Syria Foreign Policy

Iraq's Saddam Hussein is no military mastermind. He makes a few political bluffs and then hammers straight for his objective. But he is shrewd enough to watch his flanks, and last week he invaded Kuwait apparently confident that Iran and Syria, the enemies on his borders, would not take the opportunity to strike at him. The Iraqi strongman won the first trick, but not without possible cost.

President Hafez Assad, like Syria itself, has always perplexed the West. Yet of all the Arab leaders, none has been more skillful and cunning in executing policies that are both predictable and consistent. Ever since high school, when he led street demonstrations in support of Arab nationalism, Assad has been the odd man out in the Arab world, a contradictory figure who mastered the manipulation of others and built a reputation as a statesman who, though devious, honors his word.

President Hafez Assad, like Syria itself, has always perplexed the West. Yet of all the Arab leaders, none has been more skillful and cunning in executing policies that are both predictable and consistent. Ever since high school, when he led street demonstrations in support of Arab nationalism, Assad has been the odd man out in the Arab world, a contradictory figure who mastered the manipulation of others and built a reputation as a statesman who, though devious, honors his word.

Iraq's Saddam Hussein is no military mastermind. He makes a few political bluffs and then hammers straight for his objective. But he is shrewd enough to watch his flanks, and last week he invaded Kuwait apparently confident that Iran and Syria, the enemies on his borders, would not take the opportunity to strike at him. The Iraqi strongman won the first trick, but not without possible cost.

Syria's loosely organized pro-democracy movement drew tens of thousands of people into the heart of Damascus and cities across the country Friday, a major victory against a government campaign of violence that has killed hundreds of peaceful protesters. Activists said security forces, who have deployed tanks in some cities, killed 64 people Friday as they tried to crush the 6-week-old protest movement. In Washington, the White House said President Obama had signed an executive order imposing sanctions on three Syrian officials the United States believes engaged in human rights abuses.

The always quotable Vice President Joe Biden took a shot at House Republicans the other day, referring to them as “this Neanderthal crowd” for having resisted speedy reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. His crack certainly offended Republicans. But, unknown to Biden, it also may have dissed a lot of Democrats. As Biden may or may not know, scientific thinking about Neanderthals has evolved in recent years. Anthropologists now believe that the stocky, beetle-browed and weak-chinned hominids were a lot smarter and more artistically inclined than the stereotype Biden invoked.

For six U.S. presidents, from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, Hafez Assad posed a perplexing foreign policy challenge as the man standing in the way of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement. Sometimes, Assad came tantalizingly close to making a deal--but he always pulled back. William B.

There was big news out of Iran on Wednesday: It freed heroic human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer whose crime was defending dissidents. She had been serving a six-year sentence, down from 11 years. But almost everything Iran does is part of a bigger story. The release of Sotoudeh and almost a dozen other political prisoners (mostly female) can be read four ways. First, it may be a hopeful hint that Iran understands the costs, both at home and in the world's eyes, of its egregious crackdowns in recent years.