The future looks very bleak and I feel sorry for my family and friends in Syria.

Did Erdogan intentionally set this trap for the external opposition to show their divisions in the world’s light and to give Bashar more ease to maneuver his reforms?

https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=9888&cp=all#comment-252332

https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=9888&cp=all#comment-252326

“Some 400 Syrian American opposition members”
They mean 325 empty chairs, right? just check the clip of this conference.

Dear Dr. Landis,
You may need to add the call from the local opposition to boycott the conference in Antalia because it’s somehow close to Dr. Ghalyoun position.
This is there website

http://syriancitizenship.org/syria4us/

بيان حول المؤتمر المزمع عقده في تركيا

نحن الموقعون أدناه، من كافة أطياف الشعب السوري وآرائه، نعلن موقفنا الواضح من المؤتمر المزمع عقده في تركيا (30/أيار/2011)، وأي مؤتمر آخر يعقد خارج سورية ليناقش الأوضاع داخل سورية:

1- إن أي مؤتمر يعقد خارج سورية هو مؤتمر مرفوض من قبلنا، دعوة وتنظيما وأهدافا ونتائج، ولا يمثل أي منا، بل يمارس تعديا على حقوق السوريين والسوريات من مختلف الآراء، الذين لديهم وحدهم الحق بالتحديث باسم السوريين ومناقشة أوضاعهم.

2- إن أي تعامل من قبل أي دولة أجنبية، مع مثل هذه المؤتمرات أو المشاركين فيها، بصفتهم ممثلين للشعب السوري أو فئات منه، هو تعامل مرفوض من قبلنا، ويستدعي الشجب والإدانة للحكومة التي تقوم بهذا التعامل.

*- رجاء، إذا كنتم/ن ترون معنا ضرورة حماية بلدنا من أي تلاعب بها، فساهموا معنا بكل إمكانياتكم لنجمع أكبر عدد ممكن من التواقيع على هذا البيان. سنرسله إلى كل الجهات الدبلوماسية والإعلامية في العالم.

*- أضف توقيعك الآن…

A statement about the conference on Syria to be held in Turkey

The undersigned, Syrian people from all walks of life and of different backgrounds and opinions, wish to express our clear position towards the conference on Syria, which will be held in Turkey on May 30, 2011 and any other conference taking place on foreign land to discuss the situation in Syria.

1. Any conference held outside Syria is rejected by us in terms of invitation, organization, targets and outcomes. It does not represent any of us, and is a violation of the rights of Syrians, who are the only ones authorized to speak on behalf of Syrians and discuss their situations, no matter what opinion they have.

2. Any foreign country that deals with people who participate in these conferences act as representatives of the Syrian people is rejected and strongly condemned by us.

*- If you believe that we need to protect our country from any foreign manipulation, kindly help us have as many people as possible sign this statement, which will be sent to all diplomatic and media bodies across the world.

It is not important if the opposition is divided or not,they will be,since they are different to their affilliations,it is important that the meeting will be successful,or it may fail.its success depends on Erdogan or Dawood Oglo,the foreign minister,Are they or one of them will attand or speak in the meeting?and what will they say?

Ali Allami in Iraq is assasinated.

curious typical syrian lying

first and last person appearing in the vid

unfortunately only a syrian can tell , something weird about them

majedkhaldoom

you say “it may fail.its success depends on Erdogan or Dawood Oglo”

this is utter non sense

so you want Erdogan and Oglo speak on behalf of what if it fails ?

Syria has already a president and a foreign minister. People dont expect none of your guys instead of them

Mr. Landis,

I am so disappointed with your web page. You have no regards to any syrian life taken by the Syrian regime. I am amazed with how much you can turn such a blind eye to this brutal oppression and continue to support Al-Assad enterprise. Is it your Syrian Alawite marriage that rendered you unable to really symathize with Syrian calls for freedom?

Vlad the syrian
Try to make sense of what you say and what you understand, It may be hard for you, but let me explain it to you, .
Why did the organizers of this meeting choose Turkey to hold their meeting there?it is either Erdogan supports it ,or they are trying to get Erdogan to be on their side,in a stronger position.
Erdogan is going to have elections in Turkey very soon,can he afford for a meeting ,he will participate in, can he afford it to be a failure?it seems to me that he is going to use it for his advantage,so I expect him to take stronger stand.
Today Davidoglo said Bashar needs an electric shock.

BTW Why did Obama accuse HA of being assasination tool,is it because the STL accusatory decision is imminent?that accusation is not public yet,I think Obama leeked something too early.

Tara:

You uncover your own sectarian hatred when you make such silly comments. It’s funny you complain when Dr. Landis has given most of his coverage on this blog to Syrian “opposition” claims. Why don’t you learn to go reform yourself and free yourself of your backwards sectarian mindset before you ask for a change of regime in Syria.

Nour,

You have to excuse me but what you are describing as “backward sectarian mindset” is what I learned living in Syria under the Assad regime. You just can not deny it. Aren’t All important posts in the 17 security branches are occupied by Alawites? Has this happened by random?

you are better directing your post to Al-Assad enterprise who continued to forge a text book in sectarianism.

Tara:

Blaming your own sectarianism on anyone else is just a cop out. Even if the regime was sectarian, that doesn’t justify your own sectarian mentality. For example, in Lebanon the Future Movement is a backwards, reactionary, sectarian organization, but if anyone expressed any hatred toward Sunnis based on their opposition to the FM they would be sectarian, full stop.

Nour,

so when you call spade a spade, you are accused of having a sectarian mentality. If I say the Jewish state is opressing the palestinians, I suddenly uncover a “sectarian hatred” against Judaism within myself. please spare me…

I suggest you put your effort into increasing awareness of the Syrian longing for freedom instead of your balatant attempt to sound smart.

Tara,

There is nothing wrong with some one being shia, sunni, alawi, or even atheist. The wrong is with your awful hatered, backwarded, mind Tara. It is exactly this mentality that we should work on in our society. It is this mentality that is causing the killing among innocent people. It is this mentality that is leading us to the unknown hell. Tara, you are sectarian person

The opposition is united on the need for dismantling of the system.
Those who accept less, ie its rehabilitation, are part of the system. They are not opposition.

Let me define what I mean by the “System”, that needs dismantling:
– The set of consitutional laws that give the president and Baath party absolute powers over political life.
– The dismantling of the security forces.

Once this is achieved, all existing imbalances will undergoe natural, self-correction.

The opposition is diversified, as life itself, and among other things, on the road map and time frame to achieve that goal.

Mr Burhan Ghalioun’s position, as he put it, was personal.
I personally think that his statement, honest and respected as it is, speaks for his lack of political skills.
Mr. Ghalyoon has wisely chosen to concentrate on his intellectual skills in support of democracy in Syria.
Democracy is best served by those who have abilities to engage in dialogue with their opposites, and not dub them as having agendas or conspirators.

The Antalya meeting will be a historic start for implementing a peaceful change, by collective counsel.

Allah Sooriya, 7urriyeh w Bas

Tara,

With your sectarian tone, Nooooooo one wants or even believe the freedom you are talking about. I suggest you go and sleep. Hah, freedom. We are seeing your proposed freedom in Iraq an Libya. Go and sleep as Syrian wants peace and stability not hateful people

Margaret Evans from the CBC news reported from the occupied Syrian Golan this evening and she said most Syrians in the Golan are pro-Assad.

That’s normal, the ratio in the Syrian Golan reflects the one inside Syria.

It is premature to judge the meeting in Turkey especially that is has not started yet. The next few days will tell us more about: who attends,who does not,who addresses the meeting from other countries especially turkey and western governments,and whether a concrete united message will emerge. Dr Ghalioun’s position is not personal,there will be others who will do the same. Syrian expats created a lot of noise and managed to encourage many Syrians to demonstrate in the streets but they also sent scores of fake videos and pictures and some even used unacceptable sectarian language to incite violence and hatred. One serious problem is the financial support some “leaders” have received from western government and quite possibly Arab governments. I doubt that any Syrian expat movement or personality can gather enough support inside Syria unless direct foreign intervention takes place,most Syrians are against such intervention.
Exposing the brutality of security forces is understandable but I suspect that this will be used to push for more western measures against Asad and the Syrian government which may actually improve Asad’s image as an Arab leader who is paying the price for standing against the west. Syria will change gradually and more peacefully without foreign intervention. I do not expect much from that meeting in Turkey.

SS,

I bet you feel quite happy about yourself. You remind me with Syrian security forces seen on a you tube footage describing a 2 fallen Palestinian with their brain blown off (who were trying to smuggle food to Daraa) as pigs and dogs.

Listen to yourself “hah, freedom blah blah blah peace and stability”. Syrians have made it clear: They are not going to be held hostage to the so called “stability” . Stability that quickly disintigrated with few school-aged children spraying a paint on a wall in Daraa copying what they heard in Tunis and Egypt. Stability that lead a cousin of Assad to arrest those children, beat them up, and get their fingernails pulled.

Iraq’s security conditions are rapidly deteriorating just few months before a scheduled withdrawal of US forces. The Iraqi lesson must be on every Syrian mind as 8 years of military control by the US and more than 6 years of anti Saddam rule failed to fix Iraq or even bring it back to those “hated” days of Saddam. Swift political changes in third world countries with diverse religious and ethnic composition is very dangerous,and add foreign intervention and you will get a total disaster,this disaster today is called Iraq,and there might be other disasters in the making….

Those who are calling for foreign intervention in Syria remind me of al-Janabi, who lied to the US about Iraq possessing WMDs:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war

With the US now leaving Iraq, Janabi said he was comfortable with what he did, despite the chaos of the past eight years and the civilian death toll in Iraq, which stands at more than 100,000.

“I tell you something when I hear anybody – not just in Iraq but in any war – [is] killed, I am very sad. But give me another solution. Can you give me another solution?

“Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq. There were no other possibilities.”

I’m curious, do the participants in the opposition meeting feel the same way? They are calling for foreign intervention, but do they realize what that even means? It will not be a clean affair. There WILL be “collateral damage”, and that will include our families and friends. Is it worth it to overthrow Assad? Those who live abroad are not going to live with the consequences. SYRIANS in SYRIA will.

Tara,

Go and listen to yur friend Alsyasne. We have seen your revolution that is based on killing and corruption. Moreover I blame the Syrian goverment of delaying the reform as we all are looking for a better standard of living, better salaries, and more job avalability not to mention the housing issue, one would die before dreaming of a home in Damascus. I hope this is awakening call for the goverment. But I would not accept people to come out and kill in the name of “freedom”. You are the exact example of a hateful sectarian dangerous people that the only language they understand is Jehad. alawi, drooz, and minorities are part of the rich Syrian society. I am going to use the same sectarian language you are using in this forum and tell you one thing,,,,the majority of Sunnis are not out….the ones out are these radical, hateful, people who do not accept minority, and who only knows: Jehhhhhad wa alaaaah akbar……this is there only means of negotiation and reasoning.

#22 SS

Speaking of alsyasna, see what he had to say today?

http://www.sana.sy/ara/336/2011/05/27/349172.htm

I think this trumps the ‘syrian revolution’ Thursday run-up. I mean seriously. The opposition riddles a car with 300 bullets and kills three military guys, leaving behind wives and families, then has the audacity to call tomorrow a day to support the military?

I don’t think the military wants their support.

When you try to cure an illness,first do no harm. What benefits do we get if surgery was successful but the patient died? Those who advocate for foreign intervention behind their computers through Facebook pages and YouTube are irresponsible at least and criminal at most. Any meaningful change has to come from within and with little or no bloodshed. The regime can not last and must be changed,gradually and peacefully .
What is worse than seeing unarmed Syrians killed by security forces? Seeing Syrians killing each other in the absence of those security forces that we rightfully want to reform and control.I heard little condemnation from anti regime voices for the murder of more than 130 army and security officers. Those officers are Syrian too and they have families and kids. they do not have money in Europe that sanctions can freeze.

The pro regime wanted to see it and label it as divided movement, and I personally see it as the uneasy birth of a new healthy democratic movement, I personally did attend the rally in front of the embassy and seen a diverse groups and personalities with dissimilar ideas and beliefs but they were all united on delivering on message ..Stop the killing and freedom to Syria. I have a great respect for Mr Burhan Ghalioun’s and I think he is doing his most best to help the Syrians as a whole in moving into a secular democracy as he perceive it fit to a new Syria, God bless Our Syria and I hope for a peaceful happy ending..
.. I protested with a single message “Stop the killing and freedom to syria” I hope you all do the same

Perhaps the lesson of Iraq is that Saddam was necessary if Iraq was to be a properly-led country. Without Saddam, all that seems to remain is a parliament of whores, thieves, backstabbers and cowards.

So if the conclave in Turkey prevails in somehow ousting the Assads, dollars to doughnuts, you’ll have the same situation in Syria. But perhaps, just perhaps, the whores, thieves, backstabbers and cowards are preferable to the Assads, yes?

As Donald Rumsfeld so succinctly put it: “Democracy is messy.” It’s also the refuge of scoundrels, tricksters, liars and frauds. The good part is, the scoundrels, tricksters, liars and frauds pretty much leave you alone to live your virtuous life as long as you leaave them alone…

http://playwrighter.blogspot.com/2009/04/give-somalia-to-kenyans-ethiopians.html

SS,

The Syrian revolution is not about better standard of living, higher salaries, more jobs, and affordable housing. It is about freedom and dignity. It is about the university professor that was beaten up by the regime thugs who were screaming profanity followed by a statement declaring: Al-Assad family is your asyaduk (masters)”. It is about the mentality of “you are either with us or against us”. It is about the massacre of Sednaya killing political prisoners in cold blood. It is about Daraa children who were tortured at age 10. It is about Rami Makhluf Empire. It is about an election that got Bashar in after winning 99.999% votes. It is about beating a protester to a state of “brain death”. It is about all above.

The silent majority is silent because of the fear factor. Only Syrians understand the fear factor (remember Hama?).

The regime propaganda that declares demonstrators killing in the name of freedom is indeed laughable. Why then international press was never allowed in?

Would you knowing that I come from a multisectarian family including Alawites and that I hardly believe in any god make you consider that the Syrian revolution is not made up from Mundaseens, salafists, Jihadists and allahu Akbar sayers? Probably not! I must then be a Zionist or an American spy. Right? Oh, I forgot. Perhaps a Bandar or Harriri conspirator. I am neither. I am your average Syrian citizen.

Jad, thank you for sharing this statement.

Tara:

First, Syria is not a Alawi state, so no need for the silly comparison to the Jewish state. Second, Alawis in Syria are Syrians just like all other Syrians, and attacking them as a sect just because the Assad family is Alawi is among the most repugnant forms of sectarianism. Third, the fact that you can’t comprehend simple principles of citizenship renders all your calls for freedom hollow and highly suspect, as your understanding of Freedom conflicts with the very concept of the single life in society.

No Syrian should oppose a message of freedom and peace. The support for the regime is not as strong as some people think but many Syrians are able to see the whole picture and understand the horror of Iraqization of Syria.
Wisdom is often about choosing the lesser of two evils. The good news is that we may be able to avoid both evils if we stick together,oppose violence,push for reform and send a strong message to all that the old days of corruption and oppression are gone. The nation that introduced Ugarit alphabet,free trade and gave so much to humanity can and must prosper and advance.

Abughassan is right. Most Syrians do not like the regime but are aware enough not to fall into a deadly trap being set for them. We have actually achieved a lot in the last couple months as Syrians can now pressure the regime and push President Assad to effect real changes. But descending into chaos and using violence against our civilians and men in uniform will only destroy everything that has been achieved and will bring disaster to the country as a whole.

I declare tomorrow to be the Friday of relaxation so sit home and eat Fatte and fool and lets stop a moment to take a breath and come back from the brink, a lot of people will suffer in Syria if the economy tanks

Another blow to the meeting in Turkey: all Kurdish parties decided not to attend the meeting. Turkey is reportedly suggesting the inclusion of reps from the MB in a future unity government in Syria. This proposal is DOA and was only leaked to appease supporters of the ruling party in Turkey. Expect more bad news from Turkey.I believe in freedom of speech for all Syrians but I am not sure a college dropout with a Pony tail who lives in the US and receives foreign money to “advance” the cause of freedom can be called an opposition leader…

A Friday for Fatteh !!! Sounds good to me 🙂

Majedalkhadoon

I doubt there would any Turkish official to open the meeting. It is not organized by the Turkish government but by “Human Rights groups:. It is set in a hotel in Antalya. Its title: Syrian Conference for Changes” and some business men are invited ( in a human rights meeting??) .
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=syria-replaces-its-ambassador-to-turkey-2011-05-26

…Representatives from Muslim Brotherhood could participate at the Syrian opposition meeting which is slated to run from Tuesday to Thursday next week in the southern province of Antalya, the event’s organizer said.

“More than 200 people including writers, activists and businessmen are expected to attend the gathering. The slogan is ‘Syrian Conference for Change,’” Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the Egypt-based National Organization of Human Rights, told the Daily News on Thursday.

Syrian opposition leaders are to hold the conference to support the protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad; the Antalya event, however, will be different from the two previous conferences – which were held in Istanbul and hosted by Turkish organizations – as it will be solely organized by the National Organization of Human Rights.

Figures such as Dr. Abdul-Razzak Eid, head of the Declaration of Damascus; Mamoun Homsi, a former member of the Syrian Parliament; and some activists from the Kurdish opposition are likely to participate in the conference, Qurabi said, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood had not yet provided organizers with a list of its members scheduled to attend the event.

They also invited some members of the Independent Industrialists & Businessmen’s Association, or MUSİAD, Qurabi said. The conference will start with a reception on Tuesday while a discussion will take place on either Wednesday or Thursday at the Özkaymak Falez Hotel in Antalya….. (continue)

I wish I was in Damascus now so I can go to souqu al jumaa and eat fatte at booz al jedi,

فتءتللي جروحاتي يا اخ عباس. صحن فته بالشام هلء بيسوا عشرين مظاهره.روح الله يسامحك

Tara,

Its about freedom and dignity?…..

Let me be frank with you, since you describe yourself as an average syrian citizen. We have entertained freedom in all aspects of our life except political freedom. Now as you are like me an average syrian citizen, I do not think that you or either me will be running for that chair. I really care less about being part od any political party. I want the exact things that you seem not to care about, i want more jobs to be available, etc, because that what we should have as an average citizine. I cannot cash your freedom and your dignity to raise my family. Moreover, syria is the country of freedom. This freedom is what brought us to this mess. Our borders were free for your millitens to smugle weapons and so on.

Please stop talking about freedom and dignity as these two words became like alah wa akbar on every mouth of you islamists seeking revolutuin and ffff freedom. I would suggest that you define your dignity and freedom and weigh the benifit and risks of taking the country o the unknown. The hell that you will see shit freedom and you will see sectarian wars not dignity.

You say that the majority of sunnis are afraid. Yes they are afraid of peole like you. They discovered you and your plans early on. For that you do not see them on the streets. Go and listen to your clerk Alsysane what he said today and admitted and appologized for the unethical revolution. The revolution tha is based on the killing. The revolution tha is funded by wahabis. The revolution that is exposing minorities by your own wards “your wife is alawi”…..shame on you….sectarian…..sectarian…….

We will wake up on oher fffffffffff,,,,ing Friday, and another mosque, and other clerk, and other killers….you are killers…..

Abughassan, I always look forward to reading your next post. I found you to be knowledgeable, wise and straight forward thinker who discusses events in Syria objectively and intellectually. Syrians need people like you …Please keep on writing…l sincerely hope that people on both sides are reading any taking notes of your insights..

“The silent majority is silent because of the fear factor.”

According to all news channels from Aljazeera to ZNN, the revolution FB organizer ‘God’s fearing’ wacko, ponytail, the fake brit and their similar sisters who are barking like dogs for the West to occupy Syria, the UN and everybody in the whole world are telling us that the fear factor is gone, destroyed and shattered, therefore if the fear factor is GONE as everybody is saying then the silent majority are actually silent not out of fear but because they want to be silent they don’t agree with what they are seeing in the street of blood, destruction, chaos, sectarian and calls for foreign occupation.
The silent majority don’t want anybody to talk for them so they choose to stay silent, maybe their silence is what they want everybody to hear, maybe their silent is a call for peace and wisdom, or a form of democracy and freedom, so until the majority silent Syrians decide to change their surrounding and speak out their will the oppositions with their supporters in the street have no choice but to learn how to start a meaningful dialog, they need to learn how to form political parties and create visions for a free, independent and strong Syria instead of burning everything they touch even their own country.

If there is a government change by the americans, to serve american interests; I hope Syria does not get this!
http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/our-achievements-in-iraq.html

Dear JAD, you seem to be confusing silence with not demonstrating.

Yes the fear barrier has been shattered, by the braves, who have dared to demonstrate, unarmed against the bruital and heavily armed regime.

Courage is an innate ability, gifted by God.
The majority of people score average on the scale of courage.
A minority are either sqweemish or exceptionally couragous.
Marching in demonstraations in Syria Al Asad requires heroism, the ultimate of courage.

The young Syrian heroes are demonstrating for themselves and on behalf of their supporters, who are gifted with less courage.

The fear factor has been shattered by the ground activists, who are risking arrest and torture for breaking news of atrocities as they see it on the ground, to space channels around the world.

The fear factor has been shattered by us, pro-freedom bloggers, who have been emboldened by their demonstrating heroes on the ground.

The majority of non-demonstrating people are not silent.
They are cheering for the braves and celebrating their achievements.

If you really want to know where this non-demonstrating majority stand, then clear the streets of security thugs and 4th brigade mercenaries and you will hear their silence turn into defening roar:
Ma Min7ibbak Ma Min7ibbak,
Ir7al 3anna inta w 7izbak,
Allah, Sooriya, 7urriyeh w Bas!

REVLON –

It seems u are hanging on to the last glimmer of hope, that this revolution will actually achieve its main goals. Wake up and smell the coffee. Go find a job. Get a girlfriend. Go study. GET A LIFE. GAME OVER.

Befor we imported our revolution and discovered our dignity Friday was a :
Day of rest,spirit,prayers,barbequ,seran,ice-cream,going to parks and love.
After our dignity and freedom injected into our veins by Erdogan,Sarkozi,BIBI,Binder,Karadawi…it became a day of:
Stress,deaths,lies,disrupt,blood,crimes and hate.
Most of syrians now hate Friday
Most of syrians prefer the week to be 6 days
The revolutionists would rather it be 8 days and have 2 fridays
Go around Syria ask kids,ask shoppers ,lovers,worshippers,students :do you like Fridays?
Ask revenge and hateful hearts sitting in front of computers or I pads in London ,Stockholm ,Washington , and macca, do you like Fridays?
You will get tow different answers .
Let’s bury hate and revenge and try to reconcile.
Revolution which is striving on hate and revenge will build a nation of skulls.
Dismantling believers are day dreamers, this is not a bicycle,you know.this is a nuclear reactor , and if you dismantl it you will be the first one to be die.don’t fool yourself and believe the (Missy democracy)idiots.

90%of people meeting in Antalia are going there with hearts filled with hate and hungry for 30 years old revenge.None of them is representing the average lay Syrian .it is the same Iraq show with different actors names:pony tale instead of chalabi,MB instead of hizb aldawa and so forth.

I keep hearing:
“Allah, Sooriya, 7urriyeh w Bas!” Allah, Syria, Freedom only”
what is Allah has to do with Syria and Syrians. what about Syrians who do not beleive in Allah or his self proclaimed representatives?. Democracy 101

Has anyone looked at the list of the dead “peaceful protesters” the “opposition” is presenting? They have the names of many soldiers on there, but they list them as shot in the neck or back for refusing to shoot at demonstrators. They have the names of the 9 soldiers that died in the Homs ambush about 6 or 7 weeks ago, although video came out showing they were really ambushed by terrorists from the roof of a building and at the side of the highway. You can find the video on this blog.

They also have the names of the 10 people who were killed by terrorists who sprayed their microbus with bullets as they were coming back from work in Lebanon.

I wonder why was I able to see this in a couple of hours, while the “international community” is so retarded that it didn’t even bother checking before applying condemnations and sanctions?

I’m going to assume that you guys know about the flood that happened in Deir ez-Zor last month (since you read more than just western media, which completely ignored it) and that caused a lot of deaths too. I wonder if the names of those people are on the list. Anyone have a link with any names of the dead in that flood?

I wonder, were the 2 “dead” people that came back to life, after the prayer for the dead, included in that list?
(I can’t find the link for that anymore, any help would be appreciated.)
How about the “dead” people in the flying styrofoam coffins?
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9DrkYHzGV4)
How about all the “dead” from this orchestrated video? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3iD3BDNY6w&t=95)

What about all the armed terrorists that were killed? Are they included in the list too?

ورصاص بشكلكم

I don’t care if I piss any of you off, but that 1000 figure is clearly full of crap. I tend to believe government figures more.

I’ll be disappointed if I see any political reforms beyond allowing new parties to join in People’s Council elections. Lifting of emergency should allow freedom of expression, so there will be no problem there. If they want more, they can demonstrate legally asking for it, and the reforms will come if they have the numbers to back up their demands.

The people who want more political reforms are all outside the country, foreign-funded, living in villas, and irrelevant. Anyone, who thinks those “Syrian” “human rights” associations are really looking out for our human rights, is a fool. No other president would have survived what this president has had to go through since 2000 with scheme after scheme after scheme. The world wants to remove him from power not for our benefit, but for theirs and Israel’s. Don’t make things more complicated than they are.

The regime survives on national unity, and not on sectarian division as so many people tried to say. Nobody belonging to a minority sect can survive on sectarian division when one sect composes almost 75% of the population. Since day 1, and it became more apparent when things first started in Lattakia within the first week, those “protesters” were trying to create sectarian divisions and trying to get sectarian wars going. Now we’re seeing today they’re trying to convince the Sunni soldiers to turn on the regime, their writers trying to say Alawite shabbiha are killing Sunni protesters, and Robert Fisk saying the army told the Alawites of Tel Kalakh to go home before shooting at all the Sunnis, while the government from day 1 has been preaching national unity. So tell me, who is surviving on national unity and who is surviving on sectarian divisions?

Fi Dimashq

Good luck to all the participants in the conference next week.

I do hope that the participants will be able to recognise and keep focus on the main and overriding issue: Democracy in Syria.
Democracy in its truest and deepest meaning: Freedom, Equality, Justice and Dignity to all Syrians regardless of their ethnicities, religions and political affiliations. If such consensus can be achieved and maintained then disagreement and differences on technicalities can be viewed as enriching.

May the Road to Democracy in Syria be the Road to Damascus and may it be via Antalya and via anywhere else – let’s just get there!

Tara,

“Listen to yourself “hah, freedom blah blah blah peace and stability”. Syrians have made it clear: They are not going to be held hostage to the so called “stability” . Stability that quickly disintigrated with few school-aged children spraying a paint on a wall in Daraa copying what they heard in Tunis and Egypt. Stability that lead a cousin of Assad to arrest those children, beat them up, and get their fingernails pulled.”

Agreed, but many Syrians disagree on the avenues that some are taking to achieve the change and reforms.

“Is it your Syrian Alawite marriage that rendered you unable to really symathize with Syrian calls for freedom?”

How do you think 3aref Dalila, Aktham Nu3ayseh, Mumtaz Sulayman, Lu2i Houssein would feel about such remarks. They are Alawites and in the oppoition and have paid years of their lives in jail.

“I suggest you put your effort into increasing awareness of the Syrian longing for freedom instead of your balatant attempt to sound smart.”

And does the like of your comment regarding Dr. Landis marriage to an Alwaite help this purpose.

“Would you knowing that I come from a multisectarian family including Alawites and that I hardly believe in any god make you consider that the Syrian revolution is not made up from Mundaseens, salafists, Jihadists and allahu Akbar sayers? Probably not! I must then be a Zionist or an American spy. Right? Oh, I forgot. Perhaps a Bandar or Harriri conspirator. I am neither. I am your average Syrian citizen.”

I truly believe that you are your average Syrian citizens, but as the same time, you have to accept that people who may disagree with you or may see things differently are not regime supports, mouth of the regime, sounding like security agencies, but just your average Syrian citizen.

# 40 Jad,

We are told by the zealots revolutionaries in this comment section and previous ones that the wall of fear has been shattered. At the same time we are told by the same crowd that the silent majority is silent because of the fear factor.

So which is which?

Mr President,it’s an answer to Allah The dictator..w bass.

Freedom and karameh should come above all ,because only free non humiliated people can build a healthy spirituality.

Kanj,

Young educated and non corrupt people like Revlon are the future of Syria.
Do you still believe that people like the Makhloufs and Asads are of divine nature and can resist against the laws of history ?
Syria is retrieving its place within its natural environment.
Asads,are like the Gazan,Timur Lank and Hulaku ,a black page in syrian history.

Ghadri and Rifaat ,are not part of the syrian opposition.

As for the divisions within the syrian opposition ,it’s a healthy thing ,why should they form one block ?

The opposition should be led by the young faces like Ridwan Ziyadeh.

SHAMI

people like you shouldnt speak about Karameh because they have none and deserve none and they dont even understand what it is .

Syrian people dont want ZOMBIES like you in Syria . Find another place . Go to KSA there is plenty of space there and 72 virgins waiting for you. Hurry then and join your history … in hell 🙂

Vlad,
Your stance is that of asad-makhlouf,stay with them till the end.
You are aware that change is inescapable ,arrogance is sign of weakness and your hezbollahi ideal has no place in our culture ,as we refuse the moukhabarati culture,this is for sure ,our people will elect their politicians.

your likes are not syrian if ever they were

Mark this : Syria and all syrians vomit you.

Now you are laughing and mocking like a coward. But your end are gonna be very ugly i tell you.

Remember that : you are a zombie and you will remain a zombie. There shall be no mercy

I fart on your face 🙂

The Syrian opposition figures are the reasons why they could not topple the rule of al-Assad yet. This opposition is weak and fragmented. Each has a group and the only thing that unify them is the hatred of al-Assad’s family, and of course a sectarian hatred towards the Alawis.

It is obvious that most of these opposition figures think they will be presidents, or ministers. That is why each one of them is trying to outdo the other to the delight of al-Assad of course.

It is funny how the Guardian chose five leaders only.

A friend of mine always said: all of them worth nothing if they do not have soldiers and tanks in a place like Syria with its current complex calculations.

The real leaders are the ones on the ground with some street pull and some weapons. We are talking Syria here.

Among the five, the man from Dara sounds as a reasonable candidate, but as we know, Sheikh al-Siasneh the Imam of al-Umari Mosque would have more pull and had played a major role already. Same goes to Baniyas, where عيروط plays a major role. The real leaders that emerged so far are from the Sunni Mosque structure or the religious figures on TV inciting things.
Here, al-3Ar3ur العرعور, comes to be of more importance than all of the so called opposition leaders combined, since his call for the Allahu Akbar screams had created some drama here and there.

The real leader of what goes on is the mosque regardless to the many opposition figures sitting behind the internet doing the propaganda. There is no other place than the mosque and the mosque’s ideology will sooner or later become the most obvious one with the days to come. This mosque in these days has struck an alliance with internet to run what goes on.

Shami

are you Syrian? if you were could you please tell me why you are so angry of Hizbuallah? please dont give me the Al Manar coverage answer.

thank you

USAMA

“No other president would have survived what this president has had to go through since 2000 with scheme after scheme after scheme”

this is 100% true. I think that most average syrian citizens are aware of this.

landis @ alex
can you please control the comments.. what’s going on with frekean shar….t vlad-the-syrian !!!

ATASSI #57

you zombie coward you are angry because it is the truth

Majedalkahldoon

#9

“Today Davidoglo said Bashar needs an electric shock”

Excuse to correct you. You misread or misinterpreted the declaration of Davutoglu. It is not Bashar who needs a ‘shock therapy’, it is Syria and it is Bashar who should administer it! Please read what al Jazeera wrote:

“Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, meanwhile, called on Thursday for Syria to institute reform “shock therapy” in order to restore stability to the country. He said President al-Assad must implement a package of economic, security, judicial and political reforms”

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/201152791250989274.html

the average Syrian NEVER heard of any name of the so called oppositions ,that dose not make them not an opposition but they are no more than individuals who are against the way Syria is ruled , no wonder the average Syrian dose not care about politics he has two chooses either support totalitarian state or support individuals with personal and moral problems who were controlled of revenge desire and ready to commit any crime to achieve their destructive goal .

Desperately looking for Bouthaina! Did any one see Bouthaina lately? Please contact the lost & found. I miss her. Especially I miss the “s” and “sh”. I would like to ask her if she still thinks the “regime has the upper hand”.

Desperately looking for the president, the head of this junta. For god sake, where is he? Playing Badminton all day with his Vogue top model? in times like this? Don’t leaders supposed to talk to their peoples? guide them? explain to them their policies? Something?

Playing Badminton all day, and issuing strange decrees about additional marks for students? Is this what presidents do? Do you see Obama or PM Netanyahu issuing a decree like this? The press would eat them alive, while their hand is still holding the pen.
.

Jad

Is the call for the Army to join the protesters after the friday prayers as successful as the recent call for a general strike?

What’s in the menu for next Friday, which by the way will be day after the meeting in Turkey closes?

WD 59

and who is this turkish Davutoglu to say that Syria need a “shock therapy” ?

Does he know better than syrians what reforms are needed for Syria ?

Please tell me on behalf on what he is speaking ? on behalf of the Antalya meeting so-called opposition or rather on that of the ex-Ottoman empire ? Dont you see the arrogance of this kind of declaration. Are you syrian ?

60 LOUAI

“either support totalitarian state”

we had “dictatorship” now we have “totalitarian state” !

go tell that to real syrians not coward zombies and appointed isrealis contributors, watch their reactions and give back your report

Saudis worry about the MB and ambivalent towards Syria.

“The Saudis worry that an empowered Muslim Brotherhood could damage Saudi legitimacy by presenting a model of Islamic law different from the Wahhabi tradition of an absolute monarch.”

…On Syria, an initial statement of support by King Abdullah for President Bashar al-Assad has been followed by silence, along with occasional calls at Friday Prayer for God to support the protesters. That silence reflects a deep ambivalence, analysts said. The ruling Saudi family personally dislikes Mr. Assad — resenting his close ties with Iran and seeing Syria’s hand in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, a Saudi ally. But they fear his overthrow will unleash sectarian violence without guaranteeing that Iranian influence will be diminished.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/world/middleeast/28saudi.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

vlad-the- Kourdahi

you are worthless,@#%^%$&^*(((

NO amnesty for the terrorists that killed, tortured our fellow Syrians.. NEVER will be forgiven, all their names are known.. You can’t hid ..

Mjabali,the mosque and the shouyoukhs are absent,they are factor of decadence,they lost their appeal ,the arab young people are dying for liberal values …the dictatorial arab regimes based their policy on an alliance with the “men of religion” and the new rich corrupt merchants but this order is being shocked nowadays.
As most of these men of religion and merchants are corrupts and hypocrites ,when the road turns for good ,they will be the first to curse Asad and call to war against them.

Louai, i’m an aleppine ,for hezbollah ,unlike aboali,i did not wait these last events in order to begin to hate him,nasrollah is a puppet of the extremist shia theocracy which cultivate a culture of hatred and revenge towards Sunnism in general(90 % of arabs and muslims are Sunnis)they tried to export this culture through the syrian mukhabarat and nasrollah ,it’s an act of agression.This is regardless of the situation inside Iran and the totalitarian nature of the regime,philosophically i’m against clericalism and for liberal democracy which must be the modern form and a logical evolution of al shura, and this is for what the young iranians are struggling for,also i dont like demagogia ,especialy from those hypocrites who exploit the palestinian cause for selfish political/sectarian aim.

Amir in Tel Aviv,

“Desperately looking for Bouthaina! Did any one see Bouthaina lately? Please contact the lost & found. I miss her. Especially I miss the “s” and “sh”.

Also “Desparately looking for the president”.

It sounds to me like you’r desparately looking for a life.

No, Netanyahu is too busy denying the Palestinians their rights to their own land. Obama on the other hand is too busy handing over 3 billion dollars for military aid to help Israel in their continual denial of rights to the Palestinians.

Vlad

Erdogan is a friend of Bashar Al Assad and a political and regional partner to Syria. Despite a few awkward declarations (mentionning Hama and Halabja) he is the only regional leader who has consistently opposed any call to remove Bashar. In the contrary he has expressed publicly that he believes Bashar Al Assad can lead the reforms. In my view this last declaration of Davutglu should be taken in this context. I agree that it could be perceived as a condescending statement but I see it also as warning to the opposition that the ‘shock therapy’ may be addressed to them too.
I am not defending what he says, just reporting it and correcting MajedAlKhaldoon’s reporting.

The US has no plan for Syria except for pushing for an accelerated collapse (with all what it means for the people inside Syria. The blood sucking vampires are cheering)
http://mideastwire.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/no-plan-for-syria-except-for-pushing-for-an-accelerated-collapse/

Dear vlad-the-syrian

i am a real Syrian i hope 🙂

do we have democracy?

the point is there is no democracy in the general meaning of the word in Syria however that is not the main problem , corruption is the main problem, when you read the name of the so called opposition you hardly know any of their names before the last three months and that alone a pity .

there are no ‘real Syrians’ and fake ones ..people should not speak the same idea to be ‘real Syrian’ deference is healthy .
i know you are angry and fourouse as any Syrians now days and you have all the reasons to be but most people you attack in this blog ‘apart of the Israelis’ are people who believe the Media stories about hte killing and they buy the opposition story that says the shabiha is killing the army and the amy is killing the protesters and the protestors are peaceful so no need to attack them in person and use nasty words with them ,

Louai,what’s your problem with Ridwan Ziyadeh ,Samir Aita or Burhan Ghalioun ?
When the democratic process will be launched in Syria ,hundreds of young figures will appear ,Syria is not in lack of capacities.
It’s not difficult to have less corrupt and less criminal more capable than Maher ,Bashar,Shaleesh ,Rami.

WD

“Erdogan is a friend of Bashar Al Assad”

This is naive. The turkish stance is pure diplomacy (*) and we are actually in a state of war.

(*) war in other terms

MNA,

Yours was the first unretarded response I heard so far. I must say I agree with you. I do not believe in guilt-by-association or in stereotyping and it was indeed an inappropriate initial comment. I was raised with Alawites. They are my family and friend. They were my mentors and teachers. Some of them are indeed Syrian heroes. I however believe the regime kidnapped Alawitehood from them in a very similar manner of how Islam was kidnapped by 9/11 terrorists.

MNA: Like any average Syria citizen, I watch daily on you-tube the savage crimes committed against the Syrian people by the regime thugs and get angry, very very angry. Like any average Syrian citizen, I feel hopeless and helpless as I see Hama unfolding all over again. Like average Syrian citizen, I am held back by an intense fear. Like average Syrian citizen, I worried about what would happen to the Palestinian cause if Al-Assad falls. Like average Syrian citizen, I am losing my long-held infatuation of Hizbullah.

And, like average Syrian citizen as I heard Rami Makhlouf and many others regime propagandists, I came to realize that the regime is not salvageable.

13 year old , was arrested healthy, brough back to his family,clear evidence of torture, evidence of bullets in his body, and his genital were cut,this happened in Syria,and the proregime defend the regime ,how awefull.

Syrian state is controlled by assad alawite 100%,to deny that is denying the truth.
syrian soldiers were killed , but who killed them ?the protesters are not armed, the innuendo that protesters killed them lack proof,we need investigations,deceiving statements,and innuendo are absurd,and prove that whoever saying this,is biased,and criminal,and has no credibilty,their comments are pure nonsense.

WD

you said it , davutoglu said syria needs shock therapy,and I say this is true.

LOUAI

ok thank you

you say “corruption is the main problem”

this is also true. But could you please develop ? At what level lies the corruption in Syria ? Please dont tell me about Makhlouf etc… i already know that. Can you assert that a 23 millions state is as much corrupted as you appear to think ? who really are the corrupted in Syria ? I mean do you have a deep analysis of this phenomenon ?

Majedkhaldoon,

As we have seen in past videos, people that are tortured, their bodies sprayed with bullets and their corpses mutilated, including genitals being cut off, is the work of the Islamists of the revolution.

There have been many, including the executed general, his 2 sons and nephew, the 3 farmers, Nidal Jannoud, and many alike who were all slain and mutilated and bodies sprayed with bullets. The 3 farmers I know first hand all had their genitals cut off and bodies mutilated. These people are some in many that along with the other pro revolutionists here, you do not seem to acknowledge.

When I saw the video of this child, it reminded me the clips I’ve seen of others murdered and mutilated purely because of their sect. Murder and mutilation is the stamp of the muslim brotherhood not of the Syrian army. Syrians are aware of that.

Syau
the child was arrested by syrian mukhabarat,was picked healthy, and surprising you accuse the musslem brotherhood of doing that!
that is weired

Shami

i had no problem with them i actually never heard of them before and that is the problem ,what i wanted to say is they do not represent the Syrians who are on the streets neither any one else ,we have been introduced to many figures who call themselves opposition and they speak on behalf of the Syrians whilst they live outside Syria and spread lies about what happening in Syria and get financial support to ‘promote democracy’ in Syria and beg the west to intervene and invade their countries and kill their own families and friends ,those are no opposition those are traitors .
i think the Media hunger to interview someone created many of them who were no one before . i wonder if the so called opposition meeting in Antalia have any power on the people protesting on the street! would they stop if they ask them to do so? i doubt it ,in my opinion the protestors will listen only to their Imams and no one eles .

majedkhaldoon

the boy was killed by monsters no doubt
if the Mukhabarat did all this ,why would they do that and then give the body to his family as a clear evedince on the tortuer?

he was dies because of two bulits ! so why touruer him? please ask yourself those questions !

Majedkhaldoon,

Which network reported he was arrested and returned in that state?

If he was actually arrested by security forces, he would be detained full stop. They would not kill him or mutilate his body and any sane person would see that.

I repeat myself, murder and mutilation especially in this ‘revolution’ is the work of the Islamists of the revolution. No other person would have that much deep seeded evil that would enable them to murder and mutilate, especially a child.

majedkhaldoon

the boy was killed by monsters no doubt i saw it on Al Jazeera ,it says he was arrested but dose not say by whom ,
if the Mukhabarat did all this ,why would they do that and then give the body to his family as a clear evidence on the torture??

he was died because of two bullets ! so why torture him? Please ask yourself those questions!

Tara,

“MNA: Like any average Syria citizen, I watch daily on you-tube the savage crimes committed against the Syrian people by the regime thugs and get angry, very very angry.”
How come you rely on youtube videos to become angry if you already live in Syria? I don’t think Syrians in Syria spend their time watching youtube. The youtube videos are for external use, they are not for Syrians. Slogans are written in English.
You better check these youtube videos, they are meant to make you angry, if you are living outsided Syria, this is their primal (and primary) goal.

Tara, for what you said and for all the reasons stated above, I don’t believe for a second you are Syrian living inside Syria and I don’t believe for a second that you have Alawi friends or whatsoever.

Mina, you are wasting your time.

The comment section of this blog is litterally occupied Zionist territory. As Syria Comment is where people go for info on Syria, this is where the zionist propaganda hopes to influence yet more young Syrians…

I posted before that once the Ghadafi regime is tackled the screws will turn on Bashar.
Russia essentially changed its position today at the G8 summit and will allow for a regime change in Libya. The question is how much is the EU/US willing to pay Russia to mute its support and change its position.

I believe that there is a lot more internal flight of money than what is reported. Not everyone has the ability to transfer to Lebanon or some other place and therefore they put it in mattresses and what have you.

WD says that I tend to paint a dark picture and that I do not have faith in the young educated generation. Well when the regime by decree changes the grading of the exams and gives the students extra points that tells you that this education system is rotten to the core like the rest of the country.

We are being outperformed and outclassed and outeducated and outsmarted by at least 2 billion Asians and more coming and all of them want to have KFC and eat beef and this spells doom for our ability to feed our population and to subsidies food and fuel.

The apologists for the regime keep saying that the change to come has to be orderly and slow paced, well we have been waiting for that for at least 10 years and the latest decrees have not changed the mentality of brutality and torture and force and mass killings.

In the arm chair of the distance from the day to day suffering of the people, one can pontificate about necessary and slow and orderly change while in the streets barbaric elements are wrecking havoc.

Finally, the regime is sectarian and there is no denying this aspect of the reality. It is even as sectarian as the most fanatic of Salafis when it comes to its grip on power.

This regime is a disaster to the people of Syria and cares about one thing only staying in power even if it means over the ruins of the country and the mass graves of the people.

Sophia,

First jihadist then zionist?

Your belief system is retarded and not even worth a reply.

Another day in ‘liberated’ and ‘democratic’ Iraq

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/27/gunment-kill-iraqi-finding-saddam-supporters

Observer

“I posted before that once the Ghadafi regime is tackled the screws will turn on Bashar.

I think Yemen has a highest priority on short term, no?
When do you think Libya will be free of Ghadafi? The after Ghadafi may be as long and difficult for the alliance of European countries as the after Saddam for the US, no?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/africa/27policy.html

Louai,

Al Jazeera is the only network thus far to air the clip. It seems as though the network is still working on air first and if not varified, not to worry, just air it again.

# 85 Tara,

I did not mention jihadists in my comment, that’s your invention. But you are right, jihadists and zionists are very much the same.

And as an example, one can clearly see how they agree with each other in the comments on this blog.

the group of 8 moderated its stance towards the Syrian regime due to pressure from Russia and the advice given by Turkey. It seems that most people want to see what Bashar and the regime as a whole will respond before they make another move. the time is ripe to get started with serious dialogue following the release of political prisoners, a demand that tops the wish list of most people.
I saw the interview of Sheikh Siasneh on government TV, he was uncomfortable but not frightened. Much of what went through was prepped and sounded like recitation. At the end, Siasneh prayed for the safety of Syria and its people but did not mention Asad.when he was done, I felt like I am not in love with neither he nor the interviewer. He obviously realized that he is going nowhere and decided to bite his wounds and go with the flow (he met Bashar)and wait like most Syrians for better days. the guy,in my opinion, was not sincere but he had limited options. there were reports, I could not verify, that his own children were involved in the uprising. Did one of his sons die ?

Abughassan

The draft of the G8. I doubt the threat will remain in the final text. The western countries need too much Russia (for Libya) to displease it now.

(AFP)

27 May 2011, 12:20 PM
DEAUVILLE — A draft statement by G8 leaders on Friday said “we will consider action in the United Nations Security Council” if Syria does not stop using force against protesters.

G8 talks were ongoing in the French resort of Deauville and it was not clear whether the draft’s strong language would be kept in the final declaration, with Russia in particular wary of threatening a Middle East ally.

“We call on the Syrian leadership immediately to stop using force and intimidation against the Syrian people and to respond to the legitimate expression of the demands of the Syrian people,” the draft said.

“We also call for the release of all political prisoners in Syria… Should the Syrian authorities not heed this call, we will consider action in the United Nations Security Council,” it warned.

Tara,

I appreciate your thoughts and feelings as a Syrian. Apparently the regime wants to you to shut up and accept their leadership for as long as the Assad family survives father-to-son, to-grandson, until time ends. So don’t make too much noise or risk personal injury. I understand your fear.

Anyway you stated:

Like average Syrian citizen, I worried about what would happen to the Palestinian cause if Al-Assad falls.

What happened to the Palestinian cause the 14 years Jr. wasn’t so beseiged by protesters. Same question about the Golan? Same question about the resistance heroes of Hizbullah.

The Arab-Israeli conflict will have to negotiated along the Syrian and Palestinian borders.

I assume these aren’t the most pressing issues for the “average Syrian” right now, but perhaps I’m wrong.

# 90 and # 91 Abughassan and WD,

Another factor that might not be dismissed are the tensions between Obama on one hand and KSA. The kingdom hysterical diplomatic and military entanglements in yemen, Bahrain and Lybia (and the GCC), accompanying the death of one of their sons, Bin Laden, and the fall of their closest ally Mubarak, are signs that KSA and the US are not playing exactly the same game. At the end of the day, Obama will act in USrael’s inetrests, even though he is trying to reassure Saudi Arabia.

There is growing internal dissent in Saudi Arabia and the kingdom is afraid and does not trust the US anymore. So even though Saudi Arabia might seem behind some elements of the Syrian revolution, at the end of the day, all what it looks for is internal stability, and it can easily silence its clientele who are agitating the revolution in Syria. This might still a possibility…

Just think for one second if you are a Saudi ruler, you know that the US is not a sure ally, you know that Iran has become powerful and you know that your rule might come to an end. On the other hand, Iran is in the same situation. So the two countries might come to an agreement in order to stiffle internal dissent. One cannot fight on the inetrnal and the external levels at the same time and what is important for Iran and Saudi Arabia is the survival of their theocracies. At the same time, both theocracies might not like an open sectarian war in countries that have communities who are their traditional allies. Because a sectarian war is chaos and it might make things more uncontrollable for them.

Saudis went the neocon way up to now because they felt helpless after 9/11. Now things are different, they feel threatened internally and their anxiety at loosing their grip on power can either lead to secatrian wars which will benefit USrael and the neocons only or to a restructuring of the middle east. If Saudis want to keep some kind of control their interests is to avoid sectarian wars. One sign Hariri is agitating his thugs in lebanon is that he doesn’t feel backed by SA all the way, otherwise why doesn’t he just sit and watch?

The coming days and weeks wil tell which direction SA will take but I bet on a rapprochement with Iran. Mark my word.

I I were Assad, I will present the two regional powers in the ME with this choice. Syria can effect such a restructuring and it will do so. I have lived the civil war in Lebanon and saw alliances change over night. The US, Israel and the necons still don’t understand the ME.

If you want any sign for a major shift just watch Al-jazeera. Actually I don’t watch the channel, let me know when it will change its coverage of Syria.

Akbar Palace,

for many years, I believed the regime stand in regard to the palestinian cause. To state it simply:I no longer believe it!

You are unlikely to achieve any progress on that front except with free democratic Syria.

# 92 AP,

“The Arab-Israeli conflict will have to negotiated along the Syrian and Palestinian borders.” Which ones ?

Sophia

You are right…

Saudi Arabia Scrambles to Limit Region’s Upheaval

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/world/middleeast/28saudi.html

Shami

You are wrong when you said that al-Mashayeikh and the Mosque are absent. You are not seeing the truth. You are also wrong when you said that Arab Youth across the board want liberal ideas. They want freedom of a sort from the dictators that rule the middle east, but do they want LIBERAL ideas: I doubt that. You want to convince me that the ones demonstrating and screaming Allahu Akbar want LIBERAL ideas? please do not generalize, and look at what do these want. They said it loud and clear: :They want some one who fear Allah. Is that a Liberal theory? Is there any Liberty under any Ismalic rule? Do you think that establishing a Religious State is a step toward Liberalism?

As for the MEN of RELIGION: it is obvious that there are two types: those with the Assad’s government and those opposing it, and in my opinion they all will follow their sectarian minds when the time is right.

Remember mr Shami that the Sunni religious establishment in Syria is a joke and the ones that count and control the streets are not those in positions appointed by al-Assad and his government.

Tara

My observation is that the majority or Arabs reject Israel and that 40 years peace with Egypt was possible only because it was ruled by a corrupted and authoritarian leader. Let’s see how a democratic Egypt will deal with Israel under the pressure of its people.
Israel, if it wants to survive, will now have to do a lot of effort to get the heart and minds of the Egyptians (and the other Arab emerging democracies). Money will not be enough anymore as there’ll nobody to buy out anymore. After 40 years of taking it easy on the Egyptian front, Israel has to show a sweet face, can it?
Syria has been consistent in its antagonism to Israel, I doubt a more democratic Syria will change anything, in fact it could be even worse.

Why-Discuss

Why not? Why wouldn’t free democratic Syria have a better chance in regard to the Palestinian cause?

After all freedom loving people want to see freedom in Palestine too. Freedom to them is a universal value applicable to all.

On the othe hand, brutal oppressive regime that is wiilling to sacrifice the 4 year old who was shot in her eye by one of their coward sniper would not care less about freedom in Palestine or any where else for that matter

# 99 Tara,

Would you advocate also a free and democratic Jordan on the Israeli border?

Yes Sophia. Everywhere. This is a universal value.

Tara,

We all want democratic reform in Syria, but we do not want to destroy Syria like Iraq and then rebuild it , Syria is not rich to do that, The president just need to move faster and declare a comprehensive program for reform , release the political prisoners and call for discussion on his program, I think that he will do that soon .

Norman,Syria is not Iraq,unlike Iraq,the shia extremist factor which could be used by the iranian theocrats is not present ,there is a homogeneous majority in most parts of Syria add to this that the syrian people and Turkey ,Arab countries(people) dont want Syria to be destroyed ,so be sure that Syria can not be destroyed.
Only the statues of Asad will be destroyed.

Tara
You picked very good name:Tara=Terror
Freedom and democracy in your dictionary are a fashion.you know that democracy will be hijacked by your friends in MB.They will be hungry for power and for applying there senile agenda,which will lead to عرعرةsyria orعرقنتها.if you don’t see that then you either have poor vision or you are working on that destructive goal.No one wants Assad for ever but if you don’t see the big hol planned by evils to trap Syria in,then you are either blind or you are helping digging it.

It is amazing. Reading this comment section, I keep reading some of the most sectarian and racist remarks about our fellow Syrians from western educated and western born Syrians. I guess them having lived in democratic societies and received great western liberal education were not enough to shed their family inherited sectarian believes. On this site we hear repeated sectarian arguments by many western educated commentators. Shami used the term Batini ( Fake Muslims ) to describe other Syrians, a derogatory term used by radical Sunnis and wahhabis describing differing Muslim sects. Tara used the term “his wife is Alawite”. As if the only good Syrian wives/mothers/sisters are our Sunni women. Shame on Tara. These radical Syrians tell us that sectarianism is a result of Syria’s current political institutions and environment. They want to tell us that it has nothing to do with their family, and their radical religious belief,… If this is true then how did they become sectarian while living ABROAD? It would be a disaster for Syrian minorities and Sunni majority if such sectarian non-representative Syrians took control.

Tara,

Welcome to the unretarded revolutionary camp. Since you sound like a reasonable person, and your views are moderate and wise, expect personal attacks from the retarded reactionary camp, led by the arch retarded Sophia. Just get used to it, and don’t pay too much attention.
.

Mr President ,be careful ,what i said ,is that Bashar is the zahir and Maher,Asef,Makhlouf are the batin,so they can not be separated.
And i see no wrong to use this word,in an academic way ,this term means hermeticism ,and shia heterodox sects are caracterized by an hermetic veil on religious teachings.
It’s also valid for Sufi teachings in a Sunni context.
Also a batini ,could be used pejoratively ,but it doesnt target a specific group but only a dubois behavior.(it’s valid for al Bouti for example)
Despite this more than 40 years old sectarian selection from the regime,the syrians still resist to fall into generalizations against the alawites.I spoke to many people ,and all agree that the alawites are innocent from Asad crimes.

Yes Sophia. Everywhere. This is a universal value.

Three Cheers for Tara!

Lululululul!

107 President

i would like to add that the way our alawites brothers are depicted and talken about by many contributors is unfair and utterly shameful.

i agree also on what you said earlier

“what about Syrians who do not beleive in Allah or his self proclaimed representatives? ?”

what about syrians who do not believe in God at all , therefore in neither jewish christian of muslim big lies ?

TARA

You sound well informed about Alawites

“Aren’t All important posts in the 17 security branches are occupied by Alawites”

where did you get that from ?

then you say

“I was raised with Alawites. They are my family and friend. They were my mentors and teachers. Some of them are indeed Syrian heroes. I however believe the regime kidnapped Alawitehood from them in a very similar manner of how Islam was kidnapped by 9/11 terrorists.
”
no doubt about your familiarity with the alawites and with heroism but
can you develop more please about this operation of kidnappig Alwithood ? i mean do you have facts evidence even some leaks ? 🙂

Dear Mr. Pres, @ 107

Excellent observation, I concur

to understand where those people ( wahabbies etc.. ) are coming from and who created them just go and Google them you will be very surprised. And i think you know already that there are a lot of fake Syrians and none Syrian those just need to spreed false info about Syria for a well designed plan for the destruction of Syria in this blog and all over now.

Today if we the Syrian will not be united regardless who we are .. Syria will suffer huge consequence . let’s be united

Syria first …..

ASGHAR PALACE

sure hence you have to allow me the right to think that your weapon monger universalism is very suspect

# 103 Tara,

I think people have been very naive about democracy. Democracy without security, social justice and the rule of law is not a democracy.

It is not enough to call for demcoracy day and night, one must work toward democracy. Can you tell me how revilutionaries in the streets of Syria are working toward democracy?

# 110 AP,

Don’t cheer too early! I don’t know how many of you are paid by Israeli propaganda machine but I will defeat your arguments one by one.

112 ANTON

YES furthermore i think that RESISTANCE = REVOLUTION

those so-called revolutionaries (note they dont call themselves just reformers for that wouldnt be enough) are actually THE reactionaries.

i’m sure you understand that i’m not talking only about resistance as it is now facing this present azmah …

#49 Sophia
I agree, it’s confusing, is the fear is shattered or not! I’m waiting for a confirmation from the Guardian!

#60 WD
Erdogan just called Bashar
الرئيس الأسد يتلقى اتصالاً من أردوغان عبر فيه عن حرص تركيا على العلاقة الاستراتيجية بين البلدين وتطويرها
دمشق-سانا
تلقى السيد الرئيس بشار الأسد اتصالا هاتفيا اليوم من رجب طيب أردوغان رئيس وزراء تركيا عبر فيه عن حرص تركيا على العلاقة الاستراتيجية بين البلدين والشعبين الصديقين والحفاظ على مستوى هذه العلاقة وتطويرها في المستقبل
http://sana.sy/ara/2/2011/05/27/349220.htm

#63WD
No army joined any protests, so 7umat Aldiyar stayed together.

Until now according to some Syrian human rights activists at least 8 casualties, 3 in Qa6ana, 1 in Zabadani, 3 before the day started in da3l (I’m not buying the story though, it sounds the kind you use to get people in the street, they were killed because they went on the roof to call for prayer!) and 1 in Jableh.
Technically speaking 5 killed during the demonstrations out of 15-20 protests of 15-17.000 in total all over Syria (I may be wrong on the numbers but checking the videos it looks close to my number) Aljazeera report 30.000 in Alrastin, the videos doesn’t support that number at all, it’s no more than 7-8000. The strange things is that in Alrastin the biggest protest of today until now 8:50 Syria time no report of any casualty at all, which again show that if the protests is peaceful and organized nobody get hurt.
The one weird (stupid) banner I read today was:
حماة الديار عليكم سلام ، الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام
Don’t they see the contradiction in that sentence after all what they wrote and after all the hate messages and condemnation they said about the ‘sectarian’ army and the killing done toward 7mat aldiyar including today’s in Qa6ana..

Form the army side, around 10 injured and one unconfirmed casualty in Qa6ana because women start throwing from their own balconies concert blocs over the security personnel’s heads and probably killed one and injured couples.

Hopefully today we wont read or hear about any more casualties, GOD WILLING!

Tara

If Syria is split in several small countries with inhabitants of the same ethnic/religious group then they could more easily become democratic but probably loosing their power because of their reduced size and ressources. Yougoslavia is an example of such split.
You seem to ignore or minimize the role ethnicity and religion play in any society. Especially in Arab countries were religions have still a very important role in the psyche of the people. I go even further: it is in their genes. Sunnis are generally sometimes illogically suspicious of Shias, Christians of Moslems, etc…
Of course if you can ignore the history, the religion, the ethnicity, then you are right about democracy being a universal need, but that is not the reality on the ground.
Israel has been an easy ‘democracy’ partly because they are of the same religion and they are obliged to tolerate the 20% moslem Arabs. It is also convenient as they can claim they are not a racist society.
Of course Israel hopes that Syria, Iraq etc.. split into small countries to justify and ensure its own existence.
If you believe in the unity of a country and an Arab identity and culture, then you can’t accept that any Arab country be split on ethnic/religious lines. This has happen in Sudan and probably will happen in Libya and there is strong pressures that it happens in Iraq and it could have happened in Lebanon in the 80’s.
Now for you to decide if unity is a priority or not. For me it is. I would accept sometimes difficult compromises to preserve the unity of Syria or any Arab country.

A bomb has hit a UN convoy near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, wounding six Italian peacemakers, officials say.

Italian military spokesman Massimo Fogari said two soldiers were in a serious condition. Earlier reports said one peacekeeper had died.

A spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) told Reuters the bomb had been aimed at a logistics convoy.

SOPHIA

do you comment on french blogs please ?

Atassi,

“vlad-the- Kourdahi”

I always read your comments and found them interesting to read, however, you are being too emotional and borderline Sec..

majedkhaldoon

“Syrian state is controlled by assad alawite 100%,to deny that is denying the truth.”

Are Ali Mamlook, Manaf Tlass, Walid Al-Mu3alem, Farouq Al-Share3, 3adel Safar, 7amsho, Na7as, 3attar etc…. Alawi? And are the Alawis living in homes made of tanak in Sumarieh and Dimas etc… ruling Syria?

🙂

المخبر القطري ياسر ابو هلالة سأل: عن اية سورية يدافعون …. ونحن نجيب

May 27 2011 10:42

عرب تايمز – خاص

الافتتاحية

بعد كشفنا للدور الذي يقوم به المخبر الاردني الذي يعمل في محطة الجزيرة القطرية ياسر ابو هلالة الذي اعترف خطيا انه يقوم بتجنيد شهود عيان عبر غرفة عمليات اقامتها له الجزيرة على الحدود السورية قرب الرمثا … كتب ياسر ابو هلالة مقالا في جريدة الغد الاردنية جعل له العنوان التالي ( عن اية سورية يدافعون ) … شكك فيه حتى برئيس رابطة الكتاب الاردنيين الذي رفض اصدار بيان تاييد للربيع السوري المشكوك بأمره … واتبعه – ياسر ابو هلالة – اليوم للاسف بمقال امتدح فيه رئيس المخابرات الاردنية السابق احمد عبيدات الذي خردق الحياة السياسية في الاردن وسجن الالاف يوم كان رئيسا للمخابرات ثم رئيسا للوزراء

اما ( عن اية سورية يدافعون ) فنقول

عن اية سوريا يدافعون …. عن سوريا التي انجبت الجيش السوري الباسل الذي اخترق الجبهة في حرب تشرين اكتوبر واحتل طبريا خلال ساعات في حين كان الملك تبعك ( يا ابو هلالة ) يزور غولدامائير سرا ليخبرها عن موعد الهجوم السوري … ان صرماية شهيد سوري واحد سقط خلال حرب اكتوبر تشرين هي اشرف من راس ( الملك تبعك ) الذي اعترف بخيانته ولا داعي لان نردك الى شريط الفديو فهو متوفر على يوتوب وسبق لمحطتك ان عرضته يوم كانت هناك خلافات بين رانيا … وموزة

عن اية سوريا يدافعون … عن سوريا التي كلما مات شعبك يا ابو هلالة من الجوع والعطش رغم المليارات التي يدفعها له الامريكيون وتذهب الى جيوب الملك يقوم الشعب السوري بارسال الاف الشاحنات الى الاردن المحملة باللحوم والرز وتناكر المياه العذبة التي تغنيكم عن شرب شخاخ المستعمرات الاسرائيلية في طبريا الذي يضخ الى شمال الاردن عملا باتفاقية وادي عربة مع الصهاينة

عن اية سوريا يدافعون … عن سوريا التي علمت ولا زالت تعلم في جامعاتها الاف الاردنيين ( ببلاش ) منهم رئيس مخابراتك احمد عبيدات الذي تخرج من جامعة دمشق ولم يدفع ليرة سورية واحدة .. علمتهم ببلاش وعلى نفقة الشعب السوري .. في حين تنهب الجامعات الاردنية من ابناء بلدك الاف الدنانير التي تذهب الى جيوب اصحاب هذه الجامعات الذين هم من حاشية الملك

عن اية سوريا يدافعون … عن سوريا التي زوجة رئيسها رغم انها انجليزية المولد والنشأة والتعليم والثقافة الا انها وضعت الثوب السوري بمجرد دخولها بيت زوجها ولم نسمع يوما انها طارت الى اوروبا او امريكا لتشترك في معارض للازياء والتعرصة كما تفعل زوجة ( الملك تبعك ) التي نهبت الاخضر واليابس مع اسرتها وتتصرمح بمعدل مرتين في الشهر على نفقة الشعب الاردني الفقير وتقيم في جنوب الاردن الفقير احتفالات اعياد ميلاد اسطورية تنفق خلالها الملايين على نفقة الشعب الاردني واصبح اسمها عالميا رديفا لاسم اية راقصة او عارضة ازياء

عن اية سوريا يدافعون … عن سوريا التي رغم الحصار الامريكي الاقتصادي عليها ورغم انها لم تقبض دولارا واحدا من امريكا خلافا لدولتك التي تشحد حتى اثمان كلاسين الملكة رانيا … سوريا يعيش شعبها مكتفيا بنفسه وتستقبل اسواقه الاف الاردنيين الذين يحجون الى اسواق دمشق لشراء السكر والشاي والملابس والادوية واللحوم والخضار التي تباع باقل من ربع سعرها في الاردن … سوريا التي تنتج مائة في المائة من الادوية التي تستخدمها وتحتكر سوق الدواء في 67 دولة .. بينما لم يصنع الملك تبعك .. ابرة بابور كاز

عن اية سوريا يدافعون .. عن سوريا التي وقفت مع المقاومة اللبنانية خلال عدوان الصهاينة في تموز ويوم كانت مخابرات ( الملك تبعك ) تمرر للاسرائيليين الاخبار اولا باول عن تحركات قوات المقاومة في لبنان وتنقل للاسرائيليين الاخبار عن اماكن وجود قادة المقاومة الفلسطينية في دمشق

عن اية سوريا يدافعون … عن سوريا التي وقف شعبها مع غزة خلال الحصار والعدوان الصهيوني يوم كان الملك تبعك ومعه حسني مبارك يزودان الجيش الاسرائيلي حتى بالمواد الغذائية ويوم كان اعلام الملك تبعك ومعه الاعلام السعودي يدافع عن الجيش الاسرائيلي اكثر من التلفزيون الاسرائيلي

عن اية سوريا يدافعون … عن سوريا التي اكثر من نصف المفكرين والكتاب والصحفيين والفنانيين العرب هم …. سوريون

عن اية سورية يدافعون … عن سوريا التي استضافت مليون عراقي وتقاسمت معهم لقمة العيش بعد ان غدر بهم ( الملك تبعك ) وباعهم اولا لمخابرات صدام ثم لمخابرات الاحتلال … في حين تاجر ( الملك تبعك ) بماساة الشعب العراقي وسرق اموال العراقيين في البنوك الاردنية وسمسر على الاسلحة التي كانت تذبح العراقيين وعلاقة الملك تبعك ببلاك ووتر لا تحتاج الى اضاءة … فمحطتك تناولتها سابقا بالتفصيل الممل

عن اية سورية يدافعون .. عن سوريا التي لم تسمح لاي جندي امريكي بعبور الحدود السورية من العراق لملاحقة اي مواطن عراقي استجار بالسوريين في وقت تقع فيه محطتك ( الجزيرة ) على مرمى ( فص ) من القاعدة الامريكية في الدوحة وعلى بعد ( فصين ) من قصر الشيخة موزة التي تقبض منها مرتبك وعلى مرمى ( ثلاث فصوص ) من قصر القرضاوي الذي يفصل الفتاوى لشيخ قطر .. وموزته

عن سوريا نزار قباني … وليس سوريا شعراء القصر الملكي الذين يبوسون طيز الملك تبعك … صباح مساء

عن اية سوريا تدافعون .. عن الشعب السوري المنتج الذي يأكل مما يزرع ويلبس مما يخيط وليس مثل شعبك الذي يعيش على الشحادة والعطايا والرشاوى وتأجير جيشه للعمل كمرتزقة في افغانستان والبوسنية والبحرين … وبلاد الماو ماو

عن اية سوريا يدافعون .. عن سوريا التي انجبت الزعيم الوطني الخالد ( خالد العظم) وبطل الثورة السورية يوسف العظمة وبطل الثورة الفلسطينية السوري الاصل ابن جبلة ( عز الدين القسام ) واسد سوريا ( سلطان باشا الاطرش ) الذي استجار بالاردنيين بعد ان دوخ الفرنسيين .. فباعوه بقرشين وسمسروا على حياته … والقصة معروفة … سوريا بلد جول جمال … هل تعرف من هو جول جمال يا حيوان

سوريا والشعب السوري اكبر من ان يدافع عنهم مخبر تافه مثلك يترك فضائح النظام الملكي في بلده ليتجسس على الشعب السوري ويدس العملاء ويعمل على بث الفتنة لتخريب سوريا واشعال حرب طائفية لن ينتفع منها الا الصهاينة و ( الملك تبعك ) الذي توارث الخيانة عن ابيه وجده وجد جده

للشعب السوري مطالبه وحقوقه اينعم وهو سينتزع هذه الحقوق بطريقته ولا يحتاج الى ارشادات ونصائح صبيان الشيخة موزة

وللعلم فقط … ليس بيننا اي سوري … واكثرنا يحمل – للاسف – الجنسية الاردنية … مثلك … ومثل الملك تبعك

اختك …. على اخت الملك تبعك

هل عرفت الان .. عن اية سوريا يدافعون

Tara,

Thank you for retracting your earlier comment. I really appreciate that!!! If it is an indication of anything, it is an indication of your courage and leadership. This is a time when all of us Syrian have to be courageous, leaders, honest, inclusive and open minded. I agree with lots of what you said, but I wouldn’t believe everything you see on youtube, Al-Jazeera, Syrian TV, Addounia, Al-Arabia etc….

# 120 Vlad,

I have a full day job so I cannot comment everywhere But I can comment in French if that’s what you mean.

(ANSAmed) – ANKARA, MAY 27 – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad on Friday, as Anatolia news agency reports adding that Erdogan and al-Asad exchanged views about the recent developments in Syria. Meanwhile, the same sorce reports that a group of Syrian people including former lawmakers, writers, journalists, human rights activists and businessmen, are gathering in Turkey’s Antalya for a meeting in a bid to discuss recent developments in Syria and make their voice heard across the world. Nearly 300 members of Syrian opposition groups, living inside the country and abroad, plan to have a meeting from May 31 to June 2 in Antalya. The opposition aims at appointing a contact group, naming spokespeople, and also creating a pressure on Syrian government.

First arrivals began at the international airport in Antalya. A group of 30 people from the Syrian opposition came to Antalya on Friday. (ANSAmed).

JAD

i think some of the vids showing demos supposedly having taken place today are from the previous days stock

As for Lebanon, Hariri strikes again. No doubt. I am afraid that it isgoing to get worse. Feltman was there for that purpose.

freedom ladies !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abwS0qXr9Jw

🙂

Vlad the Syrian,

I appreciate your enthusiasm and outspokeness. But being blindly supportive does not help anyone. I would even say that it very much hurts what is being defended.

SOPHIA

well since you are french
you should have a look on french medias comments sections

your skills are needed 🙂

MINA

can you tell me please where do you find that i am “blindly supportive” ?

MINA

i say RESISTANCE = REVOLUTION

is that blind support ?

Vlad,
I was thinking the same, it’s an obvious trap to point the fingers at Syria.

I liked the slogan
Wa7ed tneen nswan douma ween!

Dear Vlad,
What Mina meant is that sometimes your comments against other commentators are offensive and it takes the conversation in the wrong direction, toward personal attacks instead of concentrating it to a more useful dialog or debate. I think she is asking you to be more rational and objective.
Don’t take our comments as personal attack, they are not, we want you to keep writing on SC without being too emotional and coming out aggressive in your discussion with whoever disagree with you.
I really hope that you take my words as friendly as I mean them 🙂

Mna asked
Are Ali Mamlook, Manaf Tlass, Walid Al-Mu3alem, Farouq Al-Share3, 3adel Safar, 7amsho, Na7as, 3attar etc…. Alawi?
Mna
those people has no power, they take order from The Assad alawite,they can not decide nothing, Bashar ,Maher and Asef, along with Makhloof,and As3ad they rule Syria,if you believe different ,then you are so naive.

JAD

these feminists are only able to count up to 2. For 3 and more it is CLAP CLAP CLAP (after what you know)

Regulatory watch: Syria
1 June 2011
Economist Intelligence Unit – Business Middle East
Business Middle East
English
(C) 2011 The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd.

EU suspends aid. The Council of the EU on May 23rd announced that it has decided to suspend aid programmes for Syria in light of the ongoing repression of peaceful protests. This could potentially inflict serious damage on Syria’s economic prospects, as the EU has been one of the most important sources of finance for development projects for a number of years, even though the two sides have yet to sign an Association Agreement, the standard framework for economic co-operation between the EU and Mediterranean Basin states. The EU stated that it had decided to suspend all preparations in relation to new co-operation programmes and to suspend ongoing programmes under the Euroepan Neighbourhood Initiative and Mésures d’Accompagnement (Meda) instruments. EU members states would be reviewing their own bilateral aid programmes, and the EU Council asked the European Investment Bank (EIB) “to not approve new EIB financing operations in Syria for the time being”.

The statement said that the EU will consider the suspension of further assistance to Syria “in light of developments”. It also stated that signing of the Association Agreement is now not on the agenda. The agreement had been initialled in 2004, but plans to sign it the following year were scrapped owing to a worsening in relations over Syrian actions in Lebanon. As relations improved from mid-2008, the EU sought to revive the Association Agreement, whose principal feature is the lifting of trade barriers. However, the Syrian government objected to the insertion of fresh clauses about human rights, and a plan to sign the agreement in late 2009 was cancelled. There has been little progress since.

The lack of an Association Agreement has not been a bar to EU development assistance. The EU has provided more than €1.1bn in finance to Syria, with most of this being disbursed over the past decade. Energy has been a major beneficiary, with €615m of loans provided by the EIB for the construction of power stations and transmission and distribution systems. It is not clear what impact the EU’s latest action will have on Syria’s largest new power station project, involving the construction of a 724-mw combined cycle plant near Deir al-Zor by a consortium of Italy’s Ansaldo Energia and Metka of Greece. A signing ceremony was held in early February for loans provided by the Saudi Fund for Development and the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, which together are financing about one-third of the estimated US$950m costs. The EIB has also been listed by the government as a major source of finance for the project, but the proposed loan from the bank could come into question as a result of the EU Council’s decision.

The EU is an important trading partner of Syria and a significant source of economic aid. In 2009 the EU accounted for 30% of Syria’s exports (mainly oil bought by Germany, Italy and France) and 23.5% of Syria’s imports. However, Iraq has recently emerged as the largest buyer of Syrian goods, accounting for 26% of total exports in 2009, and Turkey’s share of the Syrian import market has grown rapidly on the back of a free-trade agreement, reaching 7.6% in 2009. There is a risk that the unrest will hamper trade with these two countries.

Business Middle East 01 Jun 2011, Part 26 of 28

The Economist Intelligence Unit, N.A., Inc.

133 MAJEDKHALDOOM

so a nation of 23 millions people is ruled and run by a bunch of corrupted alawites

very brilliant !

Correspondent – International News
Syrian refugees cross border to escape massacre
BY JASON KOUTSOUKIS BUQAYA, LEBANON
28 May 2011
The Age
AGEE
First

IN A vacant shop the size of a shipping container in the northern Lebanese village of Buqaya, 12 men aged 15 to 63 have gathered mattresses, a gas jet to brew coffee, and a TV set.

“Our homes are over the river,” says Salem Abu Hassan, pointing to the Syrian village of Aarida just a few hundred metres across the Lebanese border.

“We are here because we fear for our lives.”

Over the past 10 days, Mr Abu Hassan and his room-mates have waded one by one across the Kabir River, fleeing the bloody chaos that has gripped Syria since democracy protests erupted in April.

With an estimated 900 civilians shot dead by forces loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad, Mr Abu Hassan is one of about 5000 Syrians now seeking political asylum in Lebanon. Most of the men sitting in the semi-circle with Mr Abu Hassan are also small businessmen, none of whom are prepared to give their full names for fear of retribution.

Abu Samer says he runs a butcher shop in Aarida, Ahmed is a mobile phone retailer, another man owns a mini-market.

A man who calls himself Sami al-Annas identifies himself as one of the organisers of the protests in Aarida. The owner of a fruit and vegetable stall, Mr Annas says he built support for the democracy movement among his neighbours.

“I started going from store to store, house to house, asking people to get involved,” he says. “We are too small, too remote for Facebook here, it was all by word of mouth.”

When the Syrian army began shelling the nearby city of Tel Kalakh, Mr Annas said that was all the encouragement he needed. “The people in Aarida decided not to back down, people were very brave. We risked our lives and we went out on to the streets.

“I saw two people killed in Aarida, in Tel Kalakh we believe around 30 people were killed on May 16.”

Across the border, Syrian troops can be seen patrolling the river banks, while inside Aarida several sniper positions can be seen clearly.

“I don’t mind if you take a photograph,” says a plain-clothed Lebanese security officer standing guard by an unofficial border crossing. “But it is possible they will shoot you.”

According to Ahmed Akkari, the deputy mayor of Lebanon’s Mqaible municipality, the situation is extremely volatile.

“Our official count is around 3500 Syrian refugees so far in the valley. But it may well be more than that. Our main role has been to co-ordinate shelter and food. But this is not a place [where] we can begin to provide employment or financial assistance,” Mr Akkari says.

Buqaya resident Hana Hamzeh works as a volunteer for the Qatar Red Crescent Society, the most active non-government organisation in the valley. “We have mostly been distributing hygiene kits, nappies, powdered milk, limited medical assistance and bedding,” she says.

Back in Buqaya, Mr Abu Hassan and his friends seemed more intent on asking questions than answering them.

“We would like to know why the international community is prepared to intervene in Libya, but not here,” says Rami Taher, whose family owns a mechanic shop. “Sanctions are not enough to defeat Assad. Only real pressure will make a difference.”

Vlad
“CLAP CLAP CLAP”
Very funny!

Middle East & Africa

Unhappy in Homs

28 May 2011
The Economist
The Economist – Print and Online
English
(c) The Economist Newspaper Limited, London 2011. All rights reserved

Syria

Unrest in Syria’s third city shows no sign of abating

AS YOU drive past the main checkpoint and on into the centre of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, about 160km (100 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, it is easy to be lulled into a sense of calm. The security forces have blocked protesters from reaching the town’s central New Clock square since they violently broke up a sit-in there on April 18th. Around the square, windows are still boarded. Order seems, at first glance, to prevail.

But the protests persist. In the city’s districts of Bab Sbaa, Bab Dreeb or Bab Tadmor, groups of angry young men still gather every night, before melting away as soon as security forces appear. Women hold hurried protests before they too disappear. The army has sandbagged defensive positions at street corners in the rebellious district of Bab Sbaa, a mainly Sunni quarter that abuts one dominated by the minority Alawite sect, to which President Bashar Assad’s family belongs. In another district, Baba Amro, the marks of tank tracks and the blown-out windows of a shopping mall are a reminder of the military crackdown a few weeks ago. Plastered with happy pictures of President Assad, tanks are still stationed watchfully on a grassy patch not far from the district.

On May 18th many of Homs’s people observed a general strike. Shopkeepers pulled down their shutters as protesters raced through the streets. For the next two days the city felt as if it were under siege. Rocks and dustbins blocked many of the roads. On Friday May 20th groups of men poured out of mosques, waving flags, carrying banners and shouting “Homs is bigger than you!”—an implied reference to Mr Assad. Organisers in different districts sought to co-ordinate the protests.

The security forces raced around the city. Checkpoints proliferated. Gunfire rang out in the districts of Waa and Bab Sbaa, among others. Groups of men in leather jackets brandished guns. Some of them were apparently members of Alawite gangs, hostile to the protesters. On May 20th and 21st at least 21 civilians in Homs were said to have been killed.

Clinics set up in mosques to treat those who had been wounded in earlier protests were raided. Some doctors arranged makeshift surgeries in private homes. One of them said that more than 300 people in Homs alone have died since the protests broke out; the national figure now exceeds 1,000. Some of the Homs victims had been prevented from reaching hospital or were too frightened to be taken there. People whisper in terror about torture at the hands of the security forces, who have also been accused of raping women in houses they have raided. There are unconfirmed reports of mass graves. Some say schools and stadiums have been turned into holding pens for protesters.

Whereas the protests elsewhere in Syria have been staged mainly by the urban and especially the rural poor, in Homs the educated middle class has joined in. Moreover, the unrest in Homs, which has a large oil refinery and lies on the main road from Damascus to Aleppo, the country’s second city, threatens to disrupt Syria’s economy.

Homs has added significance because it sits on a fault line between the country’s Sunni majority (some three-quarters of Syrians) and the Alawite minority (some 10% nationwide), the Assad regime’s bedrock. In Homs the protesters stress that the city’s sects, including a notable Christian minority, have been remarkably united in their opposition to the regime. On May 18th protesters in the district of Baba Amro held up crosses as they marched through. When protesters a few weeks ago strode through a Christian district near the centre of Homs, residents gave them water. Even some Alawites, who are a much larger minority in the city than in Syria as a whole, took part in a big sit-in in April.

But the mood has nonetheless become more sectarian. Hostile references to the Alawites are becoming more common. “We were all one before this,” says a teacher in Homs. “But since this started it has become ‘us and them’.” Locals warn visitors not to walk through Alawi areas where, they say, roaming gangs armed by the government commit acts of violence. For their part, many Alawites, though often against Mr Assad’s harsh tactics, have been forced back into supporting him on account of sectarian hostility, fearing they would be targeted if he were to fall. Though most of the protesters have sought to eschew violence, some of them in parts of Homs, and especially in the nearby tribal areas of Rastan and Telbiseh, have taken up arms. A local doctor says such people have killed at least two security men.

Elsewhere in Syria, the country’s Sunni clerics, who have generally co-operated with the regime, are showing signs of division. Only a few have spoken out, but the number may grow. Influential sheikhs in Deraa, where the protests began three months ago, and in the port city of Banias have castigated the president before large crowds. In a widely applauded speech, Muhammad al-Yacoubi, a preacher in the posh Abu Rumaneh district of Damascus, told worshippers to “speak out against wrong”—and was promptly sacked.

On May 13th the government called for a “national dialogue”. But none of the leading street protesters nor any of the older generation of dissidents seem likely to engage with Mr Assad and his regime. In any event, if Homs is anything to go by, the room for dialogue has narrowed.

The Economist Newspaper Limited (The Economist

Majedkhaldoon

You said: those people has no power, they take order from The Assad alawite,they can not decide nothing, Bashar ,Maher and Asef, along with Makhloof,and As3ad they rule Syria,if you believe different ,then you are so naive.

If you believe that Syria is being run by four people, then you should have said just that. When you say Assad Alawite, you are making the entire sect responsible for the actions of 4 people, and this is wrong.. These statements are very provocative.

dear JAD

i think that the most offending word i happened to utter is ZOMBIE.

This is only a concept that describes a state of mind that we (syrians or lebanese) know very much. I maintain it entirely should it offend. And i will keep using it when necessary.

As far as words are concerned, well : the word knife does not cut and the word dog does not bark

to Mina

am i “blindly supportive” if in my conscience i find more and more with the time that we are facing an enemy which dont bother to use all kind of lies, minsinformation, false arguments, etc… etc…

This is war folks what do you expect ?

Atassi

Then Syria will go back to were it was in 2008, i.e without the EU’s generous conditional loans! Syria may turn to regional partners for know-how, trading and investment, that maybe a good thing as the open market pushed by the EU was a disaster!
Syria has the support of Iran where it can get cheap energy and Turkey for the know-how and Iraq for export. Ultimately the EU’s boycott would allow a stronger influence of Iran and Turkey. Why not? I don’t think the EU has the monopoly of skills and its economy is not in such a good shape. They have already promised billions to Egypt and Tunisia, we’ll if they’ll deliver and under what conditions. They are no philanthropists but big mouths!
“G8 Summit Ends with Harsh Words, Promises”
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/G8-Summit-Ends-with-Harsh-Words-Promises-122726989.html

Vlad,

I have been following and reading your comments for some time and this is my impression. I m sorry, but I don’t have the time to go back reread your comments and give you examples. I think you are right, I shouln’t have made such a comment without giving an example.

Seven killed in Syria protests, world pressure grows
27 May 2011
Reuters News
English
(c) 2011 Reuters Limited

* Pro-democracy demonstrators gather for 11th Friday

* G8 leaders, including Russia, “appalled” by crackdown

* Russia says would not support a U.N. resolution

(Updates with killings in Homs, adds detail)

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AMMAN, May 27 (Reuters) – Syrian security forces shot dead seven people on Friday, rights campaigners said, as protesters defied a nationwide crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad which world leaders condemned.

Three protesters were killed in the central city of Homs, another three in the Damascus suburb of Qatana and one in the town of Zabadani, near the border with Lebanon, they said.

Troops also fired at protesters calling for the “overthrow of the regime” in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, a rights group and residents said.

Rights groups estimate at least 1,000 people have been killed over 10 weeks. Leaders at a Group of Eight meeting in France said they were “appalled” at the killing of peaceful protesters, demanding an immediate end to the use of force.

Damascus has ignored growing Western condemnation and sanctions and looks determined to crush the pro-democracy revolt by sending out security forces and tanks to subdue unrest it blames on armed groups backed by foreign powers.

State television said nine “martyrs”, including police and civilians, were killed by armed groups on Friday. Authorities say at least 120 soldiers and police have been killed since the protests erupted in March.

The biggest demonstrations typically occur on Fridays after Muslim prayers, and they have also generally been the deadliest. But the bloodshed this week appeared to be on a lesser scale than witnessed recently.

Human rights activists said protests flared in the eastern cities of Albu Kamal, where people burned pictures of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who this week threw his weight behind Assad.

They said tens of thousands of people marched in the city of Hama, site of an army assault to crush an armed Islamist uprising in 1982 during which up to 30,000 people were killed.

Demonstrations also broke out in Damascus districts of Barzeh, Rukn al-Din and Qaboun, several of the capital’s suburbs, in Latakia on the coast, Deraa in the south and in the Kurdish northeast.

“God is greater than the oppressor… Death rather than humiliation,” shouted thousands in the Damascus suburb of Hajar al-Asswad.

Witness reports of events are hard to verify independently because Assad’s government barred most foreign media from the country not long after the start of the unrest, which was sparked by democratic revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

“Unfortunately, I regret to say that Syrian leaders have made a formidable step back. In these conditions, Syria no longer has our trust,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, speaking at the G8 summit in Deauville, France.

WEST “APPALLED BY DEATHS”

Ten weeks into the unrest, protests have failed to gain a critical mass as security forces prevent mass rallies and Damascus and Aleppo have yet to witness big demonstrations.

The Baath Party suppresses any dissent and there is no unified opposition structure to lead the popular movement. Opposition activists in exile will meet in Turkey next week to help coordinate the campaign.

In a communique issued at the G8 summit, the leaders of the seven Western powers plus Russia called on Damascus to respond to the Syrian people’s “legitimate demands for freedom”.

“We are appalled by the deaths of many peaceful protesters as a result of the sweeping use of violence in Syria,” the leaders said, adding they would take further measures if authorities did not embark on serious reforms.

Washington and the European Union have already imposed sanctions against Assad and other Syrian officials. But Russia has been more reticent in denouncing Assad because of a desire to reassert old Soviet-era influence in the region.

Western diplomats had expressed hope on Thursday that veto-holders Russia and China would not block a draft resolution which Britain, France, Germany and Portugal circulated to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Deauville a draft resolution was “untimely and damaging”.

“There are no grounds to consider this issue (Syria) in the U.N. Security Council. We will not even read the text.”

The draft says Syria’s actions may amount to crimes against humanity and condemns the violation of human rights, arbitrary detentions and torture of peaceful demonstrators.

Assad, who inherited power from his father Hafez al-Assad on his death in 2000, has pledged to launch a national dialogue and undertake some reforms in the Sunni Muslim-majority country that has been in the grip of his minority Alawite sect for 40 years.

But protesters and activists have dismissed the moves as empty gestures since the security forces have continued to violently suppress protesters.

Lately, protesters have taken to holding nightly demonstrations to try to circumvent a heavy security presence.

Two witnesses said security forces fired live rounds on Thursday at hundreds of protesters in a night rally in Deraa. In the nearby town of Dael, residents said security forces shot dead three demonstrators on Thursday night.

“Abu Samer says he runs a butcher shop in Aarida, Ahmed is a mobile phone retailer, another man owns a mini-market.”
“A man who calls himself Sami al-Annas identifies himself as one of the organisers of the protests in Aarida. The owner of a fruit and vegetable stall, Mr Annas says he built support for the democracy movement among his neighbours.”

The reporter should’ve asked those highly educated men what does democracy means to them, what is their future visions of Syria and what did they really do to run away.

““We would like to know why the international community is prepared to intervene in Libya, but not here,” says Rami Taher, whose family owns a mechanic shop. “Sanctions are not enough to defeat Assad. Only real pressure will make a difference.””

Now we know what there vision, what they are calling for and why they run away….THEY ARE CALLING FOR FOREIGN OCCUPATION…keep them in Lebanon.

“Propaganda Machine” NewZ

Don’t cheer too early! I don’t know how many of you are paid by Israeli propaganda machine but I will defeat your arguments one by one.

Sophia,

Since you asked, no one here gets paid.

BTW – If there is a “propaganda machine” somewhere, I would first look where freedom of speech and freedom of the press is prohibited.

I hope this isn’t over your head…

This is hilarious, Addounia TV is doing the same as Aljazeera regarding Qatar and using an EYE WITNESS….Aljazeera is actually asking Addounia to stop doing that 😉

شاهد عيان من قطر يوضح ما جرى في جمعة العزة
http://youtu.be/3H11ICcM72c

This is the Qatar revolution FB site if anybody interested to join 😉
https://www.facebook.com/revolution.in.qatar

MINA

although i havent much time neither i’ll read yours

besides english is not my cup of tea 🙂

WD,

Are you serious? Without the EU Syria is in huge trouble. First, only the West has technology to build modern power plants. Second, most tourists to Syria come from the EU. Third, the EU is a value added export market. Syria has to export to it to grow. Fourth, the tankers that take oil from Syria for export will not come unless they can be insured and this EU move makes it much more difficult to insure them. And I can go on.

Nobody is buying your excuses anymore. Assad will have to give Syrians dignity and freedom or wreck Syria. Either way, he has nowhere to go. His lies are not working. Russia will protect Syria in the UN, but it will not stop serious sanctions from Europe and other countries.

Sophia,

It is simple. Are you for freedom of speech and freedom of protest in Syria? If no, why do you support those things in France? If yes, then why aren’t you critical of Assad for not allowing these things?

JAD

nope !

what is Qatar ? much gas mingled with too much s…t

i think Addounia shouldnt do that. Nobody cares now about eye witnesses

In short of Oweis the Jordanian sectarian reporter:
“But the bloodshed this week appeared to be on a lesser scale than witnessed recently.”
That is good improvement for the regime bad news for the organizers, it means that something bad will happen soon.

““There are no grounds to consider this issue (Syria) in the U.N. Security Council. We will not even read the text.””
So no resolution from the UN and the Europens will work harder to get the Russian to ‘read’ their ‘text’, bad news for the ‘Tal kalakh’ brave men in Lebanon.

I like this Oweis numbers, he must be bad in mathematics..because for him thousands means 200-500, thens of thousands means 1000-3000..on his rate today we saw millions in the streets of Syria.

———————-
Vlad,
This is why I put the clip it’s ridiculously funny, don’t you think? The eye witness is in the room next door…

The local TVs started to capture some clips from the protests, this is good.
تجمعات يوم الجمعة واصابات بين الشرطة والأمن
http://youtu.be/xW0SzqfaDhw?t=44s

As expected the violence will start when no much blood to report:
FB
مسلحون يقتحمون قرية ” معرتماتر” التابعة للمعرة ويحرقون منازل وسيارات واستغاثات لتدخل الجيش والأمن

AIG

Obviously you know nothing about Syria’s economy because Israel’s partners are mostly western countries. This is not the case of Syria:

First, only the West has technology to build modern power plants.
Really? Chinese cannot? Turkey cannot? Brazil cannot? Russia cannot?

Second, most tourists to Syria come from the EU.
Really? the european tourists in Syria are less than 10% of the tourists. 90% of the tourists are Arabs and Iranians or from other moslem countries.

Third, the EU is a value added export market. Syria has to export to it to grow
Syria exports almost nothing to Europe. Its largest exports is the huge Iraqi market, not the saturated european market. It used to import luxurious items from Europe that only served the rich and Syria can live much better without. Most useful imports are from China and Turkey and Iran (cars).

The Oil tanker insurance. I have no time to investigate but who is insuring the tankers that take the oil from Iran?

Syria lived without the help of EU and US before 2008 and can very well live after 2011.

The US extends its Emergency Law (Elegantly called the Patriot Act) for 4 more years

Patriot Act: three controversial provisions that Congress voted to keep

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0527/Patriot-Act-three-controversial-provisions-that-Congress-voted-to-keep

JAD

i think that the zombie doesnt understand you

otherwise “ROUH WLAK” would be enough 🙂

the funny thing on this video is that the kids keep throwing stones in the direction of the camera man as if they wanted just only to be on the TV

WD

and what about India ?

i hope that this year there will be more tourists from the diaspora and less from arabstan

Dear Atassi and Jad

I know both of you long enough to have no doubt that you are both very kind individuals who care so much for Syria. You both did not mean what you wrote minutes ago.

I removed your three comments (Atassi, then Jad, then Atassi) and hope not to see that kind of language here again.

Vlad,

No Zombies here please.

WD

http://www.youtube.com/user/ARABDZ#p/u/1/nxjSxnWzLm4

the problem with Turkey is that we need water and they have been always “diplomatically” threatening to cut it off. I think that many concessions have been made especially because of the drought. Knowing that, syrians have no more confidence in Erdogan.

WD,

Continue living in your fantasy world. Syria is quickly approaching hyper inflation.

dear ALEX

okay i will use another word for the same idea. The effect will be the same : only the truth hurts

Why dont you ban AIG AMIR and AP , the weapon mongers 30% religious high-tech philistines advertising arrogantly for their mafia oligarchy

I am agaisnt banning whomever even those appointed contributors above. I wish that they keep lying to their people for they cant lie to us 🙂

JAD

about Addounia TV

http://www.youtube.com/user/ARABDZ#p/u/2/jMWqZTCuxts

what do you think of the sequence between 2.24 and the end ?

اتصال الدكتور أكرم الشعار لتوضيح سبب وفاة الطفل
http://youtu.be/T8845Nr-Ygw

Atassi and Jad just demonstrated how fragile the situation in Syria can be!. Things could spin out of control and millions of innocent Syrians will pay a hefty price for many years to come.

We need a moderator who can bridge the widening gap between all sides and keep Syria united… We all want to have a country where everyone has an equal chance to advance and prosper.

Vlad,
It’s obvious that the regime is not the goal, partition of Syria and عرعرتها و عرقنتها و بلقنتها، is.

dear SF94123

i doubt wether Atassi is a syrian. If he were, knwoing who really was Atassi (the first), he would’nt have used this identitiy to promote such ideas …

As for the “widening gap”, i think that if syrians agree on a common strictly secular basis without any foreign TADAKHOULAT (immixion) there should be no trouble.

Jad

yes

partition and since they can’t do it then the maximum wreckage

Did you notice that L’Orient-Le-Jour is disappointed because there were not enough dead and injured people ?

VLAD-THE-SYRIAN @78

corruption is everywhere and in all levels i personally wouldn’t know if Makhloof is corrupt or not as i am not ‘that big business man to know’ all of us starting with myself are adopted to this corruption its in every aspect of our life .i personally like many people see Mr president very transparent and humble person and i don’t know about the people around him .if we only fidht corruption in my opinion all the demands of every demanding Syrian will be met .

to fight this corruption we don’t need to destroy the entire country if the legal system radically changed ,and if we put all our power there to insure a fair and firm legal system we can advance many nations in a very short time. and the change demanded by people will be automatically gradually and peacefully met .

just imagine when you have a legal system that protect your right against anyone no matter how powerful he is !! me personally i wouldn’t demand anything else .

Louai

i’m glad you replied

unfortunately i have no time right now

i’ll answer you later on this topic

69. Shami

thank you for your answer ,I wished if it wasn’t the case , you said Nasrullah‘is a puppet of the extremist shia theocracy which cultivate a culture of hatred and revenge towards Sunnism in general’

I am not in a position to defenf Hizbullah,and I wouldn’t support a religois party to rule Syria in anyhow but as far as I know Nasrullah lost his own son in the struggle against Israel ,would he send his son to war only to please the Iranians? I doubt it . why he also support Hamas (MB) ?
i am not that young to not notice that this sectarian language of ‘Shia and Sunna ‘ is relatively new between Syrians and to be frank I only start to hear such terms after 17 of March !
Islam I learnt about in school is complete different from what I am seeing now days with my respect to Muslims.
although i will not accept Iranian system in Syria and will fight against it if ever took power but if Israel is my enemy and Iran is fighting it ,so be it I can make a very good friendship with Iran why not?

saddam fought Iran ,who won? answer is Israel ! who lost? both sides specially the Iraqi people .

# 150 AIG,

I am for freedom of speech and protest everywhere.

When there was a flare up in the French suburbs (and it happened more than once), Nicolas Sarkozy sent the police after the youth who were burning tires and cars. Young people died from these confrontations.

Just imagine if these youths had received money from people outside France who don’t like Sarkozy, imagine if outside powers would have chastised Sarkozy for trying to restore calm and order in France by asking him to let the protesters protest as they wish and burn public property and kill the police, imagine if those protesters would have kept protesting, killing the police and damaging public property after their friday prayers, and imagine France hit by sanctions from the US and EU asking them to reform their institutions so youths from Arab origin could have a fare share of the public good in all its forms or else quit and let someone else lead the country, keep imagining please…

I am for freedom of protests and freedom of speech. I am against foreign interference, strife and lawlesness that hurts the public and that is imposed by a minority of people who want to force their will on others despite the fact that I recognise the grievances of people in Syria and of the youth in the Parisian suburbs.

Hi Sophia

this is exactly what you should write on french blogs.

Its is relieving to find that someone shares the same ideas.

But you say ” Young people died from these confrontations.” I dont remember any dead casualties under the “jerking dwarf”. Maybe i’m wrong.

Still i dont understand your interest for Syria. Because you’re beyond from just observing. Besides, c’est une tâche assez ingrate to say it in french and the persons adopting positions like yours and being well informed as you are rather scarce.

Louai

regarding Nasrallah i consider him first and foremost as a syrian nationalist. For many lebanses he is not an islamist although he refers in his speeches to islam and uses islamist rhetoric.

Hizbullah is not percieved as an extremist party on the ground of islamism. I said that Hizbullah ince the independance has done for secularism in Lebanon much more than all secular partiess.

To understand that you have to remember his background.

AIrG

a nice quotation for you :

“When Solomon the king of Israel saw by the Holy Spirit that the kingdom of Roboam his son shall in the time to come be separated with that of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that Jerusalem and the
devoted House shall be destroyed, that the people of Israel’s sons shall be exiled, he said … ”

but i say to you : sorry man this is your lot not ours so try to cope with it withount causing damage to the neighbours (Israel among the nations CLAP CLAP CLAP 28 standing ovation ALLAH WA AKBAR) and if you do so maybe your neighbours would help you.

The problem is that the thug Bibi and his fellows thugs (without nuances) dont want true nations for neighbours they prefer the desert. By the way Sophia have said SA7 TAMAM (altogether right) that zionists like you and wahhabis are the same. You cherish the desert.

Until 2006 i was convinced that peace with Israel was possible. I remember that there were even demos in Israel in favour of peace with Syria and many signs were encouraging. I perceived that Assad’s will was sincere. Imad Mustapha the syrian ambassador to the US made a lot of civilian efforts in this direction. The regime softened his stance towards Israel. Harsh people with tough language were replaced etc.. etc..

But in 2006 i saw what you have done in Lebanon so i dont believe anymore in peace with Israel. Yoy have destroyed half the country , killed and injured thousands of people caused huge enormous damages
And for what please ? not because of a bloody terrorist attack but for strictly speaking a military act (a “fait d’armes”) what’s more on a disputed zone and even more by your own stupid military mistake. In fact, your soldiers were off their guard so they were taken by surprise.
(Nasrallah later admitted also that it was a mistake speaking on the Hizbulla part and that he didnt expected the consequences to be what happened)

Then you scattered millions of your high-tech nice little fragmentation bombs on thousands of acres nearly everywhere in south Lebanon that until today kill and mutilate innocent people.
I concluded then that even if you keep the Golan you dont want peace with Syria. For indeed you want more of Syria and more of Lebanon.

Let this be understood : i dont give a shit about palestinian cause and all Gaza if my country is to be wrecked and invaded for reasons that have nothing to do with the palestinian cause nor with Gaza. And i can assure you that many syrians think like me.
Well let the taboos fall now that we have a little wind of freedom … This shit is a big lie invented by liers adopted by liers and perpetuated by liers (ask for names i’ll give). I dont say what are
we going to do with those people because most of them are here and suffering. This is a humanitarian issue. I’m talking rather about their nationalist claim. Then why not Jordan ? And truely Palestine, Jordan , Irak, SA, Qatar Koweit are these nations ? And furthermore since this mood of liberty is in the air : Israel a nation ? and why an Israel like this one : 30% fanatic ultra-nationalist religious appointed backed payed by their government ? first world weapon seller per capita ? endemic corruption at the highest level (oh no no not you) come on ! you cant deny facts and evidence : the techno-miltary something establishment allied with the religious possesses the real power in Israel under the appearance of democracy.

Wheras Syria is a nation wether you like it or not. Bashar said that these events are going to be a test for the syrian nation he said it before the the members of the parliament. He didnt get 28 standing ovations. He was applauded a bit loudly in the syrian way and i think he was rather confused. But he was right.

And so you come now and say to the syrians to the patriots do this and do that to achieve democracy insulting by the way their leader whom they respect because they trust him for his honesty ?
You are not only arrogant ou are a racist.

I
So keep on lying. The best wins 🙂

# 172 Vlad,

C’est très momentané ma participation comme commentatrice sur ce blog. C’est surtout par réaction. Je suis venue m’informer et puis j’ai commencé à commenter. De mon expérience personnelle sur mon blog (sur lequel maintenant je modère les commentaires et j’y contribue très peu) ce qui est le plus important pour décourager les sionistes, qui viennent donner des ordres et nous dire comment penser, c’est de leur faire perdre la face en les poussant à mener leur argument au bout pour en montrer les contradictions. Je dois dire que je ne trouve pas cela amusant mais je le fais plutôt par devoir moral. Mais je ne peux pas rester longtemps commentatrice sur les blogs, jai besoin de mon temps pour mon travail.

Mon intérêt pour la Syrie vient du fait que j’ai de la parenté libanaise et je connais les syriens et la Syrie. Mais mon intérêt en général va au delà, c’est tout le moyen orient et la Syrie est une clé importante dans la région. Je suis très inquiète, je trouve la nouvelle génération au MO mieux informée mais manque de sens de l’histoire et d’esprit critique.

Je suis bien plus âgée que beaucoup d’entre vous qui commentent ici et je me dis que j’ai envie de voir de mon vivant cette région connaître la paix et la prospérité mais à chaque convulsion de l’histoire il y a un obstacle qui se dresse pour renforcer la tutelle externe sur les pays arabes et amener des guerres. Les américains et les sonistes se battront jusqu’au dernier arabe. Je crois aussi que l’islamisme à la Bin Laden a fait beaucoup de tort. Je ne sais pas pour combien de temps nous payerons encore cette bêtise de Bin Laden qui a servi de casus belli pour initier le projet des neocons pour le morcellement du moyen orient.

Pour ton info, 2 jeunes sont morts au début des émeutes en 2005 À Clichy-sous-Bois et le début des incidents de 2005 faisait suite à plusieurs éclats qui ont précédé entre la police française et les jeunes des banlieues.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Émeutes_de_2005_dans_les_banlieues_françaises

ok compris

pour ma part, je ne suis ni pro-palestinien ni anti-israelien.et également ici de passage étant donné les circonstances, car je ne commentais pas avant. Donc c’est également réactif et par conséquent sujet à interpétation de la part des autres commentateurs pour qui j’ai d’ailleurs le plus grand respect. J’interviens aussi pour d’autres camarades syriens qui ne peuvent pas s’exprimer dans ce genre de média.

On est obligé d’aider les palestiniens vu qu’ils sont là. Quant aux israeliens on ne peut quand même pas mettre ces gens à la mer. Je crois que la plupart sont honnêtes mais pas leur politiciens surtout pas Bibi et l’autre revulsé. Mais je peux me tromper

en tant que syrien je pense que la solution est un néo-baath avec un front progressiste renouvelé sans les nationalistes arabes. Le premier acquis de ces événements est d’ailleurs la fin de l’idéologie nationaliste arabe en Syrie, et par conséquent la délégation du problème palestinien aux arabes. Qu’ils s’en occupent. Le front progressite se concentrera sur la Syrie. La Syrie a encore besoin d’un parti unique avant-gardiste mais il y a beaucoup de ménage à faire. Sous réserves de solutionner la corruption. Ceci est bien entendu de l’ordre du virtuel et n’arrivera peut-être pas. D’ici à ce qu’on en finisse avec le monothéisme cette invention syrienne il peut s’écouler plusieurs siècles …

En passant, le projet de morcellement ne date pas des néo-cons.

De manière générale je trouve que les syriens paient collectivement le prix de leur débonnaireté … qui comme tu le sais est légendaire. On a trop tendance à nous prendre pour des idiots. Je parle des gens ordinaires.

Cela dit je suis vraiment outré par la manière dont on parle des alawites ici. Je le dis because it is true and they will read it. Les alawites ont donné beaucoup beacoup et pas seulement les pro-régime et cela est ignoré. Les derniers seront les premiers dit-on.

Si je continue ça va être une conversation privée. Je ne crois pas que ce soit l’esprit de ce blog 🙂

je vais arrêter de contribuer vu que c’est khulset

NO PASARAN 🙂

Atassi 🙂

Nidal Janoud and all the people wether soldiers policemen or civilians whom your friends have killed and hurted shall be revenged 1000 times. You have always been provocative here.
I tell you dont think that the syrians this time are going to stay just simply there watching the events their mouth shut and their arms folded.
Not the shabihas but the shabihas’s dogs we keep them for the end to finish the job, tell this to your friends the Abadayate and dont see any sectarian intention. Fihmt shlon ya 7abibi ?

173. vlad-the-syrian

i agree.

مخططاتكم مكشوفة ولن تنطلي على الشعب السوري العظيم أنتم ومرتزقتكم التي وجدت من بلادها أداة تتسول بها من أمريكا ومن انضوى تحت لوائها ستذهبون الى الجحيم والى مزبلة التاريخ أيها المعارصة السورية أنتم مجموعة من المعارصين وليس المعارضين والعرصة لغويا هو من يقتات على جسد محارمه وأنتم تقتاتون على جسد وطنكم

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