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Remember that politics move quickly, and people and their opinions evolve.
A Way Out For The Syrian Regime?
May 17, 2011 · Mustapha Hamoui
As I was writing my previous post about non-violence resistance for Palestine, I had a thought that I couldn’t shake off: What if the Syrian regime decides to loudly and publicly adopt non-violent resistance?
Think of the advantages this will give it:
- It would send the signal to the west that it is renouncing violence, which would allow it to hang on to power
- It would give it a valid pretext to reign in on Hezbollah, a key Israeli demand and a prerequisite for Syria to reclaim its influence in Lebanon from Iran
- It would be a face-saving way of breaking up with Iran while keeping the integrity of its “resistance doctrine” (we never said armed resistance)
One commentator wrote that “If Assad survives, he will have to establish some distance from Iran to appease Sunni protesters,”. Claiming the mantle of non-violent resistance could be a clever way of doing just that..