Word: assad
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...head of state of a former French colony, an official visit to Paris is always a good chance do a little shopping, take in some culture, and impress the folks back home. So it was for Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria (which was once ruled by France under a League of Nations Mandate). Over the past weekend, Syrian state television has been beaming round-the-clock images of the Syrian President and his tres chic First Lady making the scene in the City of Light: Bashar at a summit for Mediterranean leaders, Asma at the Louvre and Centre...
...Turkish mediation.) But it's also recognition that attempts to isolate Syria have failed, and that the West needs Syrian help for resolving some of the biggest problems in the Middle East. For its part, Syria wants to come even further out of the cold. While in Paris, President Assad told French television that in the event of direct talks under American sponsorship, there could be peace between Syria and Israel within two years. So on the Fourth of July 2010, will Bashar be celebrating Independence Day in Washington...
...Syria isn't going to abandon Iran, according to figures close to the Assad regime here in Damascus. It's not just that the elite of Iran and Syria have a long history of cooperation going back to 1979, when Syria was the first country to recognize the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran. It's also because Syria has no reason to switch sides just when its team is winning. From the fiasco of America's invasion of Iraq, to Hamas's victory in Gaza and Hizballah's victory in Lebanon, Iranian and Syrian power is on the rise...
...Assad only wants a package deal, a grand bargain between Syria and Iran on the one hand, and American and Israel on the other, that would settle the cold war for the Middle East. This means that the United States would have to give up once and for all its project for a "new" Middle East, and its penchant for regime change. That might happen on its own in November if Barack Obama becomes President. But a package deal would also have to solve the Iranian nuclear issue, map out the future of post-American Iraq, solve the Syrian-Israeli...
...Another hindrance to any Olmert-Assad accord is the Bush Administration's almost visceral hostility toward Syria, which it regards as an auxiliary of the Axis of Evil. President Bush has made no secret of the fact that he regards Assad as a running dog for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and just weeks ago, the Administration was trying to persuade the world that Syria was trying to acquire nuclear technology. Unless Washington signs off on it, no accord between Damascus and Jerusalem is worth the paper on which it is written...