Archive: syria
President Assad, like all dictators, is fond of talking about sovereignty. "Our guiding light is always Syria's sovereignty," he said in his speech on Monday.
Sovereignty is indeed at the heart of the Syrian conflict, but not in the way that Assad imagines it. When Assad claims… Read more
How does this sound as a way to end the conflict in Syria?
Step one: The Syrian parliament grants immunity from prosecution to President Assad and his closest associates.
Step two: Assad resigns as Syria's president but remains head of the Baath party,… Read more
Election workers in Syria. Photo posted by Lyse Doucet of the BBC (@bbclysedoucet).
To describe today's parliamentary election in Syria as "cosmetic" would probably be over-generous. Nobody expects it to change the political reality and it's unlikely to change appearances… Read more
The Assad regime issued an emphatic denial this morning that it is planning to invite the Dalai Lama for an official visit to Syria.
On the face of it, the idea of Assad hobnobbing with the Tibetan Buddhist leader is preposterous – not least because it would infuriate the Chinese… Read more
The Russian foreign ministry has developed a sudden enthusiasm for the work of Human Rights Watch after the New York based organisation issued a statement last week accusing armed opposition elements of committing abuses in Syria.
Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry's… Read more
As soon as the leaked "Assad emails" began to appear last week, As'ad AbuKhalil (who blogs as The Angry Arab) announced, very confidently, that they were a hoax.
"It is so lacking in credibility," he wrote. "It took me minutes to reach my conclusion. Al-'Alam TV guy is giving advice to Asad… Read more
Dictators often have an odd relationship with the arts. The late Hafez al-Assad, for instance, dreamed of providing Damascus with a fine new opera house. He never saw it completed but in 2004 it was finally opened by his son and daughter-in-law, Bashar and Asma.
Next week, The Assad House for Arts… Read more
This week brings the first anniversary of the Syrian uprising, and the occasion will be marked by demonstrations against the Assad regime in various countries. One of them will be in London on Saturday and among those taking part, apparently, will be Lizzie Phelan.
Phelan, … Read more
Last November I wrote about Syria's rather surreal attempts to persuade the UN Human Rights Council that it is making progress on human rights – "the right to peaceful assembly is afforded under the Syrian constitution", "a human rights syllabus is taught in relevant educational… Read more
Lizzie Phelan, the British "independent journalist" whose fanciful reporting of the Libyan conflict attracted a good deal of attention on the internet last year, appeared on Russia Today yesterday, blaming Britain, Israel, France and the US for the double bombing in the Syrian city of… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
