Here is video of a demonstration today in Damascus. It cheered me up a bit:
I spent August 2008 in Damascus studying Arabic at the university. No political activity back then, but the discontent of the general population was easy to find. You just needed to talk to someone. They were not prepared to express unhappiness with the President but enjoyed telling even a foreigner how much they disliked the people around him. They also wanted peace with Israel, better relations with the U.S. and a lot of foreign investment, all of which they viewed as part of a necessary, maybe regrettable, package.
And here is French philosopher Henri Bernard Levy with a strikingly graphic metaphor for the relationship between European governments and dictators in the Middle East. Best not to play this one while the boss is around:
It is going to be hard to beat that for political comment of the day.
President Trump is stuck in a war he should never have even thought about starting.…
The regime was arguably on its last legs when the Israelis and Americans attacked. It…
The best way to generate international norms for technology is in what we call in…
Albanian as an official language is a right, a reflection of the state’s multiethnic character,…
The war is ending with the strait of Hormuz in Iranian control. The US and…
Trump is now desperate to end the war before it causes more damage to the…