How to Start a Battalion (in Five Easy Lessons)

"Why are the Americans doing this to us? They told us they wouldn’t send us weapons until we united. So we united in Doha. Now what’s their excuse? They say it’s because of the jihadis but it’s the jihadis who are gaining ground."

Time and Questions

 Razan Ghazzawi:

 'People don’t ask me what’s happening in Syria, I love people who ask these questions, but I despise people who come to me and look me in the eye and ask me to ease their worries from, umm, “imperialist agendas,” from “Islamists,” and from “FSA violations of human rights.” People like these don’t genuinely want to learn, they just want to “chit-chat” about my pain. The pain that lives in me day and night, I remember Lina’s voice coming from the other side, “I am tired, Razan,” and I know that when she says that, it means that she really, really, can’t take it anymore.

 Questions. People have questions. I get that. But don’t come and tell me you’re in solidarity with our revolution. People in solidarity would first open a discussion with questions like: “how is your family and friends?” or “what can I do to help?” before you come and dictate me how we should be “worried” about your definition of a “successful revolution.”

 People in solidarity are easy to feel, they’re compassionate and would listen more than talk, you on the other hand, intellectual, are a waste of my painful time.'

Reviewed: Max Boot and Martin

A Miller's books about warfare

'In Syria, the problem is not Islamist blowback but the west’s active support for the Islamist insurgents. Almost certainly, the result will be a longer, bloodier war, possibly spreading throughout the region, in which Syria becomes one more failed state or else a hostile fundamentalist regime.'
A shorter war might occur if the West actually armed the insurgents. Professors of European Thought can be such idiots sometimes.

Lasting scars of Syria's assault on Baba Amr

"The whole world watched while we were butchered," said Ahmed Idriss, an aid worker in Arsal and a refugee himself.
"Of course, we blame the international community for that. But it doesn't really matter now: we don't expect help from them any longer. Now we put our faith in God and in the Free Syrian Army."

Dubbing My Way

Syria finds means of financial survival

'Almost two years after the Syrian uprising began, Damascus is funding its state structures and war machine thanks to assistance from Moscow and Tehran, dwindling commodity exports and taxes – and the opportunities the war economy offers to make and seize cash.
“You can see pressure building up on the regime but you don’t actually get to the collapse,” said David Butter, a Middle East finance specialist at Chatham House, the London-based think-tank. “There is enough circulation in parts of the economy to keep things going.” '

Central Damascus slowly succumbs to war

"It was once thought that puncturing the bubble of normalcy in Damascus would strengthen opposition to the regime. But increasingly armed rebels, often referred to as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are accused of looting and acting with disregard for the populations they are supposed to be fighting for."

Desperate for Fuel, Syrians

Chop Down National Forest

Haiti lost what was left of its forests the same way.

Belaid’s stance on the Syrian revolution

"A person who finished their revolt to find themself confronting Islamists and their rule, like the situation is in Tunisia and Egypt, is not the same as he who is still engaged in a revolution and attempting to find means of consensus among parties that are fighting a mutual enemy. This is exactly what the situation in Syria is."

"Peoples always win over their tyrants. The Syrians are not an exception. Watch your steps."

Syria Live Coverage: The

Fighting from Damascus to Idlib

Bilal Zaiter, a Palestinian refugee, exiled for a second time: "Assad has dried up our souls and nurtured terrorism inside every single Syrian." [https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/double-exile]

"Ahmadinejad did not look like a populist in Egypt, but like a Kissinger-style Realist, willing to sacrifice the Syrian masses to Iran’s hegemonic geopolitical interests in the region." [http://www.juancole.com/.../02/visit-ahmadinejads-egypt.html]

31st anniversary of the massacre of Hama. [http://doumarevolution.tumblr.com/post/42818972876/31]

The survival of Syria

“Every Syrian is extremely upset and frustrated about lack of support from the international community, never has a country seen such a disaster, with a regime targeting civilians in full view and the West just sitting by watching, like a spectator.

Europe and America have used all sorts of excuses for not getting involved in Syria, for example, the lack of a united opposition, but really, the West has no interest in the Syrian uprising.

More importantly, leaving Syria very weak will service the interests of some neighbouring countries. The regime is destroying its army and draining its supply of fighter jets, and the country will need at least 20 to 25 years to rebuild. Having such a weakened Syria is preferable for Western strategy in the region.”