All posts by Nir Boms

11May/08

On to Damascus

Middle East, Syria, , ,

Feb. 14, 2004
On to Damascus
By NIR BOMS & ERICK STAKELBECK

Last month at the Free University of Brussels, just 200 meters from the Syrian Embassy, a group of Syrians gathered to discuss something that can only whispered about in their native land – freedom.

The scene was the second conference of the Syrian Democratic Coalition (SDC), a union of pro-democracy groups comprised of both resident Syrians and those living abroad. Under the auspices of the Belgian government representatives of 19 Syrian political parties, civil rights and student organizations gathered from January 17-19 to discuss replacing the world’s last remaining Ba’ath Party dictatorship with a secular democracy.

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11May/08

Free Damascus

Middle East, Syria, , , ,

Nov. 27, 2003
Free Damascus
By NIR BOMS & ERICK STAKELBECK

‘The advance of freedom is the calling of our time; it is the calling of our country.” With this statement, made in his November 6 speech calling for the establishment of democracy in the Middle East, President George W. Bush galvanized an increasingly active contingent of democracy advocates.

Amongst them was the Reform Party of Syria (RPS), a fledgling US-based political movement comprised of resident Syrians and Syrians living abroad. RPS was formed shortly after 9/11 to express a voice that has been virtually nonexistent in Syria under 40 years of oppressive Ba’ath Party rule: a voice of freedom.

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11May/08

The Syrian-French Connection

Middle East, Syria, , ,

By Nir Boms
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 29, 2003

While the media is busy focusing on the troubling story of the two American soldiers detained at Guantanamo Bay for alleged espionage, both of whom had Syrian connections, another Syria story has passed them by. The names of Ahmad al Halabi, an American of Syrian descent, and Captain James Yee, a convert to Islam who spent four years in Damascus before returning to active service, are now well known. But the name of Nizar Nayouf, a Syrian journalist and human rights activist that was detained last week by French police in Paris, will most probably stay anonymous.  Nayouf’s only crime is that he opposes the regime in Damascus, a regime that the French government wishes to appease.

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11May/08

Deceptive Damascus

Islam and Democracy, Middle East, Syria, , , , ,

By Elliot Chodoff and Nir Boms
June 15, 2007

The Syrian regime, which brooks no opposition at home, supports terrorists of all varieties abroad and eliminates foreign political leaders who have the temerity to oppose the subjugation of their country, continues to attempt to paint the face of democracy on its strongman dictatorial system. 

Three events over the past two weeks provided a clear view of the nature of the Syrian regime: the publication of official election results, the response to the U.N. decision to establish a tribunal on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the assassination of Walid Eido, an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker and prominent supporter of the tribunal.

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