Worldcrunch
Despite the Ba’ath Party’s defeats in Iraq and Syria, many Jordanians still see Saddam Hussein as an Arab leader who was only overthrown by the U.S. occupation — despite the atrocities and crimes he committed that amount to crimes against humanity. Jordanian writer Hassan Zayed looks at these paradoxes.
Luna al-Shibl, a media advisor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was killed in a car crash in Damascus. But many didn’t believe the official account of her death given the Syrian regime’s long history of targeting opponents inside and outside Syria.
The political project in the Arab world, both of tyrants and their opponents, has been focused on visions of glory and repeating slogans. But what is a movement if it doesn’t seek to improve the lives of those for whom it claims to speak?
Recent changes in Syria’s security apparatus are yet another step in President Bashar al-Assad’s years-long effort to escape the shadow of his father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, more than two decades after his death.