International affairs

David Shagoury

US administration officials seem to be averse to acknowledge many important steps toward progress in Syria today. There were no mitigating references to renewed efforts of economic liberalization in Syria; a process that now includes an acceptance of foreign investment and ownership of assets that is being pursued with purpose despite the difficulties imposed by our policy of isolation. There is no mention of the protection of minority rights and equality under Syrian law, which by and large has been effectuated by the government. There seems inveterate in general policy to be an absence of recognition or care that in Syria Christianity is not only tolerated, but is honored and respected to the point where Christmas and Easter are national holidays, whereas in ally Egypt, Christians are intermittently fleeing for their lives. That policy combined with the positive fact that Syrian citizens are not categorized nor stigmatized by religious sect is truly unique in the Middle East. Addition-ally, there is no tacit acknowledgement of the innate, unofficial democratization that is occurring via the expansion of non - state media sources utilized by the Syrian people. This expansion of news sources is courtesy of the government’s benign neglect, coupled with a certain resignation about the popular demand for information. Politically critical expression certainly exists, although with restrictions that ebb and flow.