Ammar Abdulhamid: Syria is Not Ready for an Uprising

By all accounts, the Facebook-organized "demonstrations" in Syria on February 4 And 5 were characterized by a large security presence and very little visible protest. Veteran Syrian blogger/dissident/democracy activist Ammar Abdulhamid has a piece in The Guardian arguing that, much as he'd love to see one, "Syria is Not Ready for an Uprising." Josh Landis said something similar before the protests. I pretend to no expertise on Syria and last set foot in the country in the 1970s, so I won't second guess the experts. But their cautions are a reminder that each country has a distinct history and personality and that the present crisis may have little impact there.