A short conversation at the Mokdad household.

'Mom, where's my black T-shirt?'

'It's in the washing, wear the white one'

'I can't wear the white one! We're going kidnapping today! I will look stupid in the white one. How many times have I told you not to wash it without asking me?'

'Wear the purple one then.'

'The purple one? THE PURPLE ONE? There's no use talking to you about these things, you just don't understand. It's been like this all my life'.

'Ok, next time you go kidnapping, tell me before so I know.'

'Tell you before? Do you think we have a schedule? This is important regional politics. I really can't talk to you about this. Give me the white T-shirt. The other guys will laugh at me for sure.'

'No, no. They will laugh at your cousin who can't see out of his balaclava. He looks like an idiot always.'

"Syria's descent into darkness" and anti-imperialist angst

As a non-interventionist, I should in theory agree with Seumas Milne about Syria. But his latest piece for The Guardian shows that, like many anti-imperialists, his position is both confused and contradictory. It might be the case that he is using Syria merely as a tool to criticise Western governments but in the process losing sight of what the uprising is about.

The piece is sensationally titled:  'Intervention is now driving Syria's descent into darkness'. The subtitle sums up Milne's argument: 'Western and Gulf regime support for rebel fighters isn't bringing freedom to Syrians but escalating sectarian conflict and war'. I am not a fan of the persistent Western and regional meddling in Syria which seems to lack a clear sense of purpose, but suggesting that support for rebel fighters is what is escalating war in Syria is myopic to say the least. Milne conveniently ignores the Syrian regime's responsibility for the conflict in the first place. 

The man behind the Twitter death rumours

Earlier today, the Twitter account @MiniInterRussia claiming to be V. Kolokoltsev the 'Minister of Interior of Russia' tweeted the following: 

 RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS: BASHAR AL ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA, HAS BEEN KILLED TODAY IN LATAKYJA WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO PEOPLE.

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS: BASHAR AL ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA, HAS BEEN KILLED TODAY IN LATAKYJA WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO PEOPLE.
— V. Kolokoltsev (@MiniInterRussia) August 6, 2012

Syria is Iraq and something about a midwife. By Thomas Friedman.

A slightly different version of this article first appeared in the New York Times earlier.

Kristof with a moustache, not Friedman

Lord knows I am rooting for the opposition forces in Syria because I want you to think of me as a freedom-loving type of guy. But we both know that they won’t prevail, primarily because that means all my arguments of the past thirty years would be proven wrong. Also, because Syria is Iraq. Think of this: if you take out the Q and add an S and a Y, and rearrange the R, I and A, you will see that Syria is indeed Iraq. Also, they are both generic and interchangeable Middle Eastern countries. And this will save me having to do any research about Syria. They were both ruled by men with moustaches. Like me, but let’s not dwell on that.

Radio discussion with Ahdaf Soueif: Influence of the Arab Uprisings on new writing

Listen to the radio programme I participated in with Ahdaf Soueif and chaired by Edward Stourton on the influence of the Arab Uprisings on new writing. Below are the links to the two texts I read extracts from:

'One Year of Hope' by Amal Hanano

'Falling Apart' by Maysaloon

CIA’s favorite Saudi prince is laying the groundwork for a post-Assad Syria

Haaretz published this article, then took it off the site. Here's the cached version: "CIA's favorite Saudi prince begins laying groundwork for a post-Assad Syria"

How Syria is spiralling out of control

Read my column in Al-Akhbar: Hollow Responses to Houla Massacre