Word to the Mother!

Well, things are moving at a pretty rapid pace at this stage. The UN investigative committee did not waste any time and has just upped the ante way up than anyone would have expected a mere few days ago. Gone is all the foolish talk about a deal between the US and the regime, or… are the French (and the Saudis) forcing the hands of the Bush Administration on this? Let’s not forget here folks, the Syria regime’s real antagonists here have always been the French.

Be that as it may, the plot continues to thicken in Syria, and things are bound to heat up at the UN Security Council soon, for the Assad will never accept to be interviewed, especially under such circumstances.

The people are sure to rally behind Assad, for now. But one cannot count too much on people’s loyalties to authoritarian regimes – they tend to be skin deep, no matter how much nationalistic passion the regime tries to whip up. For under authoritarian systems, the people, very much like their ruling cliques, tend to put their own “narrow” interests first. They won’t go down for the regime. Their show of support is just that – a show put for the benefit of all those idiots who sincerely want and need to believe. More importantly, it comes as a much needed layer of protection. These are feverish times, and until someone learn to break through the barrier of fear and rally people to the real cause (which is freedom from oppression, in case anyone has forgotten), people will have more to fear from their regime, than they do from the international community with its vague threats of sanctions. Sanctions will not hurt you immediately, but the regime can. So, long live the regime, and down with the sanctions.

Unfortunately though, there are a lot of idealists out there, and they are usually young and educated - rather, semi-educated. Being idealists and all that, these unfortunate fools will undoubtedly rally behind the regime thinking that they are in fact rallying to save the homeland from the clutches of the Zionists and the neo-imperialists and their fifth columnists lackeys in the opposition. Since, these educated idiots, who have always represented the perennial fodder for all the stupid ideological wars in the world, do not usually come in too a small number, they can actually give this besieged regime enough of a boost at this stage to help weather the storm.

So, unless the opposition learns how to address these young well-intentioned brainwashed enthusiasts, and nullify the effects of so many years of brainwashing, the above developments may not as significant as we want them to be.

Transitions need to be managed well in order to succeed. Divine management of these matters tend to drag out and they are often too mysterious for my taste. I prefer the messiness of the human factor.

A less heretical take might assert that divine management can only succeed through the aegis of human actors. Take your pick, but act now.