« East vs. West (Europe, that is) | Main | Baathists: Syrian vs. Iraqi »
February 23, 2005
The Domino Effect
The spotlight in the Middle East has been on Lebanon lately, with good reason. It would be a wonderful thing if Syrian hegemony there came to an end.
But what about Syria itself? I noted with great interest the fact that Syria allowed absentee voting in the Iraqi elections. I figured that the sight of expat Iraqis actually voting would plant an irresistibly powerful seed thought in the minds of the Syrians. But events in Lebanon soon grabbed our attention.
But the seed may have sprouted (hat tip Chrenkoff):
More than 150 Syrian intellectuals on Wednesday signed a petition calling on Damascus to end its military occupation of Lebanon. The petition was sent to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"There is no more use of insisting on managing crises using old political solutions," the petition read. "Its time that Syrian adopt a new policy which will take into account new developments, especially the criminal assassination of Rafik al Hariri." [...]
The Syrian opposition makes its voice heard periodically in letters it sends to Assad. The group has no real influence on Syrian policy, but criticism of such sensitive issues like Syria's presence in Lebanon is unprecedented.
Exciting times, indeed.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thebernoullieffect.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/25
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Domino Effect:
» holy shit from holy shit
shit-happens 1967054 This site contains relevant information about holy shit. [Read More]
Tracked on June 21, 2007 08:32 AM
