypo, they are human being . period.
maher, stop your nonesense comment. what would jesus say about you?. comapring oranges to apples????? you compare people to flies while others might coompare you to pig or donky. it remind me of the teenage fighting over an apple or an orange. turn on the light bulb. get off your seat and smell the aroma of life. be peaceful with yourself be a homosapien
Human being, I think it's better to read the whole thread before replying to one comment, I am using Jerusalem phrase which made you unhappy. I am fully respectful to all humankind, and for that reason I am not accepting Jerusalem argument.
Libya, Syria and the Road to World War III – Paul CraigRoberts?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27845.htm
Who cares? Move on. This is all about our so-called NATO allies [Turkey and Azerbiajan] attempting to extort more money, power and influence. These are the same people who brought you the Armenian/Assyrian/Pontian/Chaldean and etc...Genocides. They were also the masterminds for the terrorist organization called "Ergenekon" ["Mujahadeen aka Taliban aka Al Queada].
These people haven't even come to grips with their past. And, we want them to do what now?
Pathetic!
If they really want to bring democracy to these countries, then they should read Sir Arthur C. Clarke's book titled "The Last Theorem." That is the perfect instruction manual, suggestion guide etc....
One other point that could have been added at the end of the story is that the Five Civilized Tribes were punished after the war more than were the 11 Confederate states by having approximately half of their territory taken in the Treaties of Washington as punishment for having signed those alliance treaties with the Confederacy http://bit.ly/dNE4wR
These posts are very enlightening to say the least....but this fact will always remain constant.....these are Arabs....Muslims...and they will NEVER ever get along with each other. I love the way they refer to their cities as "the holiest city in Islam".... Give me a break....so holy huh? Then why can't you idiots live in peace together? You're all a bunch of whining hypocrites.
To allow a person like Assad to remain in power is against humanity. We Americans sit and write here that let the people be under this syrian gov why should we care ,this type of thinking is wrong. This regime is killing women children elders. How can we sit on our butts and see this. We need to think that these childen who died could have been ours. Every soul in this world is precious. When some terrorist killed 2000 of our people on sept 11 we felt the pain and we cried. This regime has already killed that many in a months time. In 1982 Assad senior killed 40000 in hama. How can we sit and watch this happen and call ourselves human beings. And if we do watch innocent people being killed then we are also responsible for that.
Their country. Have at it.
al-Assad,
Do the only things that you have failed to do in all your time. You will lose our grip entirely, as the Young again are speaking, & it will rightfully haunt you from here on, as you are no longer accepted as a Legitimate Leader.
Your 1st Criminal offenses you order & committed already officially made U an ILLEGITIMATE Leader so many years ago against who you state are your own people (w/ many & serious conditions & limitations as to who you are referring to when using such term.s referring only, in reality, to those chosen few you favor..
You & those around you are completely outmoded, outdated, & out of touch with the New Reality that is Good & DUE TO ALL Syrians.
The type Rule you practice, will inevitably die no matter the time, effort, & money you spend to take things back to your barbaric days of your imposed Acts of Criminal Deprivation, Denial ,Detainment, Imprisonment, & Dysfunctional Control. You yourself would not sit idey by for yet another Generation, & subject youself to the Same, nor would nay you jhave appointed or have on the payroll, who are reliant on the Income, which is the only basis for most, as to why they stand behind you. Achange in finances is as fearful for others, as the Fair & Right Changes needed in Syria today.
U can grow & learn and step aside since you've proven for far too long, that CHANGE of any kind, or the extension of IMMEDIATE & FULL Equal Rights & Opportunities to ALL(AH)
(That ALLAH would approve of.....TREAT ALL OTHERS AS YOUR EQUALS........)
COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE OPPOSITE OF A MUBARAK-STYLE TYRANT before it is too late. Leave behind a memory & recorded history of change that has been demanded to be recognized, by the Source much greater than even the People of Syria, or anywhere else, and certainly greater than any mans Ego, being stubborn, too prideful, or any other emotional trait.
Those seeking the same Freedom other parts of the world enjoy, and limited numbers within the country, are not committing Terrorism or any other Crime. If their shoes were on your own 2 feet, you would surely be fighting for the same Rights.
The time is now to turn a new Chapter favorable to al Syrians today. It is not a threat for those who fear change in your position, as old habit can be very self-convincing and can create great paranoia for obvious reasons. Free society, like all others, are NOT perfect in ANY COUNTRY. However, it is safer and stands a chance at a longer life when ALL have inclusions to all the Fruits of LiFE W/O LIMITATIONS for reasons that are irrelevant.
The US Oil comapnies are promoting unrest in oil producing middle east dictatorships for looting US citizens. The GOP is purchased by Oil refiners, and the democrats are on side lines, FAILING,
hey dumb***- Republicans were in charge for decades and gas was NEVER $4.00 a gallon
get you brain washed head out of your ***. This crap belongs to your boy O'bumble and his party of drunks, village idiots and conspiracy nuts
This is not a Republican thing or a Democratic thing, this is a human condition. Killers one and all and we are running out of oil and other resources, this is going to get much worse as the resource wars are just starting.
Only the dead have seen the end of war: Plato
The US Oil comapnies are promoting unrest in oil producing middle east dictatorships for looting US citizens. The GOP is purchased by Oil refiners, and the democrats are on side lines, FAILING, us the people in prosecuting the greed driven oil prices, instead of demand supply driven oil prices. The president is accountable for this inaction causing US THE PEOPLE
The US Oil comapnies are promoting unrest in oil producing middle east dictatorships for looting US citizens. The GOP is purchased by Oil refiners, and the democrats are on side lines, FAILING, us the people in prosecuting the greed driven oil prices, instead of demand supply driven oil prices. The president is accountable for this inaction causing US THE PEOPLE, great pain in wallets.
Funny how the Middle East needs the West as much as the West needs the Middle East.
Get your popcorn! Get your popcorn here!
Once again, we are watching humanity slip into the abyss. These are the early days
of the next Great War.
haha! Die humans!
No boys, your expectations of civil war in Syria at the wishes of the USA, Israel and the Western powers will not be met. Like in Iran where you tried very hard to support your agents and failed you will in Syria fail at changing a regime that does not have peace with Israel. The Arabic revolutions are against the tyrants supportive of the West and in favor of Israel which they were protecting and Syria is not a member of your team of Meat Packing Glitterati. The reality is different with your ongoing debts (http://www.usdebtclock.org/) in trillions for the USA and about 3,350 Billions for Germany, France and Italy, you are looking at wars to escape the realities and the end of Western Domination. BRICS are coming in fast speed (Brazil-Russia-India-China-SouthAfrica) and other wealthy nations are just taking their distances and creating their own markets. Wake up and smell the homos before it is too late, Syria is not your solution, the solution is on the other side of the border where your money is going!
The Arabic revolutions are against ALL tyrants
Raise your hand if you are in favor of stopping the wars and patching up America.
Hillary is trying to compensate Saudi for the loss of Iraq to Iranian Shia camp. Prize for Saudi is Syria. Syria is run by Shia, most people are Sunni. Whole Middle East is power struggle between Shia and Sunni. Both can't win, one has to lose.
>>Why Syria is descending into civil war
Because it should. Syria has been run as a police state by the Assad family for decades.
You can only blame all of your domestic problems on Israel and the United States for just so long before people figure out that you are full of crap.
King of Saudi Arabia and his inter-bred 25000 cousins are no better ruler than Syrian ruler. If Syrian wants democracy, then why not democracy for so called Saudi Arabian and Jordan. These rulers are hand picked by great white fathers of London, none other than Sir Winston Churchill. Let be known that this Holy Arabian rulers claims to be descendant of Great robber,rapist,uneducated prophet Mohmad(pbuh).
worried about the long term consequences of this uprising.Is the whole thing finally boiling down to Shia VS Sunni ?rather than democracy,transperancy,equal rights ,freedom & better economy?
All of these articles make it look like people want democracy and are angry about repressive regimes. That makes no sense. There is not way various countries across a continent are suddenly going to say "screw this" in response to something that has been happening for aeons. So what is going on? Food prices. People are going broke and hungry. Look it up. It makes perfect sense that a bunch of hungry people would rise up at about the same time.
All President Assad need do is call an open and free Presidential and Congressional election.
Count of MonteChristo, you will get your share of HELL when it will come and your soul will be so f...d up when your body will be buried that you will wish you never existed...
The son of cain speeks
If this is how they treat their people......how they flat out lie about the events occuring....then why do people believe this government when it comes to Israel???
Barbarians!!!!
i will like to see kadaffi, mubarak and bashar hang on the same day , saddam thought it was a joke , he came out and fired his rifle , then he hid in a hole then they found him, next thing we know he was hanging . like the french say , qui vivra , vera . THESE MEN WILL HANG !
USA should not meddle in the current Syrian conflict for a single reason that Syria represents majority Sunni muslims while Iran is Shiite. Syria would be a balance that USA needs at this junction when Iran is cracking up on democratic movements which have come into focus recently.
Nuke 'em 'til they glow!
Nuke the whales!
Nuke Ohio State!
No need to get complicated, one word Pluto
GIVE EVERYBODY A BIG KNIFE AND TURN OUT THE LIGHTS!!!!!!
Muslims killing Muslims the religion of peace what a fraud, these tribal people have been doing this for thousands of years at least Christ told the truth when he said he did not come to bring peace to the world but rather he brought a sword into the world. There is no peace in this world and there never will be, this is hell.
i have lived in syria for more than 18 years. there will never be a civil war in syria and no one will intervene in syria through a military action because syria has a strong and aproffesional army, all people in syria whether they are sunnis or allawite or chritians hate the west and if the west send troops the people will unite with the ragime against the west. lybia is different, id did not have an organized army at all because kaddafi was always afraid that the military would take over the authority, lybia does not have a political role in the mid east. syria is a part in an alliance with iran and hezballah who will not leave the regime in syria alone. still, there is a huge probability that syria will attack israel in this period of time which will make the nation stand behind and support the regime and everything will be back just like it once was.
George, I am happy to read your statement that there will never be a civil war in Syria, although, most of ethnic groups in Syria were told that if the regime goes, then you will go too. Can you assure your statement regardless of the regime existence or not?
IRAN ISNOW WORLD'S GREATEST MILITARY POWER THANKS TO IRANS' SMALLPOX BIOWEAPON. CHINAIS THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL INDUSTRIAL POWER. NO ONE CAN TOUCH SYRIA WITHOUT DECLARING WAR ON IRAN.
DO YOU WANT TO DECLARE AN ALL OUT WAR ON IRAN? I HOPE YOU ARE NOT THAT STUPID.
So here comes Syria, the anti christ out of the web of muslim countries. he will pretend to stops wars and befriend the world
t
. Most will beleive him but I warn you don't. Satan is the red faced horn devil we expect to see. Oh no, it is these countries
Yiou see Satan is really the muslim coutnries, even they don't know it. But Syria is the antti christ stated in the bible
meant Satan is NOT the red faced horned devil we expect to see or protrayed.
Satan is Syria whom most will belive but the world will be deceived
Interesting rant, but it loses to this fact.
There is no God, Allah, Budda or Tooth Fairy.
The only heaven and hell you will ever see is what we make for each other, on this earth, here and now.
Mostly been hell so far.
Remember, In the begining Man created God.
i AGREE ABOUT THE RANT THIS RELIGIOUS STUFF IS SO EXHAUSTING AND HYSTERICAL NOT HA HA I SAY IF GOD CREATED MAN HE HAD NO BUSINESS TO HE SHOULD TAKE THEM ALL BACK AND LEAVE THIS SCARRED PLANET ON IT,S OWN TO HEAL IF IT EVER CAN
The Dictatorship is on the UN Human Rights Council, why don't their people respect and love them for it?
Ungatefull I guess.
Isn't it possible that the Syrian people are fed up with empty promises from Assad. Maybe they've simply waited and watched their parents say it will get better, and it never does. They can only blame the West and Israel so long. The truth is these young people have seen broken promises and have now seen the truth of the these broken promises, it is the regime that is at fault not the West, not Israel, not the Saudis. These young people need our support to try and open up discussions with the regime, not violence or conspiriitorial rantings.
war is not solution....:( a civil became victim....
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