Syria Newsfeed (Here comes Syria)

[Os Cangaceiros]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...wNEX_blog.html

Pretty small now, but might be something to watch in the future.

[Dimmu]

Well.. Assad will not step down like Mubarak, thats for sure.. So it might turn bloody..

[Sentinel]

So far the relative calm in Syria has been explained with Bashar Al-Assad being relatively 'popular'; that people tend to blame other members of the regime for the injustices, lack of democracy etc in the country. On the other hand I've heard that he is quite authoritarian..

So it's hard to say, but like Dimmu I have a feeling he'll be more of a Gaddafi than a Mubarak if the shit really hits the fan.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

IMO one of the reasons Mubarak and Ben ali didn't "Go Gaddafi" was because their military wouldn't follow the orders.

Syria is an authoritarian state like the other three, it's hard to see whether the military would follow orders to gun down protesters or not there.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

My understanding is that the Syrian military is structured like the Libyan. Its essentially been hollowed out and is designed to fracture in case of an insurrection.The security forces, organized around Assad's Alawi tribe/community are the first and last means of defense of the regime and are fiercely loyal to Assad. The police/security state is much more efficient in Syria than in Egypt.

[Os Cangaceiros]

You've got to show some spine in order to go out and protest against a regime that has ordered massacres against political prisoners it has had locked up in the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadmor_Prison_massacre

[Mather]

You've got to show some spine in order to go out and protest against a regime that has ordered massacres against political prisoners it has had locked up in the past.

Here is another regime massacre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre

[Os Cangaceiros]

More Syria info:

http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.c...-front-of.html

[Os Cangaceiros]

More protests today, in multiple Syrian cities

[Sasha]

dutch news is reporting thousands took to the streets in an funeral/protest in Daraa shouting slogans for freedom and against the regime

[Sasha]

Syria deploys troops after protests
Forces gather at entrances to the southern city of Daraa, a day after a protester was killed during a demonstration.

Last Modified: 21 Mar 2011 14:49

[FONT=Verdana]Protesters have been demanding an end to corruption and 48 years of emergency rule [AFP][/FONT] Syrian troops have been deployed in the southern city of Daraa a day after an anti-government protester was killed when forces reportedly fired on a demonstration.
News agencies, citing residents, said that thousands of Syrians marched on Monday in the town following the funeral of Raed Akrad, the killed protester.

A resident told the AFP news agency that "mass of demonstrators started to march from the cemetery towards al-Omari mosque after the burial".

"Just God, Syria and Freedom," and "Revolution, revolution" demonstrators chanted, the resident said.
Another witness said security forces had been deployed to block protests, but people had gathered regardless.
However Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Daraa, said the situation on Monday was "very tense but it is quiet".

"There are a lot of security, the army as well as police, there are a lot of checkpoints. But we didn't see any protests, people told us there was a funeral this morning but it ended with no clashes," she said.

Protesters have been demonstrating in Syria since last week, calling for an end to corruption and 48 years of emergency law. They have also been protesting against the killing of five civilians in a similar demonstration three days ago.

On Sunday crowds set fire to the courthouse and other buildings, including the headquarters of the ruling Baath party.

The protests are becoming a major challenge for Bashar Assad, Syria's president, as activists inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt call for action.

Daraa is primarily an agricultural community, and its economy has been hurt by falling water levels in recent years.

The region also houses thousands of people who left their homes in eastern Syria because of an ongoing water crisis.

source :http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...130110767.html

[danyboy27]

i remember not so long ago, a guy i knew who was trying to get out of syria explained me how corrupt and inefficient the regular army was compared to the republican guard.

Basicly you could skip training by bribing the officers, and if you wanted more equipement you had to bribe your officier has well.

there is no comparaison when you compare them to the republican guards who have the biggest toys and a fucking share on the oil revenues.

[daleckian]

Why am I not surprised a whole bunch of so-called "leftists" are hinting at their desire for another imperialist "rebellion" (read: NATO-backed takeover) of yet another middle eastern (read: brown) country? That's the problem with alot of american and western leftists they all seem to have no problem meddling in other nation's affairs, it's the same anywhere there are westerners.

[Sasha]

Maybe you should read your marx, the overtrow of (fuedal) dictatorships, even if the revolution ends up hijacked by the petit bourgeois, is an necessary step to communism.

[daleckian]

Maybe you should read your marx, the overtrow of (fuedal) dictatorships, even if the revolution ends up hijacked by the petit bourgeois, is an necessary step to communism.

Marx advocated the overthrow of "feudal dictatorships" by means of imperialist intervention from capitalist nations? really? I guess I should read a little more close next time, or get the special edition of the Communist Manifesto that you're reading!

[Sasha]

No, but he supported, as people here, the uprising of the people against dictatorships.

[daleckian]

No, but he supported, as people here, the uprising of the people against dictatorships.

That's assuming that these rebellions really are by "the people". From what we have seen so far in Libya, the rebels aka what you call "the people" have been little more than western (as in NATO) backed/funded monarchists and opportunists and lumpenproletariat, not exactly what Marx would call "the people". The motive is to get rid of Gaddafi because he's a thorn in their side, not because of any real altruistic care of the common "people" or to improve the living standards of the proletarians.

Afterall...how did the western-backed "people's rebellion" in the 1950s turn out for Iran? The Shah sure was a good replacement over socialist leader Mohammad Mossadgh, wasn't he?

Besides, I imagine you're a westerner by the way you talk about this subject, do you advocate the overthrowing of your country by mass insurrection of monarchists or republican federalists or whatever?

[Rafiq]

The Syrian economy, like Libya's is not as bad as the countries surrounding it. However, to make people here have a better understanding of the mideast situation, let me break it down.

The Assad's in Syria are a Alawi (Shi'ite) familly, who have been in power for a long time, but the problem is that Syria is about 90% Sunni, so most of the population doesn't like the Syrian regime.

Class Warfare in Syria is not very big, the workers are divided by religion.

[khad]

I would also like to point out that those massacres carried out by the Syrian government occurred at a time when the government was fighting a full-scale war against Islamic militants. It was so brutal then that even Islamic clerics who denounced the campaign of terrorism were slain in their mosques. Not sure what the situation is there now, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that, historically, armed radical Islam has been the most potent force against the Assad government.

[danyboy27]

I fail to see how it mean we cant support the Syrian working class in all this mess.