Syria under Bashir Assad (closed end 2014)

[davidbfpo]

The title was my very short comment a few posts back. In support is FP Blog's piece:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ivor?page=full

[davidbfpo]

A "lurker" has recommended Malik Al-Abdeh, a London-based Syrian journalist's blogsite for insight on matters Syrian:http://syriaintransition.com/

His latest piece in outline:

The course of Syria's revolution since its idealistic early days has been a painful learning experience for many young activists

Good insight here:

A candid look at Syria today reveals a picture of tribal selfishness masquerading as populist nationalism; little wonder that scheming politicians, local toughs and extremists of every kind have prospered, and why violence, vulgarity and bravado have become the order of the day.

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/malik-a...ivists-grow-up

[Stan]

You folks are killing me these days

If we go just a smiggin deeper at the State address, you get this:

... this additional assistance from the United States will provide food supplies, hot meals, and food vouchers for families who have fled the violence in Syria. This additional assistance will be provided through the World Food Program (WFP), which

The WFP is the logistical arm of the UN (for those that didn't know).
As for the Western assistance, we can't even get visas for humanitarian ops. AND, let's say we did get visas, who at the checkpoints would give a hoot

From this end of the boondocks all I can say is we are in a holding pattern with promises of cash, vaccinations (too many to count) and maybe a light armored vehicle

Regards, Stan

[davidbfpo]

An interesting analysis of recent YouTube footage of Syrian insurgents with looted MANPADS; alas the author's credentials are not revealed, but they appear to know enough. There are a number of videos embedded too:http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/20...lete-sa-7.html

There's also a comment on recycling cluster bomblets by the insurgents:http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/20...epurposed.html

[davidbfpo]

A flurry of Tweets this afternoon, citing PA:

2 US-based Internet-monitoring companies say Syria has shut off Internet nationwide

Citing WaPO:

100 percent of Syria's Internet has just shut down

Link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ust-shut-down/

Plus:

Apparently,#Syria just went off line …I hear mobiles are also down....All 84 of #Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet.

Link:http://www.renesys.com/eventsbulleti...354184790.html

Why now? Is it the regime or the opposition?

[AdamG]

The Syrian government has blamed "terrorists" for the disconnection.
"The terrorists targeted the internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off," Syria's minister of information told a pro-government television station.

According to activists, it has been known for similar communication cuts to occur in isolated areas before military operations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20546302

[AdamG]

Syria's information minister claims that the Damascus government had nothing to do with the communications shutdown. "It is not true that the state cut the internet. The terrorists targeted the internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off," Reuters quotes him as saying.

That's rather unlikely, the web performance company CloudFlare notes in a blog post. "Syria has four physical cables that connect it to the rest of the internet. Three are undersea cables that land in the city of Tartous, Syria. The fourth is an over-land cable through Turkey. In order for a whole-country outage, all four of these cables would have had to been cut simultaneously."

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/.../syria-offline