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http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/three-elections-one-story/article6108338.ece
In this article Vijay Prashad writes:
"Assad would be mistaken if he reads the election results as a
validation of his rule. It would be far better to see this as a serious
call for an end to the war, and for his government to reach out to the
rebels on the ground toward rapprochement."
I am rather dismayed to see this sort of punditry from someone who
should know better. The formulation smacks of NY Times Op-Ed wise
counsel to those in power. In days of yore, you would see someone like
Anthony Lewis writing: "President Johnson should understand that
continued bombing raids on Hanoi will only deepen Vietnamese resistance."
In fact, people like LBJ and Bashar al-Assad respond to one thing and
one thing only: violence. In the case of the Vietnam War, it was rebel
violence that decided the day. In Syria, it was MIG's and the failure of
rebels to procure anti-aircraft weaponry (plus Hizbollah intervention)
that allowed Bashar al-Assad to secure victory. The idea that he will
"reach out" to rebels is patently absurd.
I don't know whether Vijay wrote such nonsense because that is what his
editors in a bourgeois newspaper expected or because he believes it. For
his sake, I hope it is the former.
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