Syrian Blogger and opposition activist Ammar Abdulhamid has a very different take on prospects for change in Syria, which he says will be driven by economic factors. I would not be so optimistic (I see the same kind of thinking over Egypt’s current economic crisis) because just like you can’t control a country entirely through [...]

Interesting interview with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leader, suggesting Syria would abandon Iran alliance if the regime fell:

Ikhwanweb: Farouk Al-Sharaa described the Saudi role in the region as “paralyzed” while he backs Iran . How do you expect the balance of power in the region will be if a change happens and an [...]

Babelmed has an interesting interview with the former Syrian MP Maamoun al-Homsi, who was imprisoned by the regime several years ago and now lives in exile. Part one and part two.

See SyriaComment. It’s becoming clearly obvious in every country whose news I follow that blogs and other websites are playing a crucial role as forum for debates and news-reporting where traditional publications face censorship. With the web, however, while governments can make things more difficult for users there are always ways to get around barriers.

Dialogue is in Syria’s and America’s interests - Anthony Cordesman
Says Syria is not interested in sending troops back into Lebanon and that a dialogue is possible even if it is not about to budge on the tribunal or support for Hizbullah. An incremental US policy based on carrots as well as sticks (as opposed to [...]

On the occasion of the re-election (surprise!) of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a new clearinghouse for Syrian opposition news has just been launched. Check out OpenSyria.org.

This news is a couple of weeks old, but I found telling what German news magazine Der Spiegel discovered in attorney documents which are part of the file on the Siemens corruption scandal (which also extends to bribery in Saudi Arabia – see this excellent WS Journal article):
The documents suggest that a part of the [...]

My friend Andrew Tabler, the editor of Syria Today and a very knowledgeable guy on all things shami, has a thought-provoking piece in the NY Times Magazine about the “Shiitization”of Syria:
Over the last five years, however, Iranian donors have financed the restoration of half a dozen Shiite tombs and shrines in Syria and built at [...]

This month’s issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin pits two Egyptians against one another over the constitutional amendments. Since the two are Karim Haggag, the director of the Egyptian press office in Washington and former aide to Gamal Mubarak who operated out of the presidency, and firebrand journalist Ibrahim Eissa, there is really almost no [...]

Via Reporters sans frontières:
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of arrested human rights activist Ibrahim Zoro, who regularly posts material on foreign-based opposition websites. It noted that two other people were in prison in Syria for posting similar material.
It said the state security service, whose agents arrested Zoro on 5 [...]

Something of a nasty fight has emerged between two of the most prominent commentators on Syria and Lebanon, Joshua Landis and Michael Young. The two seemed to be on cordial terms before, with Landis frequently referring to Young’s writings on Lebanon, even though it’s always been clear that they had opposite attitudes. Young has long [...]

Syria—well, Damascus—doesn’t feel like a place ready to come apart at the seams just yet. The mess of swish new cafes and expensive clothing stores, the shiny new cars and a general air of confidence belie the rumors of fraying domestic security and an unhappy economy. Maybe the feeling is deceptive. The flash is largely [...]

I’ve been looking at Israeli reactions to yesterday’s revelation that a secret negotiations between Tel Aviv and Damascus had been going on since 2004 — negotiations that yesterday Ehud Olmert rushed to dismiss, even insulting the mediators involved. This from Uzi Benzimann in Haaretz:
It is enough to observe the panicked responses in Jerusalem to the [...]

Haaretz has revealed that secret talks to end the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights have been taking place since 2004. See the story, the document drafted during the talks, and how the secret talks started, first with Turkish mediation and then through a mysterious European mediator. The deal has described seems fairly favorable to [...]

Syrian Ambassador to the US Imad Mustafa has a blog. He likes Syrian contemporary painters — who are quite good. I hope he puts up some recipes, Syrian food is tasty.
(via Aqoul)

Check out Elijah’s post from Damascus. I love Damascus, having lived there in the mid-1990s, and he gets a lot of the things about it right. Even if Syria is largely depressing, it’s a fantastic country and people. And even better than Damascus is Aleppo. Both cities have a “den of spies” 1950s feel to [...]

I’ve been getting these PINR reports for over a year but could never figure out who they (PINR) were exactly - they never replied to my emails. Still, they often have interesting stuff, as in their take on the Gemayel assassination.
Intelligence Brief: Pierre Gemayel Assassinated in Lebanon
Drafted By:
http://www.pinr.com
On November 21, Pierre Gemayel, a [...]

There are few articles in the Western mainstream press on single Middle Eastern economies, and this one by Damascus-based freelancer Gabriella Keller on the Syrian economy for the online edition of Der Spiegel is quite well researched and sharp. She argues that while the political leadership has realized the need to open up the economy, [...]

Credit where credit is due: the generally anti-Arab, uber-neocon New York Sun does a decent job of keeping track of Arab opposition movements and their interaction with Washington. Here it writes about a Syrian opposition group — a rather loose group that includes Islamists — that is about to open a formal Washington office:
The National [...]

A man got beaten into a false confession. The internal security agency lied to the government and to the public to cover up their brutality and incompetence. The government lied to the public to cover up their culpability. When the man complained, government officials told lies to the press in an attempt to discredit him.
Sure [...]