Syrian citizens have been shocked by the disturbing events taking place in Dara’a for the last few days, during which violence led to the death of innocent young people, the destruction of public as well as private properties, and demonstrations and unjustified violence. Demands were raised, some dealing with Dara’a, others going beyond the […]
Geography Archives: Syria
The Syrian Communist Party (Unified) Emphasizes the Importance of National Unity and Investigation of the Causes of the Recent Events
The Syrian Communist Party (Unified) would like to reiterate what its newspaper An-Nour said on Wednesday, 23 March 2011: it is necessary to restore normal life to Dara’a Governorate, to effectively deal with the consequences of the deplorable events which took place last week, and to do the following while dealing with the problems: 1. […]
Syrians Living Abroad, Standing Up for Syria and Bashar
Bashar al-Assad is a lucky man. Even the mother of the Angry Arab (himself no fan of the Syrian president) seems to like him: “As my mom says about him: he is the best educated among Arab leaders (many of whom are illiterate) and it shows.” — Ed. Beirut, Lebanon, 27.03.11 Cairo, Egypt, 31.03.11 Bucharest, […]
What Do the Syrians Want? Interview with Joshua Landis
Joshua Landis: Well, this [speech delivered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on 30 March 2011] was a classic hard-line speech. It was a nationalist speech. It was an us-against-them speech. And he rallied the nation. And that’s what he sought to do. He was fairly relaxed. He made some jokes. But he said this is […]
Millions of Syrians Rally for Syria and Bashar
Millions of Syrians rallied all over Syria, pledging loyalty to the country, in support of Bashar al-Assad, on 29 March 2011. The dialectic of the regime and the opposition in Syria, it is safe to say, is neither like Tunisia and Egypt, nor like Iraq and Libya. Instead, it is more like what happened in […]
Is Syria Like Egypt and Tunisia? Interview with Bassam Haddad
Bassam Haddad: The differences between Syria and Egypt and Tunisia are several. This does not mean that things cannot spin out of control to produce the same effect. But, structurally speaking, the Syrian society is far more heterogeneous and divided than either the Egyptian or the Tunisian society. So the opposition is not cohesive. There […]
Syria: Who Backs Bashar?
Bashar al-Assad, unlike other Arab heads of state, appears to have masses of supporters, who took to the streets on 24-26 March 2011, as shown in the videos below. (Search YouTube for تأييد بشار الأسد, and you’ll find many more lovingly uploaded by his fans.) However, “God, Syria, only Bashar” and “With our soul and […]
Al-Jazeera: An Island of Pro-Empire Intrigue
The Empire admits: without Al-Jazeera, they could not have bombed Libya. How did Al-Jazeera, once dubbed the ‘terror network’ by some and whose staff were martyred by US bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, end up becoming the media war propagandist for yet another Western war against a small state of the Global South, Libya? We […]
Joint Statement of 58 Communist and Workers’ Parties against Imperialist Aggression in Libya
The imperialist killers headed by the USA, France, Britain and NATO as a whole and with the approval of the UN started a new imperialist war. This time in Libya. Their allegedly humanitarian pretexts are completely misleading! They throw dust into peoples’ eyes! Their real goals are the hydrocarbons in Libya. We, the Communist and […]
Libya and Yemen — Study in Contrast
It is now clear that the no-fly zone has been expanded in Libya to a military campaign for a regime change, something that the UN Security Council did not authorize. Gaddafi’s residence in Tripoli has been bombed and more strikes are taking place in Tripoli and other towns. The argument of course is that Gaddafi’s […]
Japan’s Government Takes Break from Nuclear Class War against Its Own People and Issues Nonsensical Statement on Libya
The Japanese government, taking a break from its nuclear class war against its own people, issued a nonsensical statement on Libya,1 supporting the Western war against Libya . . . and at the same time claiming to support the African Union, which is opposed to the war, and the Arab League, which is now trying […]
The Libyan Rebellion: The West’s Cloak over the Gulf
Fidel Castro was right. The West was planning an attack on a sovereign third world nation imminently: Libya. Nothing like a good old war against brown and black people in Libya by the West to remind oneself of what Western civilisation is all about. Many of us who have been politically active since the 1990s […]
The Bahraini Opposition Speaks
Press Conference of the Opposition Political Societies on the Reasons for the Call to Overthrow the Government A coalition of seven opposition political societies invites you to join the Bahraini masses to attend the grand march on Friday, 4 March 2011, entitled “Down with the Government.”1 The opposition coalition believes the current government must resign, […]
Tunisia, Egypt, and Beyond: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: The dictatorship is gone but the regime is still there [in Tunisia], tottering, hopefully on its last legs. This is the last card that the old regime is playing, which is trying to keep the government under the control of the RCD, the ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally. Actually most of the […]
On the Arab Revolt: Interview with Vijay Prashad
Vijay Prashad is a prominent Marxist scholar from South Asia. He is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut. He has written extensively on international affairs for both academic and popular journals. His most recent book The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the […]
The Lesson of the Tunisian Revolution
“Saad Hariri went to the United States and had meetings there. Right after that, the Saudis contacted the Syrians to tell them that they could no longer continue this initiative [of Syria and Saudi Arabia to broker a deal between Hezbollah and Hariri on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon]. . . . The Americans and […]
Iran’s Subsidy Reductions: Upon Whom Will the Costs Fall?
The long awaited liberalization of energy commodities in Iran has finally begun. President Ahmadinejad stated: “At this stage, we don’t want to free prices, rather we are going to regulate and reform them.” How regulated will this new system be? Iranians with private cars get a monthly ration of about one full Iranian tank of […]
Ashura in Istanbul
Yesterday was the 10th day of the Muslim holy month of Muharram — commemorated by Shi’a Muslims for centuries as the holy day of Ashura. (We send our best wishes to all of our readers who are observing this special time.) One of our readers highlighted something truly striking that happened yesterday, in connection with […]
Israel and the Iranian Opposition
On Sunday, 12 December, the Iran Committee organized a demonstration in Amsterdam against “human rights violations” in Iran. This committee was initiated by the Centre for Information and Documentation about Israel (CIDI), which is an influential pro-Israel lobby. The leadership of this committee consists of right-wing politicians, Christian fundamentalists, anti-Muslim racists, and unfortunately a […]
USG’s “Big Investment” in Special Tribunal for Lebanon
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