“We should do whatever necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said. “This uprising in Syria now [has lasted] one year. For 10 months, it was peaceful: So I think they’re right to defend themselves by weapons and I think we should help these people by all means.”<\/p>\n
The referendum on the new constitution? 57.4 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots & 89.3% ‘approve the new Constitution<\/a>, <\/a>according to Syrian sources. The Baath Party no longer should rule, but any new presidential candidate may not have lived outside of the country for any period of time over the previous ten years, a requirement Assad would not have fulfilled when he became president.<\/p>\n Syria referendum called \u2018a sham\u2019<\/a>, Hugh Macleod, Annasofie Flamand, and an anonymous GlobalPost journalist in Damascus report on the constitutional referendum held in Syria yesterday. At one polling station in a state-run clinic in Damascus\u2019 Midan district, a neighborhood of traditional Sunni Damascene families and a center for protests in the capital, the transparent ballot box was still almost empty […]<\/p>\n TUNISIA MEETING ON SYRIA – US ANALYST<\/a> Duration: 07:50 – (Radio – go to minute 10)<\/p>\n If people in Syria were hoping for the world to act, then they may have reason for more disappointment. The first meeting of the “Friends of Syria” group — with representatives from sixty countries and organizations — ended in Tunisia today with divisions, questions, and the promise of another meeting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Homs, Syria (CNN) — A freelance cameraman who visited Homs recently put together<\/a> a video that provides a rare glimpse of life in the embattled city and an even rarer close-up of the opposition movement in Syria.<\/p>\n Syria Hit List<\/a> A 718-page digital document obtained by Mother Jones contains names, phone numbers, neighborhoods, and alleged activities of thousands of dissidents apparently targeted by the Syrian government. Three experts asked separately by Mother Jones to examine the document\u2014essentially a massive spreadsheet, whose contents are in Arabic\u2014say they believe that it is authentic. As Bashar al-Assad’s military continues a deadly crackdown on dissent inside the country, the list appears to confirm in explicit detail the scale of the regime’s domestic surveillance and its methodical efforts to destroy widespread opposition…..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Egyptian Parliamentarian speaks out about the “Alawi Shiites”<\/a> in Syria and Assad’s brutality during a discussion of unemployment. The head of parliament tries to shush him in vain. Youtube<\/p>\n CBS News: Hillary Clinton: Assad regime dishonors Syria<\/a><\/p>\n Red Cross frustrated in Syria evacuation effort Clinton blunt with Russia, China over Syria Syria in crisis: Who are the key players? Wyatt Andrews: Let’s get right to Syria, please. I know and respect that you think the Friends of Syria conference …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Foreign Policy Roundup<\/a><\/p>\n Syrian government held a referendum<\/a> on constitutional reform. The opposition boycotted the poll<\/a>, accusing President Bashar al-Assad of failing to abide by the current constitution. British Foreign Secretary William Hague<\/a> said, “no one is fooled” by the referendum while the regime proceeds to “open fire on civilians.” The polling was marred by violence with 63 civilians and soldiers killed during Sunday’s voting<\/a>. The European Union has extended sanctions<\/a> on Syria including on its central bank. Meanwhile, China lashed out after a statement made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Chinese and Russian vote blocking a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria “despicable.” China called the comments “unacceptable<\/a>” and questioned the “sincerity and efficacy of U.S. policy”, referring to the intervention in Iraq.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Economic News from Syria Report<\/a><\/p>\n Syria Ends Trade Liberalisation Era: <\/strong>The Syrian Government has raised customs tariffs on a wide range of consumer goods, reverting further a decade-old policy of trade liberalisation and risking an additional increase in consumer prices in the local market….<\/p>\n Central Bank Lowers Again Interest Rates to Stem Rising Borrowing Costs”: <\/strong>Syria\u2019s Central Bank has lowered interest rates on time deposits by up to 2 percent in response to pressure from the business community and banks but at a time of high inflation….<\/p>\n EU Sanctions to Constrain Further Central Bank Operations:<\/strong> The European Union imposed today new sanctions on Syria including a freeze of the assets of the Central Bank and a ban on cargo flights.<\/p>\n \u201cFriends of Syria\u201d Meeting Announces Working Group on Economic Recovery:<\/strong> The \u201cFriends of Syria\u201d meeting organised last week in Tunisia announced the establishment of an economic recovery working group to draft plans on \u201crebuilding Syria.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n The central issue is how to speed up what many now regard as the inevitable collapse of the Assad government without plunging the society into a civil war, said Volker Perthes, a German scholar of the region who runs the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.<\/p>\n \u201cArming the rebels and bringing about a civil war will prolong the regime,\u201d Mr. Perthes said. \u201cA real war is what Assad really wants, because it would allow him to overcome the reluctance of the great majority of the armed forces to fight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n David Ignatius: Bringing down Assad<\/a><\/p>\n Arming the rebels would not help Syria. The moral case for arming the rebels may be strong, but it doesn\u2019t overcome the practical problem: The battlefield is Assad\u2019s strength, not weakness. A better route to democratic change in Syria is the mix of economic, diplomatic and other pressure discussed at Friday\u2019s \u201cFriends of Syria\u201d meeting in Tunis, which also urged a cease-fire…..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In Break, Hamas Supports Syrian Opposition GAZA \u2014A leader of Hamas spoke out against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, throwing its support behind the opposition and stripping Damascus of what little credibility it may have retained with the Arab street. It was Hamas\u2019s first public break with its longtime patron. Al-Akhbar: Syria\u2019s Electronic Warriors Hit Al Jazeera<\/a> Fedwa Suleiman – Youtube<\/a> in Arabic by an Alawi Actress who has spoken out on the side of the revolution and against Assads gangs, security, and shabbiha<\/p>\n Although higher oil prices have been enough to finance these rises, much of the extra spending has gone into public-sector wages and consumer subsidies. Food and fuel subsidies are often huge: over 10% of GDP in Egypt. In the region as a whole, fuel subsidies rose from 2.3% of GDP in 2009 to 3.2% in 2011.<\/p>\n These subsidies benefit the rich, keep loss-making firms alive and damage the economy. According to the IMF, the richest fifth of Jordanians capture 40% of fuel-subsidy gains; the poorest fifth get 7%. More important, subsidies exacerbate the region\u2019s most important economic problem, which, argue Adeel Malik of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and Bassem Awadallah*, a former Jordanian finance minister, is \u201cthat it has been unable to develop a private sector that is independent, competitive and integrated with global markets\u201d. By distorting domestic prices, subsidising energy-guzzling firms and increasing public-sector wages relative to private-sector ones, the past year\u2019s actions have made it even harder to develop a flourishing private sector.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n ‘Beyond the fall of the Syrian regime’<\/a> (Peter Harling & Sarah Birke, Middle East Report online<\/em>)<\/p>\n Troubling Times Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n …On both sides, thugs and criminals are exploiting the struggle as a vehicle for social promotion, a means of enrichment and an outlet for sectarian hatred. This statement is true of regime forces, whose fallacious claim to stand for law and order is disproved all too often by their heinous behavior, as it is of some armed groups fighting them under the umbrella of the \u201cFree Syrian Army,\u201d a motley assortment of local vigilantes. The recruits into this \u201cArmy\u201d range from fathers defending their families to bereaved young men to defectors fighting for their lives, but its ranks are not devoid of fundamentalist militants and unreconstructed villains. To date, the latter elements have not been predominant, although they are all that the regime, its supporters and its allies want to see. The logic is self-evident: The ruling elite, having little good to offer, is hell-bent on proving that anything else to emerge from Syrian society can only be much worse. Thus the almost hysterical cult of Bashar, whose gross mishandling of this crisis matters not to his supporters: He alone can save this society from itself….<\/p>\n …”All told, on a domestic level Syria has entered a struggle to bring its post-colonial era to a close. It is not simply about toppling a “regime” but about uprooting a “system” — the Arabic word nizam conveniently evoking both notions. The current system is based on keeping Syrians hostage to communal divisions and regional power plays. Indeed, the regime’s residual legitimacy derives entirely from playing indigenous communities and foreign powers off each other, at the expense of genuine state building and accountable leadership. ….<\/p>\n The first is the reality of Bashar\u2019s power base, which has narrowed spectacularly but remains an incontrovertible fact on the ground. Just as the regime dismisses the protest movement with the spurious argument that a majority has not taken to the streets (as if any country around the world had ever witnessed half its people on the march), the regime\u2019s opponents berate its supporters as a minority of delusional, criminal, treacherous citizens. The fact is that, just as the regime cannot survive this crisis by ignoring the millions mobilized against it, so a transition cannot succeed while overlooking the millions — security officers, proxies and regular people — who have thrown in their lot with Bashar. Short of protection for the people most exposed to retribution, notably among the \u2018Alawis, a genuine reconciliation mechanism, an effective transitional justice process and a thorough but smooth overhaul of the security services, it could all go very wrong.<\/p>\n Secondly, judging by the SNC\u2019s performance, there is cause for concern if it were to play a key role in such a transition. Its leading members, hindered by personal rivalries, unable to formulate clear political positions for fear of implosion and seemingly consumed with having a spot in the limelight, may fall back on sectarian apportionment as the only consensual criterion for power sharing. Syrians on the street have made clear that they see the SNC\u2019s legitimacy as based on their ability to lobby for diplomatic pressure and see their mandate as stretching no further, but the outside world\u2019s quest for a ready-made \u201calternative,\u201d and the prevailing assumption that pluralist societies in the Middle East are condemned to such evolution, could prove to be Syria\u2019s undoing. A political process including the SNC, but built primarily around locally led organizations, along with technocrats and businessmen, would have more legitimacy and a greater chance of success.<\/p>\n Finally, as increasingly desperate protesters call for help, there is a danger that the outside world will make matters worse as it plays at being savior. Calls for aid are somewhat worse than a pact with the devil: They entail pacts with many devils that do not agree on much. The Gulf monarchies, Iraq, Turkey, Russia, the US, Iran and others all see geostrategic stakes in the fate of the Asad regime. The greater their involvement, the less Syrians will remain in control of their destiny. Crying out for foreign intervention of any kind, to bring this emergency to an end at any cost, is more than understandable coming from ordinary citizens subjected to extreme forms of regime violence. Exiled opposition figures who pose as national leaders have no excuse for behaving likewise, when what is needed is a cool-headed, careful calibration of what type of outside \u201chelp\u201d would do the minimum of harm.<\/p>\n Close to home, another Middle Eastern experience — Iraq — serves as an example on all three fronts. A political process excluding even a relatively small minority within Iraqi society led to a collective disaster. A group of returning exiles, without a social base but enjoying international support as the only visible, pre-existing \u201calternative,\u201d quickly took over the transition and agreed only on splitting up power among themselves on the basis of a communal calculus. Their division of the spoils gradually contaminated the entire polity, and ultimately led to civil war. And the US, presiding over this tragedy, succeeded only in turning Iraq into a parody of itself, a country that now fits every sectarian and troubled stereotype the occupying power initially saw in it….<\/p>\n …What is different today is the awakening of a broad popular movement, ….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Nick Heras “Iranian Crisis Spurs Saudi Reconsideration of Nuclear Weapons.<\/a>” It is published in the Jamestown Foundation:<\/p>\n
\nBy Hamed Aleaziz
\nMonday, February 27, 2012- Mother Jones<\/p>\n
\nThe New York Times
\nBy FARES AKRAM<\/p>\n
\nHamas\u2019s prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said during Friday Prayer, \u201cI salute all people of the Arab Spring, or Islamic winter, and I salute the Syrian people who seek freedom, democracy and reform.\u201d
\nThe worshipers shouted back, \u201cGod is great\u201d and \u201cSyria! Syria!\u201d
\nMr. Haniya made his remarks in support of the uprising that is seeking to oust Mr. Assad, a reversal after years in which Mr. Assad has given safe haven to leaders of Hamas while helping supply it with weapons and cash in its battle against Israel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nInteresting indications of behind-the-scenes problems at al-Jazeera over its Syria coverage.<\/p>\n
\nArab spring cleaning<\/a> The Economist
\nWhy trade reform matters in the Middle East
\nA YEAR after the start of the Arab spring, no government in the Middle East has attempted serious economic reform even though it is obvious both that economies are distorted and that discontent over living standards has played a big part in the uprisings. The main reaction by governments has been to buy off further protests by increasing public spending. Saudi Arabia boosted government spending by over 50% between 2008 and 2011.<\/p>\n