All I can say about Syria is that al-Asad is trying to pull the old "managed democracy" stunt; based on what I know of history it won't work. It's been too long since the Revolt began - people see it for what it is. Bashir al-Asad should count himself lucky that he ruled Syria for X number of years*, collect his people and his cash, and leave. Gazzafi should join him.
_________
* Hasn't it been a decade?
I don't like the little Ba'athist thug, but fleeing now would save him a mob cutting his head off and waving it around on a stick like "Chinese" Gordon's.
My only fear in this steady trickle of defections from Gazzafi's government is that more brutal or incompetent people will take over the defectors' jobs, and that a lot more people will die as a result in the government occupied areas.
The militants took up arms because they knew too well that Gazzafi is a ruthless maniac who will never relinquish power. Actually this fiasco does have one good element in that it has completely stripped away the false fronts of "the state of the masses", that Gazzafi is not the dictator and keystone of the Libyan government, and that his people actually tolerate his nonsense. The awful part will be the reprisals by his goons and the paranoia the Libyan state will display. Watch for a new diaspora of Libyan dissidents to emerge in Egypt, Tunisia, and the United States.
All I can say about Syria is that al-Asad is trying to pull the old "managed democracy" stunt; based on what I know of history it won't work. It's been too long since the Revolt began - people see it for what it is. Bashir al-Asad should count himself lucky that he ruled Syria for X number of years*, collect his people and his cash, and leave. Gazzafi should join him.
_________
* Hasn't it been a decade?
I don't like the little Ba'athist thug, but fleeing now would save him a mob cutting his head off and waving it around on a stick like "Chinese" Gordon's.
"This is a look at the past."
And it proves just how incompetent the Bush Admin was.
My only fear in this steady trickle of defections from Gazzafi's government is that more brutal or incompetent people will take over the defectors' jobs, and that a lot more people will die as a result in the government occupied areas.
The militants took up arms because they knew too well that Gazzafi is a ruthless maniac who will never relinquish power. Actually this fiasco does have one good element in that it has completely stripped away the false fronts of "the state of the masses", that Gazzafi is not the dictator and keystone of the Libyan government, and that his people actually tolerate his nonsense. The awful part will be the reprisals by his goons and the paranoia the Libyan state will display. Watch for a new diaspora of Libyan dissidents to emerge in Egypt, Tunisia, and the United States.