STRATFOR provides an in-depth analysis of the Syrian Crisis
Posted by Steve Wolfer on 5/05, 12:46pm

I liked the part of the article that contrasted the relationships between the military and the governments in the middle eastern countries in turmoil:

Eygpt: The military used the crisis to resolve the succession problem.
Tunisia: Army deposed the unpopular leader
Libya: The military itself split along traditional east-west divide
Syria: The Alawite ruling minority has strong control of the political apparatus and the military itself.

Here is the paragraph: "The past seven weeks of protests in nearly all corners of Syria have led many to believe that the Syrian regime is on its last legs. However, such assumptions ignore the critical factors that have sustained this regime for decades, the most critical of which is the fact that the regime is still presiding over a military that remains largely unified and committed to putting down the protests with force. Syria cannot be compared to Tunisia, where the army was able quickly to depose an unpopular leader; Libya, where the military rapidly reverted to the country’s east-west historical divide; or Egypt, where the military used the protests to resolve a succession crisis, all while preserving the regime. The Syrian military, as it stands today, is a direct reflection of hard-fought Alawite hegemony over the state." (Note: Alawites are a religious minority most of whom live in Syria. They are more closely related to Shia than Sunni muslims, and are aligned so some degree with Baathist political views).

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