Syria has been ruled by stubborn mountain idiots with big guns and false army medals, white-collar thieves and street thugs for forty years. Their rule has been sectarian, tribal, fuedal and brutal, reflecting their true character, deep cultural roots and minority fears.
The Assad gang never truly felt loyalty to Syria as a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nation state. Once defeated they should be charged with high treason and their Syrian nationality withdrawn. They should then be put on a boat and sent off to Russia, Israel or the Hague.
While the regime is busy bombarding and murdering its fellow citizens, Israel (ruled by an equally sectarian, stubborn, opportunistic and sly bunch) takes full advantage of the chaos in Syria to fortify its occupation of the Golan (see this).
Syrians can only re-claim their country and dignity through blood and tears. There is no other way to win real freedom. Foreign intervention can only cause further destruction and breed another generation of disloyal ruling elite who are indebted to foreign powers and believe in eliminating their political opponents rather than building a truly democratic state. Our only hope now is that the combination of external political pressure and army defections will eventually tip the balance against this murderous Assad gang and its cronies.
Joshua Landis, in his latest article Stay Out of Syria makes the following comment:
"According to a recent study, autocracies with a median population age of over 30 years old are most likely to transition to liberal democracies -- Syria has a median age of 21. This is the same as Iraq's and just slightly older than Gaza's and Yemen's. Because of its poverty and youth, political scientists give it small chances of becoming democratic and stable any time soon. Beware of drinking the democratization Kool-Aid".
This is one of the most feable and shallow arguments against domocratic transition that I have ever heard. Has the author of the study bothered to look at countries like India, Ghana, Indonesia and even Nigeria where semi democracies exist despite a low median age and complex ethnic and religious structures? All it takes is education, justice, a taste of freedom and a sense of responsibility for the young to adopt basic democratic behaviour.
True political leadership builds healthy societies based on fundamental human values. In the years between independence and the hijacking of power by the current regime, Syria experimented with democracy for short periods. Until March 2011, the nation had been brainwashed into believing that the country could only be ruled by force. The nation has now matured but not its leaders.
Today's revolt against tyranny is a wake up call by the very youth who are judged too young and too ignorant to want democracy. If they grow a long beard and hold a copy of the Koran with one hand and a gun with the other it is only because they have seen too much blood, too much oppression and lost faith in anything that is man made. Their faith in humanity will be restored once the oppressor has been defeated and brought to justice.
The Assad gang never truly felt loyalty to Syria as a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nation state. Once defeated they should be charged with high treason and their Syrian nationality withdrawn. They should then be put on a boat and sent off to Russia, Israel or the Hague.
While the regime is busy bombarding and murdering its fellow citizens, Israel (ruled by an equally sectarian, stubborn, opportunistic and sly bunch) takes full advantage of the chaos in Syria to fortify its occupation of the Golan (see this).
Syrians can only re-claim their country and dignity through blood and tears. There is no other way to win real freedom. Foreign intervention can only cause further destruction and breed another generation of disloyal ruling elite who are indebted to foreign powers and believe in eliminating their political opponents rather than building a truly democratic state. Our only hope now is that the combination of external political pressure and army defections will eventually tip the balance against this murderous Assad gang and its cronies.
Joshua Landis, in his latest article Stay Out of Syria makes the following comment:
"According to a recent study, autocracies with a median population age of over 30 years old are most likely to transition to liberal democracies -- Syria has a median age of 21. This is the same as Iraq's and just slightly older than Gaza's and Yemen's. Because of its poverty and youth, political scientists give it small chances of becoming democratic and stable any time soon. Beware of drinking the democratization Kool-Aid".
This is one of the most feable and shallow arguments against domocratic transition that I have ever heard. Has the author of the study bothered to look at countries like India, Ghana, Indonesia and even Nigeria where semi democracies exist despite a low median age and complex ethnic and religious structures? All it takes is education, justice, a taste of freedom and a sense of responsibility for the young to adopt basic democratic behaviour.
True political leadership builds healthy societies based on fundamental human values. In the years between independence and the hijacking of power by the current regime, Syria experimented with democracy for short periods. Until March 2011, the nation had been brainwashed into believing that the country could only be ruled by force. The nation has now matured but not its leaders.
Today's revolt against tyranny is a wake up call by the very youth who are judged too young and too ignorant to want democracy. If they grow a long beard and hold a copy of the Koran with one hand and a gun with the other it is only because they have seen too much blood, too much oppression and lost faith in anything that is man made. Their faith in humanity will be restored once the oppressor has been defeated and brought to justice.
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