Just in case anyone thought Bashar Assad was a man with the vision to see that change was needed:
Ignoring international pressure and rising domestic frustration, Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, failed yesterday to announce broad and imminent reforms as he opened an eagerly awaited conference of the ruling Baath party.
In an address lasting barely ten minutes, Mr Assad told the 1,250 delegates: “We are convinced the ideas and precepts of the Baath party are still of relevance and respond to the interests of the people and the nation in its desire for unity, freedom, justice and development.” […]
Domestic unrest is on the rise. Syria’s Kurdish population is increasingly assertive. Kurds have held several demonstrations recently over the kidnapping and murder last week of a prominent Kurdish cleric, an act blamed on the regime.
On Sunday a policeman was reportedly shot and killed when hundreds of Kurds rioted in Qamishly in the remote north east near the borders with Iraq and Turkey. The town was then stormed by Arab tribesmen, who looted shops belonging to Kurds.
Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian social analyst and staunch critic of the regime, said the riots were a sign of things to come. “The country’s implosion is just awaiting a trigger event.”
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