Yes sir. Syria is really nothing more than an interesting discussion point in all of this. It would take unimaginable bloodshed for Bashar Al-Assad to exit. What would end up happening is incredible bloodshed with no exit.
That would be true of his father but as for Bashir I'm not entirely certain of that. Yes Syria maintains an intense security apparatus but I dont think he's ever actually been tested before. It's hard to judge how far he'd go.
I don't think Bashir is like his psychotic loony father. Nobody does. But even though he's been around a while, if he wanted to loosen things up a bit I don't know if his own apparatus would let him. Plus, his group is a Shia sect that controls a majority Sunni population (how do you like that?). The one and only thing most Syrians would aspire to do is toss him out. The only way he stays in power and protects the minority is by intimidation and oppression. I have little doubt Bashir would go as far as it takes if the populace starting bubbling. My guess is he would act early.
I don't know for sure, but I've always thought it was because the "L" sound at the front sounds like "al" or "el"... i.e. "the" in Arabic, so that the when the Arabs heard the British pronounce his name as Laurence they thought it was "Aurence" and was being refered to by his countrymen as "The Aurence" or "El Aurence". BTW, looks like there is an outside shot that it could be Jordan next.
Pakistan needs to be next imo. If it's going to take a violent response from the people to get these countries/govts to be a part modern world, then so be it. Only risk is that the next form of govt may or may not support separation of religion and state. If the U.S. ever has an excuse to meddle with other countries' affairs, that would be it.
Ya but there are a lot of bought votes. Someone who makes 5 cents per day is offered $5 to vote for someone specific is going to do just that.
I don't think a revolution will fix that problem. Modernizing their economy, improving education, shrinking the disparity between rich and poor, and reducing corruption will have a better impact on the functioning of their democracy than just throwing out the current bums in office.
I think that a revolution (not civil war) is an (if not the) option. The current bums are the cause of the issues you listed. Very very few leaders would ever drop a dime towards education in Pakistan. And with good reason from their perpective....with an educated public, those same bums would never get a vote. I think what Musharaf did was almost a good idea. If it wasn't for 9/11 and the U.S. stepping in next door, he could have continued the focus of improving the economic situation there. But with 9/11, his advesaries used the US-Pakistan alliance on the war on terrorism as a political point to wrongly paint him as a leader who would open the door to U.S. occupation. Again, the country fragmented instead being given enough time to be united.
‘Day of Rage’ for Syrians Fails to Draw Protesters DAMASCUS, Syria — In stark contrast to several other Arab capitals, where hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated against their governments, a planned “Day of Rage” in Damascus on Friday failed to attract any protesters against President Bashar al-Assad, a sign that the opposition here remains too weak to challenge one of the region’s most entrenched ruling parties. Campaigns on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter called for Syrians to demonstrate Friday and Saturday in Damascus against the government of Mr. Assad, who inherited power in 2000 from his father, Hafez, who himself had ruled the country for nearly three decades with an iron fist. But Damascus was relatively quiet on Friday, save for a gentle rain that washed its streets. There was a heavy presence of security forces and police officers in front of Parliament, where the protesters were planning to stage their demonstration. Men in plain clothes and the black leather jackets popular among security forces here were scattered around the area. Others sat waiting in white vehicles. “Syria is the last country where regime change will occur,” said a political activist, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, like others interviewed. “The culture of protesting is not present here. They oppressed it until they killed it,” added another activist. The authorities are taking few chances. On Friday, security officials arrested Ghassan al-Najjar, an Islamist who leads the Islamic Democratic Current, a small opposition group based in Aleppo, rights activists said. Mr. Najjar, who is in his mid-70s, had called on Syrians in his city to demand more freedoms and bring about peaceful change. Aside from fearing the strong security apparatus, which has never been hesitant to use force to quiet dissidents, Mr. Assad had recently announced a 17 percent pay raise for the two million Syrians who work for the government, making them unlikely to participate in any protest, activists here said. In addition, they said, the opposition is not strong enough to lead a street movement capable of changing the government, and many here fear a situation in which the banned Muslim Brotherhood would take over if Mr. Assad were toppled. Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday that at least 10 people were summoned by the police in the previous 48 hours and pressed to not demonstrate. There were also reports that prominent opposition figures like Michel Kilo and Riad Turk, among others, many of whom spent years in jail for opposing the government, were also summoned. On Thursday, 3 Syrians were briefly detained and forced to sign pledges not to participate in future protests, after they protested, along with 12 others, against corruption and high cellphone costs. There are two cellphone companies in Syria, M.T.N. from South Africa, and Syriatel, which is owned by Rami Makhlouf, a wealthy businessman and relative of the president, who has been labeled as a beneficiary and facilitator of public corruption in Syria by the United States. At least 100 Syrians held a vigil in support of their Egyptian counterparts last Saturday near the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus, and quietly lit candles as police officers kept a watchful eye nearby. Eventually, witnesses said, one of them shouted: “Oh blow, winds of change. Yesterday Tunisia became green, tomorrow Egypt will be free. Oh, winds of change, blow and sweep away injustice and shame.” As she finished, they said, officers quickly moved in, ordering them to leave immediately or else they would be detained. “It is still soon for us,” said a Syrian activist, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We have time. The street is definitely not ready yet.”
