 | All this talk of Pencilneck going down, it begins to give one hope. |
BRUSSELS - Syrian President Bashar Al Assad faces the same fate in the coming months as Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu suffered in 1989, according to SyriaÂ’s former vice-president, who broke with Assad last year.
| I think Pencilneck might have guessed that by now. Argentina's probably starting to look pretty good... |
Taking time out from late-night negotiations with a coalition of opposition movements from Islamists to communists in a smoke-filled Brussels hotel conference room, Abdel-Halim Khaddam predicted a popular revolt to oust Assad soon. “Poverty is very widespread, corruption is extremely widespread also, security is very tight. People are not allowed freedom of speech and the economic situation is at its worst.
| That's Syria for the last 30 years. |
| ... and there hasn't been a popular revolt in all that time. Not a successful one, anyway. |
“All those factors combined resemble a lot the position of Romania which led to the uprising,” the former foreign minister and ruling Baath party official said.
| They resemble lots of places that haven't had popular revolts, too. My guess is that a coup's more likely than a successful popular revolt. A year from now Syria could be Burma. |
Like the men who ruled Romania after Ceausescu and his wife were toppled, summarily tried and shot in 1989, Khaddam has re-invented himself as a democrat in the belief that the Syrian people will turn to reformists from within the ruling party to govern them after a revolution.
| And make him Mr. Big, at least for a while. |
“There is a big part of reformists within the Baath party who totally support my actions. They will be active partners in the regime change and there will be no massacre,” said the diminutive, soft-spoken political veteran, who was in government for 35 years until he fell out with Assad last year.
| Nope, no massacre at all, except for everyone with the last name of Assad. |
| And then everyone who opposes the new regime. |
|