The Middle East Media Sampler 1/25/12: Egypt's Revolution A Year Later

From DG:

1) Really?

The New York Times has a short item, Lebanon: Former General Sentenced in Spying Case. The former general, Fayez Karam was convicted of giving information to Israel. I've been skeptical of these announced arrests of spies in Lebanon. Two years is an awfully light sentence for an espionage conviction.

2) Fouad Ajami on the Assads 

Fouad Ajamai has an essay The Lost Bequest of Hafez Aassad, that concludes with observations about his son, Bashar. (h/t Martin Kramer )

Arab Spring Grows Teeth: Protesters In Iran And Syria Go On The Attack

Michael Ledeen writes that the weekend explosion outside Tehran indicates that the protests in Iran may be intensifying:

These attacks on the Guards — the symbol of the regime’s intensifying repression and slaughter of the Iranian people — are part of a pattern that includes explosions at refineries and pipelines. At the same time, strikes have been spreading (and no wonder; up to 30,000 retired teachers have been waiting for their pensions for many months). In short, people have lost patience, and the smaller of the two explosions at the RG base was aimed at Major General Hasan Tehrani Moghaddam, one of the most brutal of the country’s military leaders.

Contrary to the inevitable suspicions of the thumb-suckers (the Americans did it! no, the Israelis did it! no, it was an accident!), the operation was planned and carried out by Iranians from the opposition-that-does-not-exist.

Video: Report On The Syrian Underground

A news team from Channel 4 in Great Britain did an investigative report on the Syrian underground:

Hezbollah: Syrian Regime Is Winning The War Against The Uprising

Of course, how much of that evaluation is nothing more than wishful thinking--that is anyone's guess.

In any case, Hezbollah head Nasrallah claims to have every confidence that Syrian President Assad has matters well in hand:

The embattled Syrian regime is largely “out of the danger zone” despite a 7-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Monday.

Barry Rubin: SCOOP: Obama Administration Does it Again! Empowers Largely Islamist Leadership for Syrian Revolution

SCOOP: Obama Administration Does it Again! Empowers Largely Islamist Leadership for Syrian Revolution

By Barry Rubin

The leadership of the Syrian revolution, or at least those recognized as such by the United States and the European Union, has released the names of 19 of the 29 members of the General Secretariat and five members of the Presidential Council. A lot of research should be done on the individuals, but let’s do a quick ethnic and political analysis based on this information.

But first let me give you my analysis: I believe that the Turkish Islamist regime deliberately helped produce a Syrian leadership that is more Islamist and more Muslim Brotherhood-controlled than was necessary. Since Turkey’s government was empowered to do this by the Obama administration, the White House is responsible for this extremely dangerous situation. It is a blunder or a betrayal — in effect, the motive and cause don’t matter — of the greatest dimensions. The Obama administration may “only” have paved the way for the triumph of Islamist regimes in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia — we don’t yet know the final result — but it has been actively involved in helping promote an (avoidable) Islamist revolution in Syria.

Barry Rubin: Finally: Obama Administration Calls for End to Syrian Dictatorship But Reveals Its Own Worldview

Finally: Obama Administration Calls for End to Syrian Dictatorship But Reveals Its Own Worldview

by Barry Rubin

After months of rebellion in Syria and heavy repression there, the Obama Administration has finally called for the downfall of that country’s dictatorship.

That is a welcome event though this announcement carries indications that it has taken too long and is not entirely being done for the right reasons. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began:

“For months, the world has borne witness to the Assad regime’s contempt for its own people. In peaceful demonstrations across the nation, Syrians are demanding their universal human rights. The regime has answered their demands with empty promises and horrific violence, torturing opposition leaders, laying siege to cities, slaughtering thousands of unarmed civilians, including children.”

In other words, the U.S. government has waited a really long time (“for months”) and nobody has done anything (“borne witness”) while the regime has been given every chance by the Obama Administration to offer some meaningless compromises (“empty promises”) in order to preserve an anti-American, terrorist-supporting, aggressive, repressive dictatorship. But it didn’t slaughter enough civilians and children to repress the revolution so now it must go away.

Iran Wants To Take A Shot At The Syrian Protesters--Literally

Till now, the reports about Iranian aid to help Assad handle the protesters has been limited to sending riot control equipment and intelligence monitoring techniques.

Now there are indications that Iran is taking a more active role as there are Iran snipers in Syria as part of crackdown:

Iran To Build Military Base In Syria--Will Insure It Can Send Arms Against Protesters Without Interference

After Iran lectured Great Britain that it should avoid violence in restoring order in reaction to the riots, Iran again demonstrates that it was just talk.

The Telegraph reports that

Iran agrees to fund Syrian military base:Iran has agreed to fund a new multi-million-dollar military base on the Syrian coast to make it easier to ship weapons and other military hardware between the two countries, according to Western intelligence reports.

Look Out! Iran Says It Wants To 'Help' End The Syrian Crisis

Assistance has included equipment and technical advice on blocking and monitoring communication between dissidents, and drew on the Iranian authorities' own experience of putting down an uprising that followed the June 2009 disputed election.
The Telegraph, Syria: Iran secretly aiding repression of protests

Considering Iran's efforts to help Assad quash the protests in Syria--imagine  the world's relief to hear that 'Iran backs efforts to end Syria crisis':

The Syrian Uprising: Implications for Israel

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has come out with a Jerusalem Issue Brief on the current Syrian protests and what they mean for Israel. Below is a summary. The full article is here.

The Syrian Uprising: Implications for Israel

Eyal Zisser

• In Syria, the story is the emergence of social groups from the periphery and their struggle to gain access to power and take over the center. The emergence of the Baath party and the Assad dynasty in the 1960s involved a coalition of peripheral forces led by the Alawites, but many others joined who came from the periphery. Now, because of socioeconomic reasons, the periphery has turned against the regime.