No love for the Assad dynasty but--

Submitted by Peter J. Herz (Taiwan), Feb 23, 2005 at 19:04

Yes, Lebanon should be freed of the Syrian occupation; although now that its peculiar demographic balance is completely off, it is doubtful whether anything like the former Christian-Muslim condominium will ever be re-established. Also, while the Assad dynasty is indeed thuggish and nasty, Syria will still be deep in the political woods when it goes. Syria is the country where the Ba'ath movement was born (Michel Afleq was an Eastern Orthodox Damascene); and it seems that one of the strongest political organizations opposing Assad's regime is the Muslim Brotherhood. Nowhere does Syria seem to have any well-organized, democratically-oriented, minority-respecting opposition.

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