Saturday, May 28, 2011

Hard To Believe...?

Say it isn't so. The Islamic Republic of Iran is actively conspiring with the Government of Syria to brutalize Syrians who protest against their tyrannical government. That seems so out of character for Iran, doesn't it? It doesn't? Well, perhaps not. Shia Iran and Alawite Shia Syria do, after all, have much in common. Majority Sunni Syrians and Syrian Kurds are somewhat less than impressed with the government of Bashar al-Assad whose brother's militias are breaking their heads.

Since Iran has had ample opportunity to develop a functioning response to their own Iranian protesters who themselves have aspirations for a different kind of government, in employing the hard, brutal reactions of the Revolutionary Guard to quell the revolt of the reformers, both following the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and again in the wake of the Egyptian protests, it makes eminently good sense they would wish to share their response-effectiveness with their ally.

Image: A garbage can on fire in Tehran, Iran
AP A garbage can is set on fire as protesters march in Tehran, Iran, on Monday. Eyewitnesses reported that sporadic clashes erupted in central Tehran's Enghelab, or Revolution, Square between security forces and protesters.

To which end a stream of aid from Tehran has entered Syria in the form of trainers and advisers so that the anti-government demonstrations can be handily crushed. Computer surveillance developed by Iran has enabled Syria to arrest hundreds of its citizens. and Iranian military trainers are instructing their Syrian counterparts in their successful restraining techniques used against the "Green Movement" in 2009.

It is doubtful whether Syria requires any further lessons in incarceration techniques and the effectiveness of torture, rape and beatings, along with 'disappearing' those whose insufferable complaints against the administration cannot be tolerated. On its own, Syria has developed some truly impressive protocols for exacting discipline and punishment upon protesters.

The ritual of Friday prayers resulting in following protests are being answered by a full-blown crack-down of the Syrian military. The promise of reforms does not appear to have made those invested in the possibility of a different kind of country for their future and that of their children confident. Nor do they feel that their government feels their pain and their demands have been heard and understood.

And the United Nations, the EU, the US, and the G-8 have had their opportunities to express disaffection with the violence meted out by Syria toward its civilian population.

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