I found this article a bit surprising. The presumptuous nature of the Professor's statement (which the article seems predicated on) that: "Because the inner core of the Syrian regime is bound together by ties of sect and kinship, it is unlikely to fragment" is a gross simplification of the state's relationship with actual Alawi communities. Only last week reports have come out concerning the Alawites explaining that, on some level, they are overcoming the fear of "Sunni dominance" that has been forced on them and other minorities for decades. There is surely fractioning on the regimes side, and some alawites are becoming impatient with the regime. I think this will become more apparent soon, as well. This complicates the overall implications in this article, that the opposition and its components need to come to terms with the "reality" that the regime is one united front, inseparable, unlike they will ever be. It is true the opposition will never be that, but that the regime's alawite bond of kinship can survive this turmoil for much longer is an equal fallacy.
I found this article a bit surprising. The presumptuous nature of the Professor's statement (which the article seems predicated on) that: "Because the inner core of the Syrian regime is bound together by ties of sect and kinship, it is unlikely to fragment" is a gross simplification of the state's relationship with actual Alawi communities. Only last week reports have come out concerning the Alawites explaining that, on some level, they are overcoming the fear of "Sunni dominance" that has been forced on them and other minorities for decades. There is surely fractioning on the regimes side, and some alawites are becoming impatient with the regime. I think this will become more apparent soon, as well. This complicates the overall implications in this article, that the opposition and its components need to come to terms with the "reality" that the regime is one united front, inseparable, unlike they will ever be. It is true the opposition will never be that, but that the regime's alawite bond of kinship can survive this turmoil for much longer is an equal fallacy.