The Syrian opposition, and US policy in Syria:

Battling the Lion of Damascus, by Seth Wikas.

"He sheds light on past and potential missteps -- from strengthening already potent Islamist factions to mismanaging initiatives aimed at funding worthwhile opposition efforts -- that U.S. policymakers must avoid if they hope to help rather than hinder the Syrian opposition."

Labels: reformists/dissidents, US

Israel has rejected peace talks with Syria.

Syria has been offering talks on full recognition for the past seven years - and hasn't even got a response.

That was until recently. Israel announced it would 'test' Bashar, and call his bluff by offering peace talks.

But Olmert set the bar so high that it knew Syria would say no - and that would paint Syria as the obstruction to peace in the region. Israel demanded that if the Occupied Golan Heights were returned to Syria, Syria would have to 'rent' the Golan Heights back to Israel.

So when Syria didn't immediately say no, some in Israel - and Washington - started to get a bit jittery. Olmert has now retracted his offer, saying simply that the time "isn't right".

Interesting to see where Ehud Olmert made the announcement. During talks with President Bush at the White House.

Labels: Israel, Israeli Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, Peace talks, US

Last year, Bush set up the Iran-Syria Policy and Operations Group. Its aim: to support Syrian opposition groups, like Frank Ghadry, to block Syria's access to money, and to send weapons to Syria's enemies.

Bush has now closed the committee down, in another sign of the thaw between the US and Syria. Last year, the group was meeting every week.

It was modelled on a similar Iraq committee set up before the US invaded that country. It was, essentially, a regime change committee.

Labels: the thaw, US

White House spokesman Tony Snow was pressed by journalists to finger Syria for the violence in Lebanon, between an Al Qaeda inspired group, and the Lebanese army.

Tony Snow said he 'did not know' whether Syria was involved.

Even Bush isn't blaming Syria.

Labels: Lebanon, US

Why is this not called 'terrorism'?

Labels: US

...and why Syria isn't part of it. The Allepine Elephant stomps all over ignorance once again.

Bush has never said Syria is part of the Axis of Evil, neither have any of his spokesmen. So who's making the mistake?

Essential reading for the terminologically challenged.

Labels: Media, US

Nancy Pelosi, the third most powerful US politician is in Damascus.

"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from
the (Syrian) president that he was ready to resume the peace
process. He was ready to engage in negotiations (for) peace with
Israel," she said.

But she's already been rebuked by Israel for telling Syria Israel was ready for talks.

"(Our) meeting with the (Syrian) president enabled us to communicate a message from prime minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well," she said.

The Israel government is angry that she said that whole sentence without mentioning the compulsory words "terror" and "support". These words are issued on cards to every US politician who has to speak to the media.

Labels: Israel, Peace talks, US

Excellent pictures from Nancy Pelosi's meeting with Foreign Minister Walid Mouallim in Damascus yesterday. Many thanks for the photos from Syria's best photographer, John Wreford.

Labels: Pictures, US

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has spoken for the first time about Iran's release of the 15 sailors and marines. He has thanked "friends and allies in the region".

The only country in the region that helped was Syria (Turkey offered but it didn't happen). The BBC is interpreting that this was a coded way for Blair to thank Syria. And it also says something very big: Syria now seems to be considered a "friend" of Britain.

It comes as Nancy Pelosi, the third most senior politician in the US, continues her holiday in Syria. She spent the night in Damascus, walking through the Old City talking to shopkeepers and visiting the Ummayid Mosque.

Not since Bashar visited Blair in London in December 2002 have relations been so good.

Labels: Britain, Iran, Turkey, US

Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House in Washington, and the most senior Democrat, is in Syria.

Yesterday she was welcomed by Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mouallim. Last night she visited the Ummayid Mosque. You can see her standing in front of the head of John the Baptist - a shrine is built inside the main (Muslim) prayer hall.



After that, she walked through the Bazouriyeh market, chatting with stallholders who offered her dried figs and nuts.

This is not an arrogant visit to Syria to shout at Bashar, she seems to be showing the American public that she is engaging with the Syrian people, as much she is with the Syrian leadership. It is a very different atmosphere to last month's visit by a Bush government official to talk about the Iraqi refugee crisis. There were no tours of Old Damascus then.

This is Pelosi hugging and kissing Syria, almost wanting to apologise for the way her rival, Bush, has treated Syria. It is also a hint that Syria would not be ignored if the Democrats come to power (there are a lot of people who would disagree with that statement - but that seems to be Pelosi's message).

Later today she will meet Syria President Bashar Al-Assad. She is expected to tell him Israel's view on the return of the Golan Heights. Last month, the EU's foreign policy chief visited Damascus and publicly supported Syria's right to regain the illegally occupied Golan Heights.

Seems almost like a holiday, staying in a luxury Damascene residence - instead of your usual two hour US visits. This is not only the most senior US official to visit Syria for four years - I think it could be the longest visit by a senior US official for many years.

Labels: US

US House of Representatives leader Nancy Pelosi is about to visit Damascus to meet President Bashar Al-Assad.

She is the first female leader of the House, and is Bush's main opponent. As a Democrat, she is the face of the mid-term elections last November which saw Bush's Republicans defeated in both American Houses of Parliament.

Bush tried to talk her out of the visit, but she is going anyway - albeit after a 'briefing' from the White House.

She is going with Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to congress - as well as Tom Lantos, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee.

It is the latest move to end Bush's isolation of Syria - the EU Foreign Policy chief, and a US minister in Bush's government visited earlier this month. Pelosi's trip, though, is undoubtedly the most high profile.

Labels: the thaw, US

John Bolton, America's former ambassador to the UN has admitted he did obstruct a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and that he was "damned proud" of it.

During the war, he, and other Bush regime officials said they were waiting for the right time, because an immediate ceasefire wouldn't be "lasting".

Now the truth has come out - they wanted Israel to damage Lebanon as much as possible, before calling for an end to the war. They didn't care about Lebanon one bit, despite Fouad Siniora's tears.

Bolton says he only agreed to the ceasefire once it became clear that Israel wasn't achieving its military aims - and probably, once Israel gave its backing.

It comes just weeks after Israel revealed it had been preparing for a war against Lebanon for months, even though it claimed its atttacks were "in response" to the kidnapping of two soldiers.

Yesterday evening, John Bolton displayed more of his famous arrogant belligerance.

He sat on a live TV link from Washington to London and condemned the audience of a British television programme discussion on the Iraq war. He said it was "depressing" that people could sit with a "straight face" and question the success of the war in Iraq. In Bolton's world, no one would raise an eyebrow.

Labels: Israel, Lebanon, Media, UN, US

...with the US:
American Colonel William Crowe, in charge of the Iraq-Syria border Syria and Iraq says: "there is no large influx of foreign fighters that come across the border."

...with the Hariri inquiry:
“The last three missions in particular were arranged and facilitated in a professional and timely manner by the Syrian authorities.” Syria “has continued to provide the commission with assistance in response to its requests within the appropriate timescales, and the commission is grateful for the logistical and security arrangements provided by Syrian authorities.” (Serge Brammertz).

Labels: Iraq, UN, US

The UN says the world is in denial about the Iraq refugee crisis in Syria and Jordan. Both countries have asked for more help.

Syria hosts about 1.2 million, and Jordan has 800,000.

The UN praised Syria for its work, and the US even sent a top level government minister to discuss the problem.

Labels: Iraq, Jordan, Refugees, UN, US

Interesting analysis of the pressure on Syria by Wassim (reposted from the comments section):

Well I don't pretend to be an expert in politics, but I treat it like when I play chess, I look at all the possible reasons why somebody has made their move. Once his series of moves is done, his bluffs work or fail, then you can evaluate what he did and see why he made a particular move.

It's just too much of a coincidence that a steadily closing vice around Syria, Iran and Hezbullah was kicked off by the assassination of Hariri; a full scale, "Unexpected" war takes place a year later, and Iran's nuclear ambitions all provoke outcry while the situation in Iraq worsens. Now we see the American's sitting down with the Syrians and Iranians after going through yes, no, yes no thinking they can play a final card. Israel might be tempted to do something stupid, but right now it is too busy licking it's wounds.

Incidentally, how come things in Lebanon would quieten down only once Iran and Saudi Arabia meet calmly and "discuss" things over. Lebanon was and remains somebody else's battlefield unfortunately. However, this was one hell of a chess player who planned all this, and though it was a damn big gamble, it seems other people in the Middle East play chess too.

Labels: Hariri inquiry, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi, US

"We would like to work as much as possible to see your country Syria recuperate the territory taken in 1967," said EU Foreign Police chief Javier Solana in a joint press conference in Damascus, after meeting the President.

Incredible words from a man who was until last week boycotting Syria. The EU has ended its ban on contacts with Syria in remarkable style.

It will soon be 25 years since Israel annexed the territory, amid criticism from the UN, EU and even the United States.

Labels: Israel, Israeli Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, UN, US

The mysterious ten.

Serge Brammertz, who is investigating the assasination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, said there are ten countries not co-operating. He also said Syria is "fully co-operating".

Russia threatened to take the issue to the Security Council, demanding to know which ten countries were obstructing the investigation. But Brammertz kept it a secret. Now, he is set to reveal the names in his next report.

They are said to include: France, Israel, the US, Jordan, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Germany.

Ironic, considering France and the US threatened Syria with "further action" if IT did not co-operate.

Labels: France, Hariri inquiry, Israel, Lebanon, UN, US

The US government says its highest-level visit to Syria was "useful".

Bush sent Ellen Sauerbrey, the US assistant secretary of state for refugees and migration, to talk to Bashar.

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said they had direct talks. A representative from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was expected to attend, so the US could say the US and Syria didn't have direct bilateral talks.

Sauerbrey was in Damascus to talk about the Iraqi refugees. The Syrians "expressed their willingness to continue hosting displaced Iraqis, although noting the burden that this does place on them and on their system," Casey said.

Bush asked his ambassador to leave Damascus two days after Rafiq Al-Hariri's assasination, clearly trying to pin the blame on Syria. But it is important to remember that the ambassador was just 'recalled', and not 'withdrawn'. If an ambassador is 'withdrawn' it means diplomatic ties are officially broken. An ambassador can be recalled to receive instructions in Washington, to do official business back home - or in this case, to apply pressure on Damascus.

It is just that this recall has lasted two years, and not one week.

It is an important point, and one that AP has slipped up on again and again.

Labels: Refugees, UN, US

So that's it. The isolation is over.

The US says it WILL talk bilaterally at tomorrow's Iraq summit if Syria wants to. It had previously said it wouldn't talk to Syria alone.

It comes just hours after the EU announced it was re-starting its top-level relationship with Syria, after two years of isolation. It is sending its head of Foreign Policy, Javier Solana to Damascus.

Labels: Europe, US

Interesting piece from former Christian Science Monitor writer Helena Cobban.

"[Danial Saoud, the President of the venerable Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms in Syria - he was himself a political prisoner] told me that the number of (secular) political prisoners in the country is now less than 20."

Here's another quote: "For 18-24 months the Americans and Europeans have put a lot of pressure on the regime - but the regime then just pushes harder on us. ... Before the US invasion of Iraq, people here in Syria liked us, the human rights activists, and we had significant popular sympathy. But since what happened in Iraq, people here say 'Look at the results of that!' "

And the full piece:

The US and Syria, Human Rights and Democracy

As US 'democratization' efforts in the Middle East wane, human rights activists in Syria see their situation improving, says Helena Cobban.

I spent a few days in Damascus at the end of February, and was able to get a ground reality view of the effects of the Bush administration's (former) campaign for the forced 'democratization' of Middle Eastern societies on the work of Syrian citizens with long experience struggling for human rights and democracy in their country.

Bottom line: "Very bad indeed."

That was the verdict rendered on Bush's 'democratization' campaign by Danial Saoud, the President of the venerable Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms in Syria (CDF).

Saoud was himself a political prisoner from 1987 through 1999, and has been President of the CDF since August 2006. He was adamant that what Syria's rights activists need most of all right now is a resolution of their country's state of war with Israel.

Speaking of Condoleezza Rice he said, "Her pressure on the regime had a very bad effect for us. Now, for 18-24 months the Americans and Europeans have put a lot of pressure on the regime - but the regime then just pushes harder on us."

Mazen Darwish, who is Saoud's colleague in the CDF's three-person Presidential Council, told me, "Before the US invasion of Iraq, people here in Syria liked us, the human rights activists, and we had significant popular sympathy. But since what happened in Iraq, people here say 'Look at the results of that!'"

Saoud stressed that for Syrians, the question of Israel's continued occupation of Syria's Golan region itself constitutes a significant denial of the rights of all the Syrian citizens affected - both those who remain in Golan, living under Israeli military occupation rule there, and those who had fled when Israel occupied Golan in 1967 and have had to live displaced from their homes and farms for the 40 years since then. "Golan is Syrian land, and we have all the rights to get it back," he said.

In addition, he and the other rights activists I talked with pointed to the fact that the continuing state of war between Syria and Israel has allowed the Syrian regime to keep in place the State of Emergency that was first imposed in the country in 1963. "All these regimes in this area say they are postponing the issue of democracy until after they have solved the issues of Golan and Palestine," he said,

"So let's get them solved! Everything should start from this. The people in both Syria and Israel need peace. We need to build a culture of peace in the whole area. ... The CDF is working hard to build this culture."

Both men pointed out the numerous contradictions and ambiguities in the policy the United States has pursued regarding democratization in Syria. Darwish noted that, "When the US had a good relationship with Syria, in 1991, Danial was in prison - and the US didn't say anything about that." These two men, and other rights activists I talked with also noted that more recently, even during the Bush administration's big push for 'democratization' in Syria in 2004-2005, they were still happy to benefit from Syria's torture chambers by sending some suspected Al-Qaeda people there to be tortured.

Over the past year, two processes have been underway in Syria that seem to confirm these activists' argument that US pressure on the Damascus regime has been detrimental to their cause. Firstly, the rapid deterioration in the US' power in the region has considerably diminished Washington's ability to pressure the Syria regime on any issues, and Damascus has become notably stronger and self-confident than it was a year ago.

Secondly, over the same period, the situation of human rights activists within the country seems to have improved some.

Saoud told me that the number of (secular) political prisoners in the country is now less than 20. Indeed, the day we talked, about 16 Kurdish and student activists who had been held for less than a month had just been released. He said "No-one knows how many Islamist activists are in detention... We don't hear about them until they come to court." He said, "They don't torture people like Anwar al-Bunni or Michel Kilo, or the others who were detained last year for having signed the Beirut-Damascus Declaration." He indicated, however, that it was very likely that many of the Islamist detainees had been tortured. (Human Rights Watch's recently released report for 2006 states that in Syria, "Thousands of political prisoners, many of them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and the Communist Party, remain in detention.)

Meanwhile, the main factor dominating political developments in Syria, as in the rest of the Middle East, is the continued and extremely painful collapse of conditions inside Iraq. Syrians have watched that collapse in horror. Their country has received and given a temporary refuge to more than a million Iraqis - a considerable burden on their nation, equivalent to the US taking in some 17 million refugees within just a couple of years. And since Iraq's collapse has occurred under a Washington-advertised rubric of "democratization," the whole tragedy in Iraq has tended to give the concept a very bad name, and has caused Arabs and Muslims throughout the Middle East to value political stability much, much more than hitherto.

Under those circumstances, it is very moving to still hear people living in Arab countries talking about the need for democracy. But when they do so, they are very eager to distance themselves from the coerciveness inherent in Washington's recent 'democratization' project. And they all - regime supporters and oppositionists, alike-stress the need for moves toward democratization to grow from the local people's needs and priorities, rather than the geo-strategies pursued by distant Washington.

Labels: Democracy, Israeli Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, Media, reformists/dissidents, US