Thanks to Greg Gause for setting the record straight on the “nature of the Syrian regime” in this rebuttal of Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations. Cook explained “What the Neocons Got Right” in a short article for Foreign Policy last week. The three things they got right, Cook argues were: “Syria, Iran, [...]

Here are three new books about Syria that I can recommend wholeheartedly. I have corresponded with the authors for some time.
The Road to Damascus:
by Elaine Rippey Imady
E.E. Whiting Talks to Elaine Rippey Imady about her life in Syria
“…but we’ll only stay for a short while.”
With these famous last words, Elaine Rippey Imady, young wife [...]

“Jordan is a model that works, whether we like it or not,” explains Rami Khouri. He is probably right and this is in the face of the king’s recent dissolution of parliament. Democracy has few real proponents in the Middle East today.
Laith Shubeilat, a moderate Islamist, described Jordan as a police state in which no [...]

Book Review: A Memoir-Novel of Tadmur Military Prison
Mustafa Khalifa. Al-Qawqa’a [The Shell]. Beirut: Dar al-Adab (http://adabmag.com/books) , 2008. [This review is based on the Arabic original]
The book is also available in French: Moustafa Khalifé. La Coquille: Prisonnier politique en Syrie. Traduction Stéphanie Dujols. Arles: Actes Sud, 2007.
By Shareah Taleghani in Syrian Studies Association Newsletter 14.2 [...]

The Syrian Exception: Between Modernization and Resistance by Caroline Donati is an important new addition to the short number of good books on Syria. It is in French.
“L’exception syrienne, entre modernisation et résistance”, (éditions La Découverte)
The following radio interview with the author and Samir Aïta, a leading Syrian intellectual who consults regularly on the [...]

US-Syrian relations have continued to improve over the two weeks that I was on vacation. A second US military delegation visited Damascus to work on implementing agreements on Iraq security and intelligence sharing. Doubtlessly there will be hiccups in this process. American will want quick compliance and its requests met in full; Syria will hold [...]

Addendum by Ehsani2 (May 22, 2009)
The initial impetus for my comment on taxes came from reading the latest change in Syria’s tax code. The amendment concerned the initial tax bracket that is exempt from taxation. Income up to SYP 5,000 was exempt from tax. This number was raised to just over SYP 6,000. The rationale [...]

SYRIAN BA’THIST MEMOIRS: Extended Book Review Essay
by Nikolaos van Dam
Thanks to كـــلـــنـــا شــــركـــاء فـي الــــوطــــــــــن – Kulluna Shuraka’ fi al-Watan and Ambassador van Dam for permission to republish this article, originally appeared, 9-11 May 2009. A pdf version is also available on the All4Syria.info site.
Books Reviewed

General (al-‘Imad) Mustafa Talas, “Mir’at Hayati” (The Mirror of my [...]

Felman’s Trip to Damascus Remains a Mystery. We are told he is there to buy Syria into dialogue with Israel, to warn the Syrians on the Lebanon vote, and that Feltman doesn’t know why he is being sent.
The truth may be “none of the above.” Obama may be sending a message to the Israelis and [...]

Ibrahim Hamidi interviews Austria’s Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger. He is accompanying President Bashar al-Assad on his visit to Vienna and Bratislava.
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Austrian F M : Dialogue with Syria is the best Startegy
By Ibrahim hamidi, In Vienna
1- President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Vienna is his first official visit to [...]