Archive for 2011

Arab League Enters Syria as Violence Rises. Syria’s Deficit Spending Explodes but Government Hangs On

Suicide Bombing Changes Nature of the Syrian Revolution

Opposition Meets in Tunisia as Arab Observers Enter Syria and Deathrate Rises

Assad’s Parallel Universe Suggests a Long Struggle

Syria Places 30% Tariff on Turkish Goods; Conditionally Accepts Arab League Observers; Syrian Muslim Brotherhood: “To Hell with Syrian Identity”

Burhan Ghalioun, Leader of Syria’s Main Opposition Group, Interview with Wall Street Journal. (Dec. 1, 2011)

Free Syrian Army getting attention

Syrian Pound Falls to 59.4 to the Dollar

“SYRIAN FUTURE SCENARIOS,” by Ambassador Nikolaos van Dam

Harling on “Syria’s Dynamics” and More

Syrians Donating to Opposition; News Round Up (Nov. 23, 2011)

Assad Determined to Fight On; SNC Issues Plan; Reasons for Energy Shortages

Sanctions Bite; Do Not Attack Syria; The Harasta Attack; The Arab League Delays as Damascus Contemplates Observers

Will Sanctions Bring Down the Syrian Regime?

“Let’s Call Bashar’s Bluff” by Reinoud Leenders

Off the Wall on Ghalioun’s Eid Speech

Opposition Parties Fight in Cairo; Feltman Claims Sanctions Effective and Assad’s Days Numbered, Eyes on Turkey

Ghalioun Addresses Syrians for `Eid Holiday in bid to Establish Authority

Arab League Peace Plan? Syrian Opposition Shoots Back. Turkey Hardens Stand on Syria

Arab League in Damas; Pro-Assad Demos, Strike in Homs, Killings, Ambassadorial tit for tat

Qaddafi’s Death, Mazoot Prices, Opposition

An interview with Syrian opposition activist Louay Hussein

Homs: The Capital of Syrian Uprising

The Arab Spring & the decay of secular state in Syria

Ehsani Says GoodBye

The Issue Of Foreign Intervention – US Calls on Assad to “Step Down Now”. Robert Ford, making a difference (By Ehsani)

Reactions to the U.N Vote And Is the E.U. About to Sanction Syria’s Central Bank? (By Ehsani)

The First Legally Binding Decision Against Syria Fails At the U.N. (By Ehsani)

The Import Suspension Decision Was Indeed “Temporary” – (By Ehsani)

The Formation of the Syrian National Council – Please note Corrections and Apology (By Ehsani)

Syria Faces A New Economic Reality – By Ehsani

More Economic Pressure. Assad Will be Ousted “Sooner or Later”? Sarkozy asks why the Region’s Christians Don’t Emigrate? The Six Killer Apps (By Ehsani)

Suspending New Car Imports into Syria (By Ehsani)

Aleppo – Remarks by the newly appointed Governor (By Ehsani)

News Round Up (September 20th, 2011) – By Ehsani

New Era for Syria Comment – Ehsani and Camille Otrakji take the Helm

Opposition National Council Formed; Opposition Gets Armed; Building Boom in Syria as Sanctions Bite;

“Stone Age, Here We Come,” by Syrian Prometheus

News Round UP (12 Sept. 2011) – Turkey as Emerging Leader of the Resistance

Will the Regime Reach a Tipping Point and Collapse?

Homs Intense Fighting; Bakkour Taken by Gov; Roadside Bomb Wounds 11 Soldiers; Defections

“Who is Mohammad Rahhal, the Syrian Revolutionary who Called for Armed Resistance and Attacked Burhan Ghalioun?”

Seven Reasons Why Western Officials do Not Want the Syrian Opposition to Take up Arms

Ehsani on Syria Comment over the Years

Four of Syria’s Biggest Businessmen Hit with EU Sanctions as Anger and Fear Spread

Bourhan Ghalioun is Sunni; Big Demonstrations in Hama

Syria’s First High Ranking Defection or a Forced Confession? The Taped Resignation of Hama Attorney General

Assad Maintains a Vice-Like Grip on Syria’s Capital; Rastan

Opposition Disunity Becomes the Problem as the West Gets its Ducks in a Row

No Bullet Holes in Bab Touma; Several Accounts of Life in Syria

“We Will Have to Eat Brown Bread,” Adib Mayaleh, Head of Syria’s Central Bank

Valerie, an American Business Owner in Latakia, Tells Her Story of Gun Boats, Rimal al-Janubi, the Evacuation, and Miliatry Operations

News Round Up (25 August 2011)

Interventionists Versus Non-Interventionists

What is behind Assad’s Violence? Three Opinions

Libya and Syria – Looking Over Our Shoulder

President Assad’s 4th Speech on TV (21 Aug 2011) “We don’t permit any country … to interfere in Syria”

Assad to Speak Sunday as Opposition Assembly Gathers in Turkey

Sanctions and Their Impact; The Opposition Forms Transitional Parliament

News Round Up (19 August 2011)

EU and US say Syria’s Assad must step down

Baath Party Calls Emergency Meeting; Latakia; EU Weighs Broad Sanctions

Minorities

News Round Up (14 Aug 2011)

“A Syrian Drama: A Taxonomy of a Revolution” by Omar Dahi

News Round Up (13 August 2011)

News Round Up Aug 10, 2011

The World Closes in on Bashar al-Assad

New Coalition to Box in Assad Takes Shape. Iran’s Response Awaited

Mid East Governments Pressure Assad to Stop Killing and Hand over Power

WikiLeaks: US Embassy Officials’ Views on Sanctioning Syrian Insiders and on Assad

The Armed Gangs Controversy

“The US Won’t Use Force against Syria,” Chief of Staff Mike Mullen; Armed Gang Controversy

Hama as Explained on Syrian TV and al-Jazeera

Ramadan Begins with Wide Spread Crack Down

120 Dead as Tanks Sweep into Hama and Deir

Hama Being Subdued Before Ramadan – “Way out of the Syrian Crisis,” by Patrick Seale

Is the Free Syrian Army Real?

Free Syrian Army Founded by Seven Officers to Fight the Syrian Army

Friday 29 July 2011: “Your Silence is Killing US”

Buti [not] Expelled From Mosque – Soldiers enter Kanaker: 8 Killed

New Party Law Preserves Baath Power; Saudi – Iran – Turkey Vie For Syria

Economic News Roundup (26 July 2011)

Haithem al-Maleh, Landis, Fred Reed on Prism TV

Activists Attack Army Cadets, Derail Train, and Kill 20 Soldiers in Homs as Opposition Uses Force

Rastan Rebels Kill 20 Syrian Soldiers in Homs, according to Wall Street Journal

Shara Spells out “Road Map” to Reform; Compares it to Corrective Movement Led by Hafiz al-Assad

Syria’s Security Measures are Failing

New Opposition TV Station; Hama Free? Homs and Deir Shut Down

“A Call to President Assad to Launch Democratic Reform before Syria stumbles toward Sectarian Conflict Iraq-Style,” by Inhabitant of Damascus

Syrians Scared and Angered by Sectarian Fighting. Little unity Among Opposition

In Homs, 30 Dead as Communal Factions Fight; Bukamal and Qatana Light Up as Calm Returns to Hama

“The Road to Qardaha,” by Peter

Syrian “National Salvation” Opposition Meeting in Istanbul: Opening Remarks and Mr Maleh (17 July 2011)

“The Street Will Wash Them Away,” Amb. Ford – Biggest Demonstrations So Far: Friday 15 July 2011

Economic News and More (13 July 2011)

“The Syrian Regime’s Slow-motion Suicide: Crisis Group,” by Peter Harling

“Syria’s Leadership and Opposition Need an Economic Policy,” by Ehsani

Does the US Getting into a Fight with Syria Help the Syrian Opposition or the Regime?

Nokalaos van Dam, “The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society under Assad and the Baath Party.”

Syria Closes in on Four Months of Uprising with No End in Sight.

Ambassador Ford Goes to Hama

News Round Up (7 July 2011)

News Round Up (5 July 2011)

Syria: An Uprising, Not a Revolution, By Yazan Badran

An interview with Bassam Alkadi, President of the Syrian Women Observatory

Vacation

“The squeeze on Assad,” by the Economist

Syria’s Business Elite – Will it Defect?

Syria Turns to Iraq to Preempt Damaging European Heavy Crude Boycott

Stalemate Prevails as Gov and Opposition Look for New Strategies; Pressure on the SYP

Syrian Opposition Conference: Semiramis Hotel: 200 members – First Impressions

Syria’s Opposition Faces an Uncertain Future

What is new on the Economy (24 June 2011): Oil Sanctions

“The Alawi Dilemma – Revisited,” By Khudr

Jisr al-Shaghour – the Government Story as told by a Foreign Member of the Organized Press Visit

“Where is the Truth in Conflicting Reports? Not in the Middle but at the Extremes,” by a Foreigner in Syria

President Assad: Speech #3, (Monday 20 June 2011) “We Control Events, rathern than Events Control Us”

How the Opposition Plans to Take Down the Syrian Regime (Joshua Landis & Ausama Monajed)

Is Turkey a Shield? Assad to Speak about Reform on Monday

“What do Sunnis intend for Alawis following regime change?” by Khudr

Rami Makhlouf: Is He Being Sacrificed? Is the Syrian Economy the Achilles Heel of the Assad Regime? WINEP Pushes for Sanctions on Syrian Oil

Damascenes Rally for the Government Even as Economy Enters Crisis Mode and Touble in the North Expands

“Deeply Sectarian,” Joshua Landis on the Economist online

What happened at Jisr al-Shagour?

Idlib and Aleppo

News Round Up (9 June 2011)

Syria Reports 120 Military Killed in Jisr al-Shagour, Promises Decisive Response. More Economic Woes

The Final Declaration of the Antalya Opposition Conference

‘Friday of the Children of Freedom’ – the Uprising Moves to Hama, Many Killed, Internet Cut

Syrian Opposition Meeting in Antalya: Day Two

The Opposition Meeting in Antalya (1 June 2011) First Impressions

Did Four Alawi Clans Dissociate themselves from the Assads, as the Opposition Claims? Not likely.

News Round Up (1 June 2011)

“Syria in Fragments: Divided Minds, Divided Lives,” by an American in Syria

EU Lays Off Syrians and Stops all Aid; Shell Pressured to Leave

Syria’s Economic Challanges: How Long Can the Government Pay the Growing Costs of the Uprising?

Divisions within the Syrian Opposition on Eve of Turkey Meeting

Syrian Opposition to Meet in Turkey: May 31 – June 2

Five Books on Syria – Recommended by Nikolas van Dam

News Round Up (22 May 2011)

The Syrian Revolution Lives

Obama to Assad: “Lead that transition, or get out of the way.”

Assad Sanctioned – What Can it Do for America?

News Round Up (15 May 2011)

What Will a Post Assad Syria Look Like?

Imad Moustapha: “Rami Makhlouf does not speak on behalf of the Syrian authorities.”

Rami Makhlouf’s daily blasts Turkey; Draws MB link

Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page Administrator, Fidaaldin Al-Sayed Issa, Interviewed by Adam Almkvist

US closer to declaring Assad’s rule in Syria illegitimate

“Makhlouf Says Syria Will Fight Protests Till ‘the End'” by Anthony Shadid

Syrian Regime Says it is Witnessing the end of the Story; Opposition Calls Meeting in Cairo

“It seems they got better in tracking satellite mobiles”

Landis and Seale on Prosepects for a Government Comeback

Day 53 of the Syrian Uprising; over Six Killed; Fewer Demonstrators; Clinton Says Reform Still Possible

The Man Who Wrote the Mehlis Report on Rafiq al-Hariri’s Murder Claims Third Witness was a “full-blown mythomaniac”

Preparing for Friday Demonstrations (5 May 2011)

News Round Up (5 May 2011)

“Nobody Is Free In The World” – Report From Damascus by Gerg? Plankó & Bence Gáspár Tamás

News Round Up (3 May 2011) Syrian Banks Asked to Pay for Stable Syrian Pound

“Talking about a Revolution: An Interview with Camille Otrakji” by Qifa Nabki

News Round Up (2 May 2011) and Debate on “‘Doomsday scenario’ if Syria fails” by Sly

News Round Up (1 May 2011)

News from Aleppo, Homs, and Hama

“Crunch Time for the Syrian Regime” by Peter Harling

“National Initiative for Change” Program of Syrian Opposition: the liberal wing

NPR Show with Anthony Shadid, Rami Khouri, and Joshua Landis

News Round Up (28 April 2011)

“Protesters Want Changes to Syria’s Power Structure,” Landis on NPR

Advice For UN from a Retired Diplomat and for Pres. Assad from David Lesch

News Round Up (27 April 2011)

Quelling the Revolt: Will the Opposition Take up Arms?

Deraa Encircled – Major Crack Down in Regime Effort at Shock and Awe – Officers Ordered to Shoot to Kill

The Man behind “Syria Revolution 2011” Facebook-Page Speaks Out

Great Friday: Over 80 Killed

“Who Supports the Regime and Why a New Party Law Will Not Include Eliminating the Supremacy of the Baath Party,” by Ehsani2

The Government Draws a Line in the Sand

Ammar Abdulhamid, a leading Activist, and Joshua Landis Discuss the Syrian Uprising

Syrians Comment on Homs and Syria’s Future (20 April 2011)

A Damascus Cameo

The Opposition Grows in Confidence and Numbers

Assad Speech II – (16 April 2011)

“Syria’s New Government,” By EHSANI2

Syria: the Dangerous Trap of Sectarianism,” by Nikolaos Van Dam, ambassador and author

Western Press Misled – Who Shot the Nine Soldiers in Banyas? Not Syrian Security Forces

SYRIA’S PRESIDENT ASSAD: WHY IS ANYONE SURPRISED?” by Brian J. Davis, Canadian Ambassador to Syria, 2003-2006uesd

News Round Up (11 April 2011)

The Revolution Strikes Home: Yasir Qash`ur, my wife’s cousin, killed in Banyas

Assad Responds to Clerics’ Demands

Syria: Sectarian War or Class War

As Calm Returns to the Streets, Syrians Ponder Their Future

“Is Syria Different?” by Heydemann, Lawson, Lesch, and Seale

Duma; Turkey Hosts Musl. Brotherhood; Press Services; More

What is Missing or Exaggerated in News of the Uprising? – Heydemann, Lawson, Lesch, Seale

Will the Opposition be Successful? Heydemann, Lawson, Lesch, Seale

Video of Landis Commentary on Assad’s Speech

Speech to the Syrian Parliament by President Bashar al-Assad: Wednesday, March 30, 2011.

“Syria: the boldness of Bashar al-Assad” by Brian Whitaker

Quotes from Syrians Supporting Assad’s Speech

Syrian Reactions to the President’s Speech