dagblog - Comments for " Syrian regime accused of crimes against humanity by UN, including snipers targeting small children"

I wouldn't bet more than a

moat — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:58:51 +0000

In reply to Re: Have put their foot down

I wouldn't bet more than a six pack on anything that happens in (or because of) Syria in the coming year.

I am willing to observe that a lot of connections the Assads have used over the years to play off one set of enemies against another are becoming unraveled.

The sectarian divides are entangled by other lines of interest. The Saudis and other members of the Arab League didn't have a problem with Syria putting the hurt on their fellow Sunnis back in the day because the Brotherhood views those regimes as puppets and overseers of foreign powers. At the same time, the League (and especially Syria) was a place where Hezbollah and Hamas could agree on fighting against Israel together even though they are sharply divided by sect and manifold national identities. So when Assad scoffs at the Arab League's calls for moderation he is not just expressing anger and dismay (like when Saudi Arabia objected to being called "half-men" by Assad for not backing up Hezbollah in the last skirmish with Israel), Assad is cancelling his membership card by saying: " I won't be schooled by monarchs and dictators on the proper role of democracy in society."

As the last bastion of the Baath, Syria absorbed a huge number of Iraqis after we invaded and deposed Hussein. There are reports of Assad moving against the "al qaeda" influence of that group but very little (i can find) is said about what is happening to the Iraqi Baathist remnants during the present crackdown. Around 2006, Assad stopped playing the host who would treat them as Arab brothers and started seeing them as another part of his problem with Iraq. This element plays a part in Hamas denouncing Assad in Egypt because the military in Egypt is also a part of what is left of the Baath network. It looks like whatever deal the Brotherhood and Egypt's regime had about not talking about that sort of thing has come to an end.

And then there is Turkey and the shared problem with restless Kurds. Assad could count upon them in the past to stay out of his maneuvers but those times are over with prejudice.

Let's see, who still loves Syria? Oh right, Russia and one quarter of Iran. Maybe.

Syria?s Electronic Warriors

artappraiser — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:37:14 +0000

In reply to Syrian regime accused of crimes against humanity by UN, including snipers targeting small children

Syria’s Electronic Warriors Hit Al Jazeera
By: Wissam Kanaan, Al Akhbar English, February 24, 2012

Emails said to reveal dismay among Al-Jazeera staff over its “biased and unprofessional” coverage of Syria have been leaked by pro-Assad hackers.

Damascus – On Wednesday, the entire staff of the Al Jazeera network allegedly received an email instructing them to change their computer and email passwords.

Earlier in the week, the network’s server had been hacked by the self-styled Syrian Electronic Army, and some of its secrets were released to the media.

The major find to be made public was an email exchange between anchorwoman Rula Ibrahim and Beirut-based reporter Ali Hashem. The emails seemed to indicate widespread disaffection within the channel, especially over its coverage of the crisis in Syria.

Ibrahim wrote to her colleague saying that she had "turned against the revolution" in Syria after realizing that the protests would "destroy the country and lead to a civil war.” She went on to deride the opposition Free Syrian Army, which she described as "a branch of al-Qaeda."

Ibrahim also complained about the attitudes of various colleagues at the channel’s Doha headquarters, saying some of them “have refused to greet me ever since the outbreak of events in Syria because they hold a grudge against my sect.” [....]

Re: Have put their foot down

artappraiser — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:25:28 +0000

In reply to The Alawite have put their

Re: Have put their foot down before

To use Yogi Berra's dejas vus allover again is understatement

I suspect a trend is at work.

In general, I see Sunni vs, shall we say, the more "arrogant" Shia groups going: mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Allover the place, from Kings of Saudi Arabia to Sunni rebels in Iraq. That's not to imply or predict anything substantial is going to happen from the "mad as hell". Except maybe putting Hezbollah in a place it wasn't before, and more repression of Shia in north SA and Bahrain without much sympathy from the Ummah. But I'm no fortune teller.

You?

The Alawite have put their

moat — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:36:25 +0000

In reply to In Break, Hamas Supports

The Alawite have put their foot down on the Muslim Brotherhood before and not just once. And the place where the most brutal things are happening now is the same place the killing happened before.

I suspect a trend is at work.

In Break, Hamas Supports

artappraiser — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:24:38 +0000

In reply to Syrian regime accused of crimes against humanity by UN, including snipers targeting small children

In Break, Hamas Supports Syrian Opposition
By Fares Akram, New York Times, February 24, 2012

GAZA —A leader of Hamas spoke out against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, throwing its support behind the opposition and stripping Damascus of what little credibility it may have retained with the Arab street. It was Hamas’s first public break with its longtime patron.

Hamas’s prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said during Friday Prayer, “I salute all people of the Arab Spring, or Islamic winter, and I salute the Syrian people who seek freedom, democracy and reform.”

The worshipers shouted back, “God is great” and “Syria! Syria!”

Mr. Haniya made his remarks in support of the uprising that is seeking to oust Mr. Assad, a reversal after years in which Mr. Assad has given safe haven to leaders of Hamas while helping supply it with weapons and cash in its battle against Israel.

But the remarks were almost as significant for where they were made: in Cairo, at Al Azhar Mosque [....]

Moscow stirs itself on

artappraiser — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:20:44 +0000

In reply to Syrian regime accused of crimes against humanity by UN, including snipers targeting small children

Moscow stirs itself on Syria
By M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times Online, Feb 23, 2012

Moscow senses that the final assault on Syria by the United States is looming and has shifted its diplomacy up a gear. The stunning development was a presidential phone call between Russia's Dmitry Medvedev and Iran's Mahmud Ahmadinejad to touch base on events in Syria that are flagged in the Russian media as reaching boiling point

The article also has good poop on attempts at discussion by Medvedev with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq, as well as analysis of how Russia has approached the Friends of Syria group, what Russia may be thinking as regards US involvement, and what Bhadrakumar is thinking as to possible US involvement