Jean Bricmont: There’s no limit to how crazy they can be. They haven’t finished the war with Libya, which was supposed to last days, not weeks, not months. Now it’s been months, they say another three months. So they haven’t even finished Libya yet, and they are maybe going to go to another war […]
Geography Archives: Syria
Syrian Opposition’s “Day of the Clans”
Today, with the declaration of “Day of the Clans,” it becomes obligatory for one to distance oneself from the dominant reactionary forces within the Syrian opposition. It is clear that the same reactionary forces that have been at the heart of the Iraqi opposition under occupation are there in the Syrian opposition. What about […]
Russia Opposes Any UN Resolution on Syria
RIA Novosti Russia is against any UN resolution on Syria as the situation in the country is not threatening to global security, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday. Britain and France submitted a new draft resolution on Syria on Wednesday. The UN Security Council will vote on the document in the next […]
Turkey’s Not-So-Subtle Shift on Syria
An old story from Istanbul in the Ottoman era mentions a Turkish imam who killed a Christian and confessed the crime, whereupon he was advised by the judge to talk things over with the mufti who told him privately that a good Muslim never admitted felony against infidels and he should simply recant his confession. […]
Russia’s U-Turn
Russia went to the Group of Eight (G-8) summit meeting at Deauville as an inveterate critic of the “unilateralist” Western intervention in Libya, but came away from the seaside French resort as a mediator between the West and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The United States scored a big diplomatic victory in getting Moscow to work […]
Muslim Brotherhood and US Representatives at Syrian Opposition Conference in Antalya, Turkey
So Syrian opposition groups met in Antalya. I closely followed that conference and read about their deliberations and received reports about it. There are Syrian leftists who argue with me constantly that I should not reduce the Syrian opposition to lousy Khaddam or lousy Ma’mun Humsi (a tool of Hariri Inc.) or lousy war […]
Which Is the Tyrant?
Which is the tyrant? say you. Well, ’tis he That has the vine-leaf strewn among his hair And will deliver countries to the care Of courtesans — but I am vague, you see. Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma’arri (973-1057), born in Ma’arra in what is today Syria, was a poet and philosopher. This poem is from The […]
Syrian Kurdish Parties Boycott Syrian Opposition Conference in Antalya, Turkey
Syrian opposition groups will be meeting for three days in Antalya, Turkey in a conference organised by the Egypt-based National Organisation of Human Rights (NOHR). The conference, set to begin on Tuesday, 31 May, is to ‘support the revolt in Syria and claims of the Syrian people,’ said Ammar Qurabi, NOHR president. The conference […]
Message to Communists of the World
Painful events have been continuing in Syria for nearly two months, since the emergence of a protest movement raising legitimate local and general demands among people in the governorate of Daraa. This movement threw light on the presence of major problems in the political life in Syria: the continuation of the state of emergency, the […]
Parroting the Obama Administration’s Line on Iran and Syria
Last year, we took the Washington Post‘s Joby Warrick to task for stories he published that relied “almost entirely on unnamed U.S. officials and a known terrorist organization” to advance “Iraq-redux” claims that the Islamic Republic is seeking to build nuclear weapons. Now, Warrick published a front-page story in the Washington Post — a story […]
Syria, Libya, and Russia’s Retreat from “Reset”
The last thing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did before departing for France to attend this week’s Group of Eight summit meeting in Deauville was place a call to Damascus. Prima facie, one may think the call made sense, since, as Reuters reported, “Syria’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests” is going to be high on the agenda […]
Telephone Conversation with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad
May 24, 2011, 19:30 In continuation of the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and Syria held on April 6, 2011, and on the eve of his trip to France for a G8 summit, Dmitry Medvedev stated the principled position of the Russian Federation regarding the events in Syria and around it. The […]
Bolivarian Leader Stands in Solidarity with Syrian People against Imperial Onslaught
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela communicated by telephone with his brother, the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, in order to convey to him a personal greeting full of affection and hope at a moment when the imperialist forces are unleashing violence against the Syrian people. President Hugo Chávez received […]
Reform and Revolution in Syria
Elias Muhanna: Since when have Middle Eastern governments, or any governments for that matter, managed to stifle religious parties in the Middle East by preventing them from coming to the fore? If they pass a political parties law in Syria but they don’t allow religious parties, don’t you think that’s just gonna blow up in […]
On the Revolt in Syria
The parties involved in the revolt in Syria so far have not made their programs public. Undoubtedly, the drift of the Ba’athist regime, won over to neoliberalism and singularly passive in the face of the Israeli occupation of Golan, is the reason for the uprising of people. However, the CIA’s intervention must not be ruled […]
Israel and South Sudan
Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was first published in his blog on 23 May 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. Cf. Gil Ronen, “South Sudan Wants Ties with Israel” (Arutz Sheva, 17 February 2011); “Israel Hopes to Attain a New African Ally in S. Sudan” (Jerusalem Post, 29 February […]
God Help Syria!
I’ve talked with the Syrian president, our brother Bashar, a couple of minutes ago. Syria is a victim of a fascist onslaught. God Help Syria! Hugo Chávez Frías is the president of Venezuela. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). Cf. Karin Leukefeld, “Syriens Kommunisten sehen »Chance« für Veränderungen” (junge Welt, 14 May […]
May 15: The Return to Palestine, from the Maroun Ar-Ras Border
In 2006, I found myself working with a variety of Palestinian groups who wanted to establish an educational center downtown, to create a space for discussion of their legitimate grievances, both about the right of return to Palestine and their situation within Lebanon. The center went up, but then a few days later Israel started […]
Justice
ICC to Sudan: “Who committed the crimes of genocide?” STL to Lebanon: “Who killed Hariri?” Justice, however, is asleep when it comes to Iraq, Gaza, and Afghanistan. . . . Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was first published in his blog on 9 March 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational […]
STL Redux
Opportunistic Leb Tribunal changes indictment to now finger Syria. Oh please. http://bit.ly/jCNnIK #STL #Bellemare #Imperialism Sharmine Narwani is a Senior Associate at St Antony’s College, Oxford University. Read her blog Mideast Shuffle at <mideastshuffle.com>. Follow Narwani at <twitter.com/#!/snarwani>. The text above is one of her tweets today. Cf. Elias Muhanna, “Syria: Conveniently Vulnerable Once Again?” […]
