Go get ’em, Matt! Almost never miss your work.

What a crappy piece of dog-poop propaganda.

The whole thing is a circus but it served a purpose beyond entertainment, it aims at delivering a message that assad’s enemies are outnumbered in Lebanon and Assad himself wants to remind others that he is still in charge of the political process as corrupt and unfair that process is. The run for elections also shows that Assad and his hard core loyalists are not in the mood to talk to anybody if the talk is not on their terms. Assad is effectively using the sacrifices of his supporters to boost his own chances of staying relevant. The end sum is a political win for the regime and a loss for the chances of a political solution. Assad now looks at Sisi, who won with over 90% of the votes and betting on haftar in Libya who is trying to establish another military dictatorship in the Arab world.
There is no way to ignore the message behind all of this:
Arabs do not trust Islamists and are not ready for a western style democracy, they can only be ruled by strongmen who will promise security and order but can not protect freedom of choice, the F word may be a luxury Arabs can not afford for now.

Combating voter apathy in the 21st century: Roundtable discussion with Sisi and Assad

The recent European elections highlighted the problems facing democratic systems today as a result of declining voter participation and political apathy. In order to explore solutions for this problem, we organised a roundtable discussion with two of the leading figures in encouraging voter participation, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Both men have organised presidential elections that they are going to win, and have resorted to innovative methods to encourage voting.

http://www.karlremarks.com/2014/05/combating-voter-apathy-in-21st-century.html?m=1

Juergen,

When thousands of Syrians make a trip to the embassy in a foreign country to cast a vote for Bashar, I don’t see how you can possibly call that “apathy.”

That is not “apathy.” That is support for the Assad regime.

One need not have any illusions about the “election” per se, to simply observe that thousands of people came to visibly participate in a rubber-stamp exercise for an embattled regime.

Interesting to see that Anne Bernard on the one hand thinks that the Syrian gov’t has meticulous records on all their citizens abroad, and on the other hand doesn’t think they can maintain a voter’s list. Either the Syrian gov’t can keep track, or it can’t. I would say they probably can’t, given all the disruption of civil war. That means on the one hand it would be impossible for the “election” to be valid, but it also means that claims of people only voting out of blackmail are probably absurd.

Obama’s policy in Syria has failed, as the failure of all moderators of SC in their duty. They continue to enjoy singing in the bathroom.

Euphrates River is diverted to the Turkish lands,this only means an immediate death to Syrians in the north,this criminal Erdo gang should be taken to The Hague ,it wasn’t enough for him to destroy thousands of factories in Aleppo and steal the machines,and the Syrian oil and wheat.
I hope that his cancer will end his life soon.

Darya joins other towns around Damascus and moves ahead with a preliminary agreement for a cease fire:
اقترب النظام السوري ومعارضوه في مدينة داريا بجنوب دمشق، من التوصل إلى اتفاق هدنة شامل، ينهي حالة الحصار المستمر على المدينة منذ عامين، ويتيح لأكثر من خمسة آلاف مدني محاصر قدرة على التحرك، كما يؤمن العاصمة السورية الخاضعة لسيطرة القوات الحكومية من هجمات المعارضة.
وأكد ناشطون في داريا لـ«الشرق الأوسط» أن اللجنة الموسعة المكلفة بموضوع الهدنة في المدينة، اجتمعت أمس، ووافقت على تشكيل وفد للتفاوض مع النظام خارج داريا، في حال تعهد النظام بشكل صريح بإعادة انتشار جيشه على أطراف المدينة
وتنص مسودة الاتفاق، على تنفيذ القوات الحكومية خطة إعادة انتشار على أطراف داريا، «بما يسهل حركة المدنيين المنوي دخولهم إلى المدينة»، أي اقتصاد الوجود العسكري على ما دخل الأوتوسترادات والطرق السريعة المؤدية إلى درعا ودمشق والقنيطرة، من غير وجود على مداخل الأحياء الداخلية. وقالت مصادر مطلعة على ملف التفاوض لـ«الشرق الأوسط» إن النظام «سيفرج عن عدد كبير من المعتقلين لديه من أهالي داريا، البالغ عددهم 2000 شخص، وبينهم نساء، كما سيشارك مقاتلون معارضون من الجيش السوري الحر في حواجز مشتركة مع لجان شعبية تتكفل الأمن في المدينة وتنتشر في بعض أحيائها».
تضيف المصادر: «يصر النظام على تسليم قوات المعارضة في الداخل أسلحتها الثقيلة والمتوسطة، ويتيح لبعض المقاتلين بالخروج من داريا دون توقيفهم، شرط لجوئهم إلى مناطق الغوطة الغربية لدمشق» (أي المنطقة الممتدة من صحنايا إلى شمال محافظة القنيطرة، بينها خان الشيخ وكناكر وبيت جن)، فيما «يشارك بعض المقاتلين في اللجان
الشعبية، ويحتفظون بأسلحة خفيفة
Darya was the source of a number of mortar attacks on civilian areas in Damascus, I yet have to see what did the rebels in Daraya achieve after more than 2 years of fighting.
95% of Daraya’s residents left, many may never return, and now after Daraya and most of its people become refugees, prisoners or hostages rebels accepted a proposal that was offered 2 years ago when the town was mostly intact !!

The Syrians in Lebanon surprised the Syrian government

ROLAND AND NORMAN

This part seems to be news to you:

” …the scrawny young man pulled out a blue form given to Syrians moving between Syria and Lebanon: “If it’s not stamped on here that we voted, we can’t go back home.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0742be2-e668-11e3-9a20-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz33CKh79R9

Disappointing to see MATTHEW doing this absurdly long and lazy cut-paste on Syria Comment.

Dumping over 70 tweets from some western reporter! For God’s sake.

What the hell is going on here?

Where have all the grown ups gone?

OMG,

there have been Assad supporters in Syria, which had apparently to flee. Never thought of it. And it seems that they are all human beeings. OMG, how can this happen ?

I want to have a clear statement of Danny Abdul Dayem on this.

What a lot of people fail to grasp is that this a step in the right direction. The Constitution has changed, multiparty system is now a reality and a lot of people piss and moan….PLEASE WAKE UP. Democracy does not happen overnight, nor at the end of a gun(look at Iraq and Libya). These changes are good and important for Syrians and Syria. Are they true, just and perfect? NO, but are they a step in the right direction? YES YES YES YES. Democracy will come to the Syria in it’s own time. and sorry to piss you off but even if you hate Bashar you know he is better than the wahhabi that will kill what is left of Syria.

When 700,000 Palestinians were kicked out of Israel, they called it a Nakba.

When 2 million Syrians left Syria for the exact same reason, it’s packaged as an Assad victory.

Go figure.

Roland

I talked to some Syrians here. They told me that most people who live in Lebanon live there under very bad circumstances, without good salary, in small rooms ect. The majority live on their own in this expensive country not in the camps we see each day in the news. Everyone who is out of the country is somehow suspicious to the Regime, and I bet many of those who flock to vote are just tired from the war and through this demonstration of love for the beast they try to repair their reputation and may be have a return to Syria. I doubt this demonstration of loyalty is anything worth, or genuine, Syrians are keen to show false loyalty, only a fool like the eye doctor thinks that all Syrians love him.
Of course all reports of oppressing Syrians to vote by HB henchmen are wrong. Of course, all Syrians are united, of course kullu bi khair…

Lets hear some genuine voices of Damascus, I would say, quite courageous statements!

Forget Assad and his murderous thugs terrorizing civilians and destroying cities. Forget the fanatic jihadis chopping off heads and killing anyone who disagrees with them. The future of Syria will hopefully be one day be in the hand of Syrians like her:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?sns=fb&v=AiGdwqdpPKE

Instead of the usual Syrioacomment dreck, take a look at Norman Finkelstein’s analysis:

http://normanfinkelstein.com/2013/depressing-but-almost-certainly-true/

15. Hopeful

The chances for that are larger under Assad than under your “rebels”.

13. Akbar Palace

Many of the Syrian refugees left because of the rebels, and they were not expelled, they left because there was fighting. Therefore nothing to do with the Nabka.

Habib,

The rebels exist because of Mr. Assad’s corrupt and failed leadership. It is amazing to me that after seeing half the country destroyed under his leadership, and after it became a magnet of foreign fighters from all over the world- Iran and Iraq included, there are those who still want him to stay!

For the archive
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/102570/World/Region/US-confirms-American-carried-out-Syria-suicide-bom.aspx

13. AKBAR PALACE said:

Go figure.

This tendency of whipping away anything by replacing it with an other and unrelated event must be a “cultural and mental” feature of your race/religion. How Akbar does what happens now in Syria justify the Nabka administrated by European Jews? Only an Israeli Jew can invent such propaganda. How about telling to the audience, that the Syrian exodus tragedy is nothing compared the expelling all (most) Jews from “Israel” 2000 years ago (that event which in reality never happened, but exists in the Jewish folklore and propaganda)? Go figure.

Now in media comments “the pro-Israelis” are justifying Israeli army assassinating those two unarmed Palestinian children showed to the world on those famous videos using the “fact” that the Israeli police arrested A WEEK LATER a potential suicide bomber (well if that ever happened in reality). Only “you” can produce such strange reverse “excuses”.

Don’t be impressed by this Harvard Diploma Mill ploy attended by Saddam Hussain buddy George Busch Sr., (what a dignitary line up huh). One would wants to know the Syrian-American grad last name or her father name, don’t be surprised if she in fact was one of those rich so called “Baathist” intihazi that pocketed all the cash they can steal and bribed to and ran to overseas to play the “Harvard Democrat Drama” so unimpressive, practically “corny”. Harvard Diploma Mill better play is developing patents stolen by Israeli students from the world’s real inventors.

Don’t be deceived, Syria’s future is not secured by Harvard cronyism grads. It is secured by it Armed Forces. That is how it always been and it will ever be. Just like many other targeted countries, Egypt for one example. Israelis knew that best, that is why they spend annually less on education than on Tel Aviv brothels and procuring sex slaves. Compare the non-earthly entities (Jews) expenditures on education vs. the armed forces and security annually, in any country were they rule, or have ruled, and you will see that Harvard education is no future guarantee of a nation prosperity and security.

What Syria needs is better professional (non-conscript) armed forces, technologically advanced weapons, space based weapon, high tech security apparatus, thirty six security agencies (just like the U.S.). Syrians needs to copy the U.S. Government not Harvard model for a county, spying on every phone calls, asking children to spy on parents, no fly list, no food list, and all the “U.S. NO LISTS”. Sanctioning non compliant others laws, foreign espionage services, Terrorist Operatives operating as Diplomats and Harvard Alumni, exchange students etc. We need a DHS, and department of Arab and Islamic Exterminations. The last, if ever needed in Syria, is another run of the mill Harvard paper mill graduates to tell us how to run our county when Syria is being dismantled and Syrians are dying fighting the very same graduates of that Diploma Mill and its institutions. Yes, she was right, Harvard is like the Vatican, and just like the City of London and the Corporate U.S. Maritime Government in Washington D.C. Independent States that have own laws and violates every Internationally Agreed upon ones. Because the world is run by a Reptile king who sis called the “The Great Deceiver of Man”.

BASHAR ASSAD, SYRIA’S ARMY WOUBESS. SHOVE THAT HARVARD PAPER UP YOUR****.

SNP,I will volunteer to work for the department of Arabic and Islamic exterminations.
And It will be even better if it is called Arabic and religions exterminations.

As if your dumb ass can even decifer what a Harvard diploma even means… Stick to your reptilian crazy jibber jabber

And the other dumb ass, go exterminate yourself you racist pig.

This should be made into a song
اخرقصيدة لأحمد فؤاد نجم
إلى الأمة العربية ، بعد الـ ” طُز ” لم يعُد يليق بكِ التحية
ما أخبار فلسطين؟ .. شعبٌ بلا وطن .. وطنٌ بلا هوية
ما أخبار لبنان؟ ملهى ليلي كراسيه خشبية وطاولته طائفية
ما أخبار سوريا؟ تكالبت عليها سكاكين الهمجية
ما أخبار العراق؟ بلد الموت اللذيذ والرحلة فيه مجانية
ما أخبار الأردن؟ لا صوت ولا صورة والإشارة فيه وطنية
ما أخبار مصر؟ عروس بعد الثورة ضاجعها الإخوانجية
ما أخبار ليبيا؟ بلد تحوّل إلى معسكرات أسلحة وأفكار قبلية
ما أخبار تونس؟ إنتعل رئاستها مهرّج بدعوى الديمقراطية
ما أخبار المغرب؟ إنتسب إلى مجلس خليجي باسم الملكيّة
ما أخبار الصومال؟ عِلْمها عند الله الذي لا تخفى عنه خفيّة
ما أخبار السودان؟ صارت بلَدان والخير خيران باسم الحرية
ما أخبار اليمن؟ صالحها مسافر وطالحها كافر وشعبها قضيّة منسيّة
ما أخبار عُمان؟ بلد بكل صدق لا تسمع عنه إلا في النشرات الجوية
ما أخبار السعودية؟ أرض تُصدّر التمر و زادت عليه الأفكار الوهابية
ما أخبار الإمارات؟ قبوّ سري جميل تُحاك فيه كل المؤامرات السرية
ما أخبار الكويت؟ صارت ولاية عربية من الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية
ما أخبار البحرين؟ شعب يموت ولا أحد يذكره في خطاباته النارية
ما أخبار قطر؟ عرابّة الثورات وخنجر الخيانات ومطبخ للأمبريالية
إلى الأمة العربية ، بعد الـ ” طُز ” لم يعُد يليق بكِ التحية

لم يعد يليق بكِ سوى النعيق والنهيق على أحلامك الوردية
لم يعد يليق بكِ سوى أن تكوني سجادة تدوس عليها الأقدام الغربية
لم يعد يليق بكِ شعارات الثورة حين صار ربيعك العربي مسرحية
لم يعد يليق بكِ الحرية حين صارت صرخاتك كلها في الساحة دموية
لم يعد يليق بكِ أن تصرخي بالإسلام وتهمتكِ بالأصل أنكِ إرهابية
لم يعد يليق بك يا أمة مؤتمراتها مؤامرات وكلامها تفاهات وقراراتها وهمية
لم يعد يليق بكِ التحية .. يا أمة دفنت كرامتها وعروبتها تحت التراب
وهي حيّة !!!

Jasmine: That is my favorite flower tree, not the kind you find in America, the one that grows in Tel Kalakh Syria, at my grandma home. To this day, I never forget the early morning breeze of the Jasmine tree in her cobblestone garden. When the “Great Leader” I am not talking about the “Handsome Prince Kim jong-un” I am talking about the leader of Syria, President Bashar Assad dump Arabism, starve, arm and expel the Palestinians to take over Transjordan so that Lebanese and Persians can enjoy wetting feet in the Jordan river and enjoy the view of the Mediterranean seashore at sunset on a clear day, appoints SNP to secure Syria, you will be appointed Director in the SSS (The Syrian Secret Service) to bring most Syrians dream come true. SNP needs brainy cadre like you.

Sami: One can sense the immense frustration and let down feeling you feel in your comment above, the worthlessness of what you and other idiotic, blood thirsty war criminals have strived to achieve in the past four years, the detrimental feeling of being a looooooooooooser, suicide, is a great way out of this unbearable feeling of being a failed loser. After all, no stone left unturned and yet, Syria’s next President, is the same great one the idiots of the world tried to unseat. They spent billions on financing thieves and conmen to lead you ignorant revolutionary wannabe, and you been let down by the scam artists- who now are all millionaires and all you have is still your hand to jack off on plastic doll. All you can muster is hatred to the winning intellectuals, who have brains bigger than your rat sized one and education that is way beyond the elementary Judeo-Islamic child molesting preacher gave you. The brave and smart men defeated you and all losers like you and this feeling will be with you for life, if it is intolerable now, it is going to get much worse, try a way out and take few billions of your kind with you please.

SNP
Syria is going to need every single Syrian to rebuild the country and all parties should be included,now the political life is emerging gradually.
I was joking in my previous comment,I would never be good at the job you are offering me,and it is not needed hopefully in the new Syria,I know that it is going to take a while to shape the country,and it may not happen in our life time but we Syrians are resourceful, talented and creative and we will do it.
Sami is taking every word you have written very seriously and that is why his reaction was exaggerated,I can sense generally your love and devotion to the country which we all adore,but all political parties have to work together to establish a good political,economical and social paths to restore order to the life of millions.
My dad died and I couldn’t go to his funeral,we all have suffered enough and we need to think about a way how can we help our brothers and sisters in Syria.

SSNP, I normally issue a warning beforehand, but considering the degree of harassment you’ve just delivered (sexual insults; suggesting that someone commit suicide; etc.), I’m banning you now. I glanced at the history of your comments and also noticed a lot of anti-Semitic remarks (which I am not, of course, equating with criticism of Israeli policy; you make a lot of anti-Jewish slurs and even defended Nazism).
All views on Syria are welcome in SC discussions, as long as they are presented with respect to others.

I never understood the ambivalent character of the SSNP: a party made up of, on the one hand, genuine and semi-intellectuals who could at times offer meaningful critiques of national narratives and government policies in the Levant, and on the other hand, nasty street thugs whose uncouth behavior can rival that of the worst Syrian mukhabaraat ‘awayini. I was never quite able to comprehend the juxtaposition of these two elements, though your manner of interaction here seems to bear more influence from the latter faction (who once harassed me in the streets of Beirut).

– Sami, reciprocating abusive behavior with more abusive behavior is not acceptable. This is a warning.

– SL, sorry that only content from non-Westerners is useful for you. Anne was on site and relaying what she was seeing with her own eyes; I thought that was pretty interesting.

What has been most fascinating to me about the expat voting is that when regime supporters see regime supporters voting for Bashar, they conclude that this reflects the sentiments of all Syrians, and that the whole country must be in love with him. A friend in Damascus I spoke with the other day didn’t seem to understand that hundreds of thousands of Syrians in Jordan’s refugee camps hadn’t voted at the embassy in Amman. It’s reminiscent of the early, massive pro-regime demonstrations in Damascus that for regime supporters seemed to suggest that no oppositional sentiment existed in the country. It’s also laughable when people suggest that that the lack of votes for Bashar’s “opponents” indicates that there isn’t any true opposition, unable to recognize that there was no candidate that represented anti-regime Syrians—all 3 “candidates” still belonging to the regime. No surprises here, but Anne still presented a lot of interesting anecdotes that offered insights.

– Habib, what you linked to is not an analysis from Finklestein, but an article from Patrick Cockburn that he re-posted. It’s a year old but still interesting.

– Alan, you’re right; I do love singing in the bathroom.

This iss the real speech of Obama at West Point

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/549456-a-more-accurate-address

He has no FP to speak of and he is going to lose the senate in November.

I am working on it as a matter of fact in my state.

Cheers

One more thing
I think that Dr. Landis is going to have to find a new country to continue his career as a director of the center for middle east studies. There is no ME left, there is a huge Shia Sunni civil war stretching from Afghanistan to Lebanon.

As for the sect in Syria, it is in deep trouble as it is requiring every more troops from all over the Shia world to keep it in power. An area slowly shrinking by day. Even where there are agreements the army cannot enter the areas.

Long live Alawistan

A new Dictator is born

Meanwhile in Berlin, protesters rally in front of the Syrian embassy to raise their voices against the “elections”.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=846170048729833&fref=nf

MATTHEW
Please don’t ban SSNP,he can get carried away with his writing sometimes but I am sure that he will take your remarks on board now.
We have to start with democracy on this blog as well,as long as we are not abusive,and sometimes humor can be misunderstood .

Matthew,

I have to join Jasmine’s appeal to you. As much as I don’t like what SSNP and other regime supporters write, I believe that it is important to listen to them. They reflect sentiments that exist in the Syrian spectrum of opinions.

SC becomes too sterile lately. By banning commentators, you don’t change their mind; you make them more angry and more determined. Syria’s civil war isn’t sterile! Let the forum reflect on what is really happening. I want to hear all sides, not just the side I agree with.

ABU SIRRY @14
Well said.

Amir @ 35
Agree with you absolutely,but we still want our Golan heights back.

Excellent analysis
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/middle-east-tragedy-obamas-syria-policy-disaster-10565

Amir, no one has ever been banned on SC for their views, including SSNP.

Please consider the following SSNP quotes:

“…you and other idiotic, blood thirsty war criminals…”
“…being a looooooooooooser…”
“…suicide is a great way out of this unbearable feeling of being a failed loser…”
“…you ignorant revolutionary wannabe…”
“…all you have is still your hand to jack off on plastic doll…”
“…who have brains bigger than your rat sized one and education that is way beyond the elementary Judeo-Islamic child molesting preacher gave you…”
“…all losers like you…”
“…try a way out and take few billions of your kind with you please…”
“…non-earthly entities (Jews)…”
“The only 2 Jewish families living in in Homs…both changed faith from devil worship to Catholic Christianity. No known Jews living in Homs, not one, it is clean city…”
“Who knows, maybe a great man like Adolph Hitler will rise up after Bashar and deliver Syria from the evil hand of semites and degenerate Moslems.”
“We don’t need a degenerate rag head Semite from the desert of Arabia and a fake gypsy boy…”
“Stop regurgitating hoaxes and false Jewish propaganda about the German Nationalists…Nazi were far more humane…”

Jasmine, you said “We have to start with democracy on this blog as well, as long as we are not abusive, and sometimes humor can be misunderstood.”

Democracy is not a license to mistreat others. The examples pasted above ARE abusive, and highly so.

This guy has been banned previously, as Metaz K.M. Aldendeshe and his comments have always had a highly-abusive character.

Things are sterile because of a lack of genuine discussion, not because of a lack of spam and violence in the comments. Sadly, recent months have shown a tremendous decline in interest over Syria. A lot of people are probably afflicted with a sense of hopelessness and the feeling that they have nothing else to say.

Would either of you advocate permitting harassment from users like this? What would you do if you had to moderate content like this?
Something to think about while negotiating over the Golan…

Matthew
I don’t envy your task at all,but I am sure that there is always a room for negotiation when the two parties will agree on being polite.

Sami was attacking as well,actually he started first after reading the comment about Harvard.

I will postpone the negotiation of Golan heights with Amir till after resolving the war between SSNP and Sami.

Understandably, the U.S. president plans to increase support for the Syrian rebels further prolong the civil war and eventually lead to the destruction of the country, as happened with the help of the U.S. in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Libya. “If the rebels prevail, the probability of turning Syria into another Somalia or the continuation of the conflict is between the militants themselves without the involvement of government forces is very high. This can lead to the fact that more refugees leave Syria “- said very authoritative expert, Professor Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma Joshua Landis.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fru.journal-neo.org%2F2014%2F06%2F02%2Frus-siriya-lzhivy-e-slova-i-cherny-e-dela-b-obamy%2F&edit-text=

Matthew,

Noted.

Jasmine,

War? Really?