12May/08

Europe’s New Middle East Darling

Friday, November 19, 2004

By Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck

With Yasser Arafat’s death, Europe has lost its oldest and dearest Arab despot. But the race to replace him as the European Union’s favored Middle East tyrant has already begun – and we seem to have a winner. Late last month, just days before Arafat was flown to Paris to receive medical treatment, the European Commission and Syria signed an “Association Agreement” that strengthened Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s iron grip on power. Amazingly, this significant development was all but ignored by the Western media.

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12May/08

Hell and Back

A firsthand account of Syrian atrocities.

By Nir T. Boms & Farid N. Ghadry

According to estimates, almost 100 Kurds were killed in the riots that followed a soccer match in the city of Qamoshli, Syria last month. Over 1,300 Kurds are believed to have been arrested for treason, espionage, incitement, and disrupting the public order in the cities of Qamoshli, Ifrin, Dar-a Zhur, Aleppo, and Damascus.

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12May/08

Syrian Peace Overtures: Timing is Everything

1/9/2005

Nir Boms and Elliot Chodoff

Since he abruptly returned from Britain to Syria five years ago to inherit the regime from his ailing father, thirty-six year old Syrian strongman Basher al-Assad has rarely smiled in public. After all – running Syria is a serious business. But lately, it seems that Assad is showing the world a different face. While visiting Cairo last week to discuss the situation in the Middle East he actually cracked a half-smile.

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12May/08

The Coming Fall of Assad?

Mar. 18, 2004
By NIR BOMS & ERICK STAKELBECK

Bashar Assad dodged another bullet by dispersing last weekend’s anti-government riots in northern Syria. And his Ba’ath Party continues to maintain a tyrannical grip over the lives of 22 million Syrians. For Syria’s democratic reformers, however, the widespread unrest may signify the calm before the storm.

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