Qifa Nabki
Bashar al-Assad
The View From Mukhtara
Walid Jumblatt has long cultivated a reputation for spotting the angles before anyone else. As international pressure mounted on Syria in 2004, Jumblatt joined the vocal opposition to Lahoud’s rule in a move that broke with several years of close ties with Damascus. In 2009, following the Lebanese parliamentary elections and the much-touted (but ultimately … Continue reading
Muhanna and Otrakji talk Syria at Bloggingheads
Camille Otrakji and I recorded a segment about the situation in Syria for Bloggingheads, which you can see here. To read my interview with Camille from a few weeks ago (which generated 724 comments from the readership), click here.
Talking about a Revolution: An Interview with Camille Otrakji
And now for something completely different. If you’ve been following events in Syria, you’d know that the English-language press is mostly deeply critical of the Assad regime (while the Arabic press displays a slightly wider range of views). I thought it would be worth trying to present a minority report on the situation from a … Continue reading
How Sectarian is Syria?
A few days ago, I blogged about the debate that has begun to emerge among Mideast analysts with respect to the situation in Syria. One of the major sticking points in that debate is the question of what role Syrian “sectarianism” is playing in the anti-Assad protests and the regime’s counter-propaganda. A couple pieces of … Continue reading
The Syrian Culture Wars
A relative of mine was in Damascus last week on business, and he told me about a conversation he’d had with a government official. The official dismissed the protests as being organized by “terrorists” and “hoodlums” who had no interest in real reform in Syria. When I mentioned this conversation to a Syrian friend of … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…