(National-Abu Dhabi) Michael Young - Assad did not foresee that the narrative he held up as a basis for why he and the Syrian people were in purported harmony - their common embrace of a narrative of resistance to America and Israel above all - would count for little in the face of demands by Syrians for internal transformation. That's the real message from the Arab world this year. Societies may sympathize with foreign policies opposed to the West, the U.S. and Israel, but they no longer will allow regimes to use foreign antagonisms to validate stifling, sadistic, security-dominated political systems at home. Nor will they tolerate giving foreign matters precedence over their own welfare and that of their children. The writer is opinion editor of the Daily Star in Lebanon.
2011-12-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive