Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Momentum of Protest, Part 1
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 3:49 | James Miller in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2110 GMT: Just when it didn't look like the international community could be more divided on Syria, Syrian President Bashar al Assad has called for a Constitutional referendum that would, in theory, end singe-party rule:
The proposed charter drops Article 8, which declared the ruling Baath Party as the "leader of the state and society", allowing for a multi-party system, state television said on Wednesday.
The president, who must be a Muslim man, can serve a maximum of two seven-year terms, although it is unclear if this would apply to Assad, who is already in his second term.
Russia has praised the move, the US called it "laughable," and the posturing continues. For EA, the question of reform can be boiled down into two points: is the regime serious, and does it matter either way?
Reform - Syria was under an emergency rule between 1963 and last April, but violence has been steadily, or exponentially, increasing every month since that emergency law was lifted. Other agreements made by the Assad regime, for instance with the Arab League, have been broken almost immediately. This regime does not have a great record on reform.
Which brings me to the next point - if large segments of Europe, the US, and several Arab nations do not trust the regime, and the opposition does not trust the regime, will any of the reform efforts even matter?
2011 GMT: According to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, today's death toll has risen to 32, "among them three children,one woman and one defected soldier. 12 martyrs fell in Idlib, 5 in Damscus Suburbs (Bloudan, Douma, Harsta) 4 fell in Homs, 3 martyrs in Daraa, 3 martyrs in Hama,2 in Hasakeh and 1 in each of Lattakia ,Damascus and Aleppo."
Bahrain, Syria, arrest, humanitarian cooridors 