http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_syria...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDdHJvb3Bzb3BlbmZp http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/syria-protest-spreads-troops http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12843905 Could Syria be the next domino? And will Bashar al-Assad step down like Mubarak, or fight like Qaddafi?
i heard weird reports, that the Iranians were involved in the violoent dissolution of a protest, on the radio
Bashar is an interesting conundrum as middle eastern dictators go. Son of a brutal dictator but western educated, worked in London, married a British born woman, made some progressive reforms, mostly modernizing the country's public service, liberalized some of the industry and business. But whenhe felt threatened he reacted and undid most of what he'd reformed. Unlike a lot of leaders, like Mubarak, he's very tolerant of minoirty religious, coming from a minor sect himself, but that means the main Sunni bloc of states isn't a fan of him It will be very interesting to see what he does. The Army is very ingrained with his minority religious group and with the government itself
[cg]They need to hurry up and get this over with. My plane lands in Cairo on June 12th, and I cross the border into Syria on July 5th. All these damn people selfishly wanting democracy and liberty may ruin my summer vacation! :rage::rage::rage: (I picked a hell of a year to travel to the Middle East....)[/cg]
We're really living in amazing times aren't we? Of course, the world watches on the sidelines but the brave Arab protesters are the ones who are fighting against their governments. They'll have quite a story to tell to their grandchildren.
You might get away with going to Egypt, but forget about Syria if things heat up over there. I've never traveled abroad much, but I find if the State Department puts up travel warnings for a place, there's usually a reason.
I'm looking forward to when the first books about all this get published. Hell I'm tempted to try writing one myself at the moment Has Bashar made any public statements yet?
I think I read somewhere years ago in a journal of middle eastern affairs or something that he had wanted to carry out his reforms, and do more of them, but the advisers his father put in place made veiled threats that he'd better not do them or else. Can't help think that just sometimes it appears that his position is one of survival for himself, his wife and his kids against the decidedly nasty apparatus his father put in place and he has to not only toe the line, but show he's making the effort to speak out in support of his father's policies as well. Understandably that does not matter much to the people suffering under the repression of the regime of course, but it does make me wonder just how bad or otherwise he himself in reality is.
Well, from all impressions, the Republicans that got into various state governments in the US in 2010 believe in corporate fascism. Public opinion, due process and the constitution (silly free speech) be damned, we're enacting something that our contributors told us to do and using the police on anyone who does not like! Wisconsin is probably the most extreme because of the degree of pushback against the non-democratic agenda. If it was an independent country, we'd basically say it had a coup followed by active efforts to overthrow the government. And it would effectively be in a state of civil war. For the latest "we don't even agree on who the lawful authority in the state is" stuff: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_f22629e6-572a-11e0-ab2f-001cc4c002e0.html Yeah. - Michigan & Ohio are similar and have similar popular backlash to essentially overthrow the unpopular government that doesn't give a shit it is unpopular.
Most are abolishing basic rights to favour corporatism and/or fascism. @isn't the judge in the article above trying to highjack legistlative power there?
I read a National Geogrpahgic article about him and his new Syria and it seemed to paint him as a normal, down to earth guy, albeit one trying to push for reforms in a nation that's been quagmired by socialism and corruption for a very long time Whether he means it or not I guess we'll find out with his response to the protestors Unlike Egypt, the Army's certainly not staying out of the protests
At least we don't have soldiers roaming the streets with weapons with a carte blanche to fire at people.
Really? At least in the UK, the current government is slowly rolling back many of the worst excesses the anti-democratic anti-terror legislation (e.g. they've thrown out ID cards and the NIR already) and are trailing a new "public reading" stage for legislation to pass through; the first bill to go through this phase is the Protection of freedoms bill: http://publicreadingstage.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ A draft defamation bill has also been published for consultation to address civil attacks on free speech: http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/draft-defamation-bill.htm A real "withering" of democracy here...
Not yet. It is possible to declare martial law. But that would hurt profits so our corporate masters don't yet use this. If it becomes profitable though... Disapearances are still legal though. And the cameras haven't gone anywhere. The ID thing was good for other things though. Like preventing fraud and identity theft. Epic. One of those includes criminalizing the UK standard parking violation practice of clamps
Would it actually be his response, or the shady types around him making the real decisions though as he looks nervously over his shoulder? Still, you have a point there. Maybe we'll find out just how bad or not he is one way or another. It's pretty depressing watching the news and seeing more people getting shot and so on. They deserve better than this dreadful regime and maybe they can change things. If he really believes in reform, then perhaps he should take the risk and put his life on the line like many of his own people are doing right now and take on those goons his father put in place. If he has convictions about all this, that'd be a way to prove them to everyone.
Source please. 99% of CCTV cameras are in the hands of businesses in public places. As much a I'd like rid of them, I'm not going to be able to remove them. The numbers in local authorial control (i.e. government held cameras) are actually being reduced due to shrinking budgets (particularly ANPR cameras). As much as I dislike CCTV\ANPR people always overblow how many the UK has & the size of the problem. And you know that Freedom bill I linked to earlier; it has provisions around both CCTV and ANPR cameras in section 29. No, ID cards gave a ginormous database with a single point of failure - not helpful with stopping fraud or ID theft, but actually making it easier; fake the card & you've faked the person. Great, isn't it
The article did suggest that a lot of the reason why al-Assad gets bad press in the west is because after the Cold War ended and the USSR fell, Syria lost its main backer and like Cuba, it had to cast around for a new ally, Cuba found Venezuela, Syria has Iran
Funny thing was that the Soviets didn't want Syria and only really turned to them after Egypt began to distance themselves. Neither side liked the other.
