Fouad Ajami's New Book on The Syrian Rebellion

Fouad is an old friend who stayed in my apartment for weeks after arriving in DC many years ago to teach at SAIS. Later, after I married, he rented my condo, so I served as his landlord for many months until unloading the place on the market.

Fouad's latest book is evidently up to his high standards & is reviewed by Dexter Filkins, narrator extraordinaire of the Iraq War. Ajami means "Persian" in Arabic & denotes his own Shia background, though Fouad is as worldly a connoisseur of earthly delights as any Qajar Shah...! His portrayal of the Alawites, the sect which controls this unhappy country with a paltry 12% of the population, is interesting and I must buy the book just for that section.

I lived in Beirut while studying Arabic for a year and visited Damascus many times, as I've done many times since. It is my favorite Arab city. I've stayed in the Sheriton Hotel Filkins describes in his own short comments on his personal experiences there. I remember the delicious Syrian food most of all!!

Syria, like its little sister Lebanon, which it claims as a lost province, is a land of countless minorities. [I can remember in Beirut celebrating holidays for the seventeen [!!] sects and ethnic minorities represented sufficiently in the tiny country to warrant a holiday!] Just as an example, the latest compromise leader of the Syrian insurrection chosen last week is Kurdish, just to insert a very smallish minority with no aspirations to grandiose plans in the offing that might supplant the general goal to oust the dictator Bashar, the Stick Insect.

I can always remember arriving at the Syrian border after driving from London in my BMW in June, 1974, on my way to Beirut. The sign said "La Syrie, berceau de l'humanite" and my instant reaction was "et sa tombe". Perhaps this was an instance of proleptic thought, as both Filkins and Ajami believe that the Syrians will fight each other to the death.

Meanwhile, that sleazy POS Vlad the Empoisoner is sending neo-Soviet ships to Latakia to buttress the chinless czar Assad. You can bet the chinless Obungler will sit this one out, as his re-election is the highest priority this spineless degenerate has on his agenda for the time being.