Does Syria want real peace with Israel?
• They [Syrian spokesmen] speak soothingly … of their deep desire for “the peace of the brave.” Looking at what their leaders tell their own people about Jews, however, one gets the distinct impression that their ultimate goal is the peace of the grave. – Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, January 7, 2000 • Radical States and Regional Stability by Professor Barry Rubin Syria must adjust to the current regional situation although it does so by making the minimum possible policy change. It was the state most hard-hit by the USSR’s collapse. Damascus was on bad terms with all its neighbors, threatened by Saddam’s drive for leadership, undermined by the end of Saudi subsidies, bogged down in Lebanon’s civil war, and short of money for buying weapons. But Syria’s role in the Kuwait crisis and the need to involve it in Arab-Israeli peacemaking eased the pressure on Damascus. Syria’s militancy arises from the country’s history, regime’s ideology, and the ruling Alawite minority’s need to
