Monday, January 7, 2013

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- January 7, 2013



As Bashar Assad Shows His Defiance, Syria Nears Its Existential Cliff -- Tony Karon, Time

If the geological metaphor fashionable in Washington these days can be applied in Damascus, then Syria is moving perilously closer toward an existential cliff. President Bashar Assad on Sunday delivered a dramatic aria of defiance from the stage of the Damascus Opera House, rallying his base for a fight to the finish against a 21-month-old rebellion he dismissed as an unholy alliance between the West and al-Qaeda. The hour-long speech offered little hope that Assad might be about to end the civil war that has killed upwards of 60,000 Syrians by heeding the rebels’ central demand: that he step down. Indeed, Assad rejected any negotiations with an opposition he branded “enemies of God and puppets of the West.” He would only negotiate, he vowed, “with the master, not the servants” — a signal, perhaps, that his real message was directed at Western and regional powers. Condensed to a tweet, such a message might read: “Aprés moi, le déluge. Accept my terms, or own the consequences of Syria’s breakup — which we all know you’re desperate to avoid.”

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials


Assad offers only more of the same - mukhabarat brutality
-- Hassan Hassan, The National

Al Assad’s initiative far from reality -- Gulf News

Syria: why Assad may yet claim victory -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian

Assad's Days in Syria Are Numbered -- Daily Telegraph editorial

Israel’s True Friends -- Roger Cohen, New York Times

The New Iranian Hostage Crisis -- Michael Ledeen, PJ Media

Wading into the Middle East morass -- Jackson Diehl, Washington Post

Destined To Fail: China’s Soft Power Push
-- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat

China censorship protest as 'living in truth' -- Christian Science Monitor editorial

Germany is not profiting from the eurozone -- Gunnar Beck, The Guardian

Is this the year that the eurocrisis ends? -- Michael Steininger, Christian Science Monitor

Will Venezuela’s ‘Chavismo’ survive Chavez? -- Maxwell Cameron, Globe and Mail

Will the US Be Aced Out of A New Asian Alliance? -- Patrick Smith, The Fiscal Times

Our progressive way of war -- James Carafano, Washington Examiner

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