developed a taste for control -- control over the media, over the university, over the economy (through cronies such as his exorbitantly rich cousin Rami Makhlouf), control over society at large. Free expression is not allowed. Political decision-making is restricted to a tight circle around the president and s

of Syrian statements on Tuesday. Its correspondent in Beirut, Anthony Shadid, landed interviews with presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban and with Rami Makhlouf, the powerful maternal cousin of President Bashar Assad, who represents the financial front of the regime. Shadid was allowed into Syria for only a f

Nakba Day to divert attention from the revolt in Syria, so they organized trouble. Several days ago Assad's cousin and partner in financial crime Rami Makhlouf issued a threat, saying, "If there is no stability here, there's no way there will be stability in Israel." So this Nakba Day was different because