How A Syrian Radio Show Can Save The West

A new American-style radio show hits the airwaves in Damascus. Next thing you know, a Western newspaper rushes in to hail the “cultural bridge” and the “Shift towards the Western Orbit” in Syria

Photo credit: LA Times

Is it a mark of desperation, hope or naivety that the LA Times features the “Good Morning Syria” show and reads way too much into it?

I think it’s great that the Syrian young generation will get to enjoy what we had in Lebanon for the last 25 years. But who said that this has anything to do with improving Syrian attitudes towards America? 

What’s worse is that the Times is implying that this was somehow the achievement of the Syrian President (“ All sprang up over the last few years with the approval of President Bashar Assad”), the same man who stays in power by boasting that he’s the most anti-American president of all Arabs and who’s popular in Syria precisely because of that.

But who cares? Cue the LA Times:

The rhythms and textures of daily life here are increasingly meshing with those of Western nations. On the streets of Damascus, people breezily draw in American sounds, sights and icons, making them part of their own cultural DNA. [..] 

In a land viewed by the Bush administration as an associate member of the so-called axis of evil, 50 Cent floods the airwaves.

Apparently, all it takes to swindle west-coast journalists of venerable newspapers is for a 30-year-old Syrian to say: “We love Rihanna. It’s very cool. Syria is very cool.”