Geography Archives: Syria

Syrian Commando (2 August 2011): “Peaceful demonstration tools in #Hama #Syria for Ramadan http://t.co/FyPY1NM“ Eslam Jawaad (2 August 2011): “Father is Druze.  Mother is Alawite.  They raised me as Muslim.  My wife is Sunni.  Brother’s wife Christian.  F#$k sectarianism.  Pray for #Syria“ 3arabiSouri (2 August 2011): “Syrians r so grateful to our Libyan brothers, if […]

  Hama has suffered for the (at least) past three weeks from lawlessness and nearly complete absence of the entire state and its organs, and from control by groups of armed teenagers and criminals who (left without any other choice, in the opinion of the US and French ambassadors) actually erected roadblocks and expropriated the […]

“Conspirators Wanted” Victor Nieto is a cartoonist in Venezuela.  His cartoons frequently appear in Aporrea and Rebelión among other sites.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  Cf. Fayez Nahabieh, “Réflexion sur les origines de la crise syrienne et les moyens d’en sortir” (InfoSyrie, 15 July 2011); Alastair Crooke, “Unfolding the Syrian Paradox” […]

Still lacking a fire starter called diplomacy, Uncle Sam fails to detonate a war against Syria. Hamid Karout is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was first published in Tishreen on 14 July 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Cf. “‘The OIC has a strong desire to build national dialogue between governments and […]

Corrupt men in charge of mass media and corporations, abandoning the sinking ancien régime, climb onto the ship of the Egyptian revolution (whose slogan was “Leave!”), threatening to capsize it. . . . Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was first published in his blog on 22 April 2011; it is reproduced here […]

USG Discovers Syrian Protesters It Doesn’t Like As’ad AbuKhalil (12 June 2011): “Yesterday, a US official referred to the protesters at the US embassy as ‘thugs.’  But if they were attacking a Ba’th office or a Syrian government building, I am sure that they would not have been described as thugs.  So thuggery is not […]

  “Channels of blood or channels of sedition or channels of the other side — call them what you like.  These channels, as illustrated below, are a gun pointed to our land and our people.  We the people must stand up, face them, and fight them.  We don’t allow anyone to prejudice the security of […]

نظام, nizam, Arabic for regime, order, system, but against which nizam? Against the SystemDudd Al-Nizam “Against the System”by Eslam Jawaad Against the Country by Murder Eyez Statement No. 1 SyrianRevolution.org Shabeeha Song by The Strong Heroes of Moscow Cf. Jackson Allers, “Syrian Revolution and Eslam Jawaad’s Response — ‘Dudd al-Nizam’ (Syria)” (Beats and Breath, 5 […]

Merkel just wouldn’t let the cat out of the bag.  In the first days after the arms sale scandal began, her front seat in the Bundestag was conspicuously empty.  When she finally did show up she wore a sour look but said not a word.  The decision made and any reasoning behind it were highly […]

Syrians for BHL Rami Zurayk (Land and People, 8 July 2011): “Is there anyone who follows politics and champions the Arab and Palestinian causes who does not know Bernard Henri Levy? . . .  He was one of the first to enter the shattered remains of Jenin on board a Zionist tank to express his […]

Bernard-Henri Lévy, well known for his devotion to humanitarian military interventions, organized a conference to “stop the massacre” in Syria, “SOS Syrie,” in Paris on the fourth of July.  There is no doubt that BHL is eager to replicate his Libyan success in Syria.  Given the clear Russian opposition to any military intervention in Syria, […]

2 July 2011 To the final subject: the current situation.  To the Lebanese people, I say to them the following: don’t worry about civil strife.  Those who talk about civil strife in Lebanon actually want that to come about.  There will be no Sunni-Shiite strife and no civil war in Lebanon.  Everyone should be assured […]

Bassam Alkadi is President of the Syrian Women Observatory, Syria’s main women’s rights organization.  A relentless fighter for human rights in Syria, he has been fired from his job, arrested, jailed, and forbidden from traveling, but he continues to be driven by logic and not revenge.  He rejects dialogue for the sake of dialogue.  Instead, […]

The US government has been increasing aggressive actions against the Chavez administration in an attempt to isolate the major petroleum-producing nation and aid in ousting the Venezuelan President. During a hearing last Friday, June 24, in the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives regarding “Sanctionable Activities in Venezuela,” Democrats and Republicans requested the […]

I was rather skeptical, if not outright opposed, about the Syrian opposition conference in Semiramis Hotel in Damascus.  I thought that the event would be used by the regime to attain legitimacy and that the very convening of the conference would be exploited to prove the democratic impulse of the lousy regime. But I must […]

  27 June 2011 Luay Hussein: This is the first time we meet in front of our people so we have huge responsibilities. Luay Hussein: Those meeting here are not advocates of violence. Fadi Salem: Media was allowed in the first session and Syrian local Radio Cham is broadcasting live. Munther Khaddam: Who would have […]

A new political party law has been drafted in Syria and is now posted online for public debate.  It is due for ratification by parliament next August.  If it passes, the law would effectively end one-party rule in Syria, which started when the Baathists came to power, through military coup, back in March 1963.  In […]

  I can report to you that the US government has been in contact with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.  In a recent conference held in London, US and British official representatives met with the former (and still actual) leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, ‘Ali Al-Bayanuni. As’ad AbuKhalil is a professor of political science at […]

The notion of the “west”, like any such construct, has various associations depending on who is using it, where and in what circumstances.  Many people (especially in other parts of the world) tend to associate the “west” with military campaigns and foreign interventions by Nato and its leading states, the United States and Britain.  More […]

As Monday dawned, Turkey kept its fingers crossed in keen anticipation of the nationwide address by President Bashar al-Assad on the situation in Syria.  Ankara sent an open message ahead of Assad’s speech that if he failed to announce reforms even in a third attempt, he would “miss a big chance” to preserve power. Turkey […]