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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (93293)	1/2/2005 9:41:27 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793912

Liberals Against Terrorism - Syria Update Blogging from Damascus, Josh Landis reports on the ongoing tensions between the Syrian government and the United States over the former's role in Iraq. He includes a missive from top-notch Christian Science Monitor (a highly-underrated newspaper, IMHO) reporter Nicholas Blandford. I thought this bit was interesting: Also on the pics [of Iraqi insurgents cavorting with a top Syrian official], the Iraqi ambassador (who gave me this info) explained that PM Allawi is hoping the Syrians will see the light and crack down on the Iraqi Baathists in Damascus w/o having to embarass their neighbor by publishing the photos. The ambassador said that Iraq hopes to play the role of interlocutor between the Arab world and the US, instead of Saudi Arabia or Jordan. He believes that Syria needs to be encouraged to cooperate (rather than threatened) by economic/trade incentives. Landis' previous post also contained this nugget: Having just gone through the painful process of looking for an apartment in Damascus, it is quite clear that Syria is experiencing very big changes, that most people are only just waking up to. Rents have gone through the roof. Most Syrians blame this on Iraqis and other foreigners, but there are several other more important reasons. The new renter’s law, which is now two years old, has completely eliminated socialism of rental properties and has caused a major revolution in the ability of property owners to accumulate wealth. That sounds like something that will eventually do some good for the country. But then he says that: No one here seems to believe that anything good could come of instability in Syria. There are no white princes or democratic masses who could save the day. Evidently the Oxford Analytica group has predicted as one of their New Year events that Bashar al-Asad will resign and the Syria People will rise up. This made me laugh. There is no opposition here. So, is Greg Djerejian right? liberalsagainstterrorism.com