Monk

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A suicide bomber killed at least three top aides to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Wednesday including the defense minister and Mr. Assad’s powerful brother-in-law, state television and opposition activists reported. The attack in Damascus, after three days of fighting in the capital, hit at the very military structure that has been directing the harsh repression of the 17-month-old uprising against Mr. Assad’s rule.

-- NEIL MacFARQUHAR and DALAL MAWAD in The New York Times

It has been a while since we have done anything on the Middle East, and this business in Syria has been going on for months. It's a big question what the toppling of these regimes will do for American interests, considering the prevalence and robustness of Islamist interests, though we continue to sound the offical line that we favor and try to promote democracy wherever we can. In the case of Syria, I am sure that we are even more eager to see a regime change, as there is no question but that this regime is a direct enemy to all things American, as well as being one of the worst police states around, but we have been particularly hamstrung because Putin and the Russians have drawn their line in the sand and insist on protecting Assad's regime, and it is under this protection that the government has been undertaking the most brutal repression we have seen yet against its citizens. Whether this attack marks a definitive turnaround in fortunes there, it remains to be seen, but the government remains plucky, issuing a statement that it remains determined on “cutting off every hand that harms the security of the homeland and citizens.” Now, why would anyone want to see such a charming government go?

By now you have probably heard about Hamza Ali al-Khateeb. He was the 13-year-old Syrian boy who tagged along at an antigovernment protest in the town of Saida on April 29. He was arrested that day, and the police returned his mutilated body to his family a month later. While in custody, he had apparently been burned, beaten, lacerated and given electroshocks. His jaw and kneecaps were shattered. He was shot in both arms. When his father saw the state of Hamza’s body, he passed out.

-- Daivd Brooks for The New York Times

Brooks rises to the height of his craft and his moral vision, giving us a blistering overview of the Middle East and the state of peace negotiations, getting to the source of our futility.

( column )

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Syria bans Facebook

Tyranny has a new name!

In the article, Syria is reported to have been under emergency rule since 1963. I didn't know it was that bad, that ludicrous. That's... pretty amazing.

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