Tag Archives: Bashar Assad

10Jun/08

La chute prochaine d’Assad ?

French,

Auteurs Nir Boms, Erick Stakelbeck

Source Jerusalem Post (Israël)
Référence « The coming fall of Assad ? » Jerusalem Post, 18 mars 2004.

Bashar El-Assad a fait disperser brutalement des émeutes anti-gouvernementales dans le Nord de la Syrie et garde le contrôle des 22 millions de Syriens, mais pour les réformateurs syriens, il ne s’agit que du calme avant la tempête. Les émeutes avaient éclaté après l’arrestation de plusieurs avocats de la démocratie et d’un diplomate américain lors d’une manifestation organisée par les comités pour la défense des libertés démocratiques et des Droits de l’homme devant le Parlement syrien. Les autorités syriennes ont présenté leurs excuses pour la détention du diplomate, mais pas pour la répression menée ce week-end. Continue reading →

01Jun/08

Assad Is Speaking

Saudi Arabia, , , ,

Friday, December 12, 2003

By: Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck

In his three-and-a-half years as Syrian President, 38-year-old Bashar al-Assad has been called many things by U.S. officials. Misunderstood is not one of them.
Yet, if Assad’s recent comments to the New York Times are any indication, the U.S. has it all wrong when it comes to the Syrian dictator. In a wide-ranging interview published in the November 30th edition of the Times, Assad ‘in what undoubtedly came as a great surprise to the hundreds of political dissidents languishing in Syrian prisons’ spoke of taking ‘better steps towards democracy.’ Continue reading →

01Jun/08

Inside Syria’s Gulag

Human Rights, Syria, , ,

By Nir Boms
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 26, 2004

On May 11, in accordance with the Syria Accountability Act, President Bush imposed new political and economic sanctions on Syria. The Syrian government, not surprisingly, was quick to condemn this move, calling the sanctions “unjust and unjustified,” and portraying Syria as a “democratic country that fights terrorism.”

While this sort of pro-democracy rhetoric has been a staple of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s four-year tenure, the story of Aktham Na’eesah-a lawyer, activist, and the recent laureate of the prestigious “Ludovic Trarieux” award for his distinct human rights work-provides a glimpse into the Syria’s “democratic” reality. Continue reading →

01Jun/08

The Culture of Tyranny

Syria, ,

Despite UN Designation, Arab Culture Deserves Better ‘Capital’ Than Syria

published in ThreatsWatch.org

By Guest Contributors Nir Boms and Jonathan Spyer

The ancient city of Damascus received another mark of recognition last week. Following in the wake of Liverpool – which was recognized as the European Capital of Culture, and Stavanger in Norway, which was named the non-EU European Capital of Culture, UNESCO last week designated Damascus as the Arab Capital of Culture for 2008.

In a speech celebrating this decision, Syrian President Bashar Assad chose to highlight a very specific element of his capital city’s culture – namely, Damascus’s self-appointed role as the center of Arab ‘resistance.’ “Damascus is the capital of resistance culture by symbolizing Arab culture” he declared, and went on to define ‘resistance culture’ as “the culture of freedom and defending freedom.” Continue reading →