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Remember that politics move quickly, and people and their opinions evolve.
Syrian Regime Promises
August 8, 2011 · Mustapha Hamoui
The New York Times reports:
Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Saturday that true multiparty elections for Parliament, the first during the Assad family’s rule […] would be held by the end of the year. SANA quoted him as saying the elections would “free and transparent.”
On the same day Mr. Moallem made the promise, security forces arrested Walid al-Bunni, a prominent opposition figure and former political prisoner, along with his two sons.
This is an old trick in the Syrian regime’s playbook: Words and actions that contradict each other at the same time. (Remember the famous March 14 arrest warrants that were issued in Syria at the same time Mr. Assad was praising PM Hariri’s groundbreaking visit to Damascus?)