Son of a Sphinx

Syria has turned over Saddam's half brother. There were those that said that Bashar al-Assad did not have it in him, but with his latest maneuver he has shown himself to be his father's son. As the NY Times notes the late Assad, known as the sphinx, managed to keep Americans at bay by granting well timed concessions Now Bashar is going the same route, although I would hope the W. won't settle for this pittance. Syria needs to get out of Lebanon, seal the border with Iraq and cut off Hezbollah. By the way I love the way that the Times refers to the Syrian Baath Party as "milder" than the Iraqi version. Is it because they only wiped out a whole city as opposed to a province or two? Kind of disgusting how the Times soft-pedals mass murder.

Iran has admitted to shopping around for nuke technology and has also signed a deal with the Ruskies for nuke fuel. Meanwhile the US mulls over a Euro proposal to solve the whole mess. Israel has shown that it has a great sense of humor by seeking a UN censure against the Palestinians for a weekend strike in Tel Aviv. It is also bashing Syria and pushing Abbas to smack down militants but the Monitor notes that both the Israelis and Palestinians have issues with extremists. On a happier note Hosni Mubarak has called for an open election in Egypt. I have my doubts about what he means and I am not alone.

Closer to home the Christian Science Monitor and the Miami Herald mark the one year anniversary of the deposing of Jean Bertrand Aristide in Haiti. It's disappointing but not surprising that the Monitor has the better work. The Monitor notes that Haiti is a still a mess and is probably in worse shape than before. My only quibble is the allusion that its 45 changes in government since 1804 is a sign of instability, can't it be said that we've had 41 in that same time frame? The Herald opts for a report on a three minute interview with Aristide on French TV where he blames the Che loving Regis Debray for his ouster. There is also a piece on the waning power of a prominent pro-Aristide group in Miami.