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- Suzuki R3 Gunakan Mesin Bensin 1,4 Liter?
- Militer Temukan Jenazah Anggota Al Qaeda
- Utusan Khusus AS Berada di Afganistan
- Delapan Sampel Jajanan Anak Mengandung Bahan Berbahaya
- Jeep Survivor Concept, Kombinasi Tampang Mobil Game Dan Film
- Usir Orang Tua, Bartoli Menang
- Nikmat Usai Sedih Putus Cinta dari Zumi Zola
- Harapan Zian ‘Zigas’ Untuk Kota Jakarta
- Presiden Hadiri Peringatan Hari Antinarkoba Internasional
- Chaos feared as Syria crisis nears bloody impasse
| Suzuki R3 Gunakan Mesin Bensin 1,4 Liter? Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:24 PM PDT Share Tweet
Sebuah laman situs otomotif di Negeri Hindustan berani memastikan Suzuki R3 bakal menggunakan mesin bensin K-Series berkapasitas 1,4 liter. Jantung mekanis ini mampu menghasilkan tenaga 87 hp serta torsi 130 Nm. Spekualasi tersebut selaras dengan salah satu petinggi PT Suzuki Indomobil Sales (SIS) yang pernah berbincang dengan dapurpacu.com beberapa waktu lalu. “Kemungkinan akan menggunakan mesin 1,4 liter dan rencananya akan mulai diproduksi di Tanah air pada awal 2012 mendatang,” ungkap Endro Nugroho, Direktur Marketing SIS. Mudah-mudahan versi produksi massalnya (prototipe) bisa hadir di IIMS 2011, akhir Juli ini, harapnya. Di India selain mesin bensin, sebuah mesin diesel berkapasitas 1,3 liter juga menjadi salah varian. Publik India menduga MPV ini akan diumumkan secara resmi pada akhir tahun ini atau setidaknya saat gelaran India Auto Expo 2012 di awal tahun. [dp/Wyu] //     Source: DapurPacu online Berita Lain:
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| Militer Temukan Jenazah Anggota Al Qaeda Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:17 PM PDT  TPG IMAGES Bendera Mauritania BAMAKO, KOMPAS.com – Jenazah anggota gerilyawan Al Qaeda Afrika Utara (AQIM) yang tewas dalam serangan militer Mauritania terhadap perkemahan mereka di negara tetangga Mali – telah ditemukan, kata seorang perwira militer Mauritania, Sabtu (25/6/2011). "Kami melihat mayat di tanah, dan mobil terbakar habis …," kata pejabat tersebut berbicara dari ibu kota Mauritania, Nouakchott, tanpa memberikan berapa jumlah gerilyawan yang tewas. Pejabat itu mengatakan, tentara menyisir hutan di dekatnya. "Operasi ini rumit dan berbahaya, para teroris mungkin telah menanam ranjau di daerah tersebut. Mereka berbahaya. Kita harus berhati-hati untuk menghindari penyerbuan maksimal," ujarnya. Seorang pejabat lokal di Mali mengatakan sebelumnya ia tidak bisa mengatakan dari pihak mana korban itu berasal. Sebuah sumber independen di daerah tersebut yang dihubungi melalui telepon mengatakan jumlah korban cukup banyak. Tentara Mauritania mengebom markas di wilayah barat Mali Wagadou pada Jumat malam, dalam operasi yang melibatkan pertempuran sengit dan menyebabkan empat tentara terluka, kata sumber keamanan. Beberapa sumber militer sebelumnya mengatakan AQIM berusaha untuk mendirikan pangkalan baru di wilayah tersebut. Pada awal bulan ini, Mali dan Mauritania sepakat untuk memimpin operasi militer bersama guna menggagalkan gerakan Al-Qaeda cabang Afrika utara. Operasi tersebut melibatkan ratusan tentara. Anggota AQIM telah secara teratur terlihat di wilayah itu, menunjukkan wilayah itu telah menjadi basis bagi kelompok tersebut. Mali dan Mauritania sebelumnya telah menyatakan keprihatinan tentang kegiatan kelompok itu, bersama dengan Nigeria dan Aljazair. AQIM, yang berakar di Aljazair, memiliki basis di Mali. Dari situ, mereka melakukan serangan bersenjata dan penculikan, terutama terhadap warga negara Barat. Kelompok itu juga terlibat dalam perdagangan senjata dan obat-bius. Sent Using Telkomsel Mobile Internet Service powered by Sumber : ant, afp, aap Source: kompas internasional Berita Lain:
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| Utusan Khusus AS Berada di Afganistan Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:17 PM PDT  google map KOMPAS.com – Utusan Khusus Amerika Serikat (AS) untuk Afganistan dan Pakistan Marc Grossman berada di Kabul untuk melakukan konsultasi regional terkait dengan pengumuman Presiden Barack Obama untuk menarik secara bertahap pasukan AS dari Afganistan. Acara penting yang bakal dihadirinya adalah pertemuan internasional dengan pihak-pihak pemangku kepentingan perdamaian di Afganistan. Sebagaimana warta Xinhua pada Minggu (26/6/2011), Grossman bakal bertemu dengan Presiden Afganistan Hamid Karzai, Penasihat Keamanan Nasional Rangin Dadfar Spanta, serta Perwakilan Khusus PBB Staffan de Mistura. Grossman juga akan menghadiri pertemuan ketiga kelompok AS, Afganistan, dan Pakistan pendukung rekonsiliasi Afganistan. Dalam pidato di televisi pada Rabu lalu, Presiden Obama sudah memerintahkan penarikan 33.000 tentara AS secara bertahap sejak musim panas 2012. Hingga 2014, AS akan juga akan menarik 40.000 tentara lagi dari Afganistan. Sent Using Telkomsel Mobile Internet Service powered by Source: kompas internasional Berita Lain:
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| Delapan Sampel Jajanan Anak Mengandung Bahan Berbahaya Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:13 PM PDT “Dari 282 sampel jajanan anak sekolah yang kami ambil di enam kabupaten dan kota se Provinsi Bengkulu menunjukkan hasil delapan sampel positif mengandung bahan berbahaya bagi kesehatan anak yang mengonsumsinya,” kata Kasi Sertifikasi dan Layanan Konsumen Balai Pengawasan Obat dan Makanan Provinsi Bengkulu Sasra dihubungi Minggu. Ia mengatakan, pengambilan sampel jajanan anak sekolah dilakukan BPOM Provinsi Bengkulu dari 12 April hingga 20 Mei 2011 di enam kabupaten dan Kota Bengkulu yakni Kabupaten Bengkulu Utara, Bengkulu Tengah, Bengkulu Selatan, Rejang Lebong, Kepahiang dan Kota Bengkulu. Pengambilan ratusan sampel jajanan anak sekolah tersebut dilakukan petugas di kantin sekolah maupun diluar sekolah terhadap 38 jenis jajanan anak sekolah. “Setelah dilakukan pengujian di laboratorium Balai POM Provinsi Bengkulu selama lebih dari sebulan diketahui delapan sampel positif mengandung bahan berbahaya yang dilarang yakni rhodamin, formalin dan boraks,” ujarnya. Jajanan anak sekolah yang mengandung bahan berbahaya bagi kesehatan anak sekolah yang mengkonsumsinya yakni es doger, bakwan, kerupuk merah dan mie goreng. Ia mengatakan, pangan jajanan anak sekolah yang tidak sehat dan tidak berkualitas mengakibatkan timbulnya resiko bagi kesehatan dan memiliki dampak negatif jangka panjang bagi generasi muda bangsa. Gerakan pangan jajanan anak sekolah aman, bermutu dan bergizi telah dicanangkan oleh wakil presiden pada Februari 2011 bertujuan menjaga kesehatan generasi bangsa. Hal itu berawal dari hasil pengawasan Pangan Jajanan Anak Sekolah yang dilakukan secara rutin oleh Badan POM pada lima tahun terakhir (2006-2010), menunjukkan jajanan anak sekolah yang tidak memenuhi syarat kesehatan berkisar antara 40- 44 persen. “Kami akan terus berupaya untuk mendukung gerakan pangan jajanan anak sekolah yang telah dicanangkan wakil presiden pada Februari 2011 lalu dengan meningkatkan pengawasan,” ujarnya. (ANT-213/M027/K004) Editor: B Kunto Wibisono Source: AntaraNews.com – Peristiwa Berita Lain:
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| Jeep Survivor Concept, Kombinasi Tampang Mobil Game Dan Film Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:12 PM PDT  Amerika Apa jadinya jika sebuah mobil menggabungkan desain mobil Warthog dari game Halo dan kendaraan militer Mercedes Benz M-Class dari film The Lost World: Jurassic Park? Nah, desain Jeep Survivor Concept ini merupakan deskripsi yang pas untuk gambaran tersebut. Pasalnya Jeep Survivor Concept yang didesain oleh Max Ostap kini tampil futuristik dan sangar. Bahkan mahasiswa Art Center College of Design, California ini juga berimajinasi dengan bentuk kokpitnya yang membulat dan keluar pakem Jeep yang kaku. Tak percaya? Tengok saja tampang Jeep Survivor Concept yang agresif dengan paduan gril vertikal hitam khas Jeep yang kini berubah dengan lekukan di bagian moncongnya. Selanjutnya, desain headlamp juga dibuat sipit, yang membuat mobil ini tampil sedikit misterius. Oleh perancangnya, Jeep Survivor Concept diberi nuansa futuristik di bagian samping berkat penggunaan pintu dengan kaca terintegrasi dengan kaca depan. Selain itu, pintu dan bodi ini juga dirancang menonjol, sehingga sesuai dengan lekukan siluet bodi yang aerodinamis. Semakin berotot, Jeep Survivor Concept juga dilengkapi oleh fitur khas mobil jelajah. Diantaranya bull bar depan, rel atap yang dilengkapi ban cadangan, lampu spotlights dan bak kecil di bagian buritannya. (mobil.otomotifnet.com) Penulis : Ilham | Teks Editor : Bagja | Foto : Carscoop Source: OtomotifNet Berita Lain:
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| Usir Orang Tua, Bartoli Menang Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:09 PM PDT  KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO Petenis Perancis, Marion BartoliLONDON, Kompas.com – Unggulan sembilan Marion Bartoli meminta orang tuanya pergi sebelum mememangi peertandingan babak ketiga Wimbledon menghadapi petenis Italia, Flavia Pennetta. Petenis asal Perancis ini kalah 5-7 di set pertama. Finalis Wimbledon 2007 ini kemudian membari isyarat kepada ayah dan ibunya untuk meninggalkan kursi penonton di lapangan 14. Agaknya tindakan ini membawa hasil buat Bartoli. Ia merebut dua set berikutnya 6-4 9-7 dan maju ke babak 16 besar untuk menghadapi petenis AS, Serena Williams. "Saya sangat lelah dan kecapaian dan ingin melampiaskan emosi saya," kata Serena. "Saya bisa saja mematahkan raket atau melemparkan tas atau melakukan hal lain. Saya tidak pernah melakukan hal seperti itu, tetapi saat itu saya butuh melampiaskan rasa frustrasi dan memulai lagi dengan perasaan baru," kata Bartoli lagi. Meski begitu, Bartoli mengaku telah berbicara dengan kedua orang tuanya. "Saya menemui mereka setelah pertandingan dan mereka memahami situasinya," ungkapnya. "Saya tidak menentang mereka. Saya hanya merasa lelah karena bertanding lama dan kehabisan tenaga. Saya merasa lelah dan perasaan saya lebih buruk lagi." "Ayah mengaku menyaksikan saya melalui televisi dan menurutnya itu mertupakan permainan terbaik saya di Wimbledon," ungkap Bartoli. Hasil tunggal puteri Source: kompas – olahraga Berita Lain:
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| Nikmat Usai Sedih Putus Cinta dari Zumi Zola Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:08 PM PDT Jakarta – Ayu Dewi tak membantah putus dari Zumi Zola membuat hancur dalam kesedihan. Namun setelah itu, Ayu merasa diberi nikmat oleh Tuhan. Tentang itu, berikut ini wawancara dengan artis multitalenta ini di Studio Hanggar Teras, Pancoran, Jakarta Selatan, Kamis (23/6). Bagaimana hubungan dengan mantan kekasih, Zumi? Menyesal tak jadi menikah? Ada perenungan atas kejadian ini? Lantas? Apa lagi yang di dapat? Beberapa waktu sebelumnya, Ayu juga sempat berkeluh kesah tentang kandasnya kisah cintanya itu. Berikut ini wawancaranya. Apa yang dilakukan setelah putus? Ceria, kok, bisa? Seperti apa? Source: inilah online Berita Lain:
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| Harapan Zian ‘Zigas’ Untuk Kota Jakarta Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:08 PM PDT Jakarta – Zian 'Zigaz' mengaku bangga sebagai putra asli Jakarta. Harapannya, usia 484 membuat Jakarta semakin baik. Yang jadi perhatian Zian adalah soal kemacetan Jakarta sudah sangat-sangat parah. Zian mengimbau agar pemerintah berani menerapkan pembatasan penggunaan mobil priadi di jalan umum. “Yang harus dibatasi adalah para pengguuna mobil. Karena semakin banyak orang memakai mobil, tapi tidak sepadan dengan jalannya. Jadi, semakin banyak mobil, pasti semakin macet,” tutur Zian, saat dihubungi, Sabtu (25/6). Menurut Zian, pemerintah seharusnya menambah jumlah kendaraan umum dan mengurangi mobil pribadi. “Mungkin dengan adanya busway sedikit membantu mengurangi macet. Tapi dampak lainnya, jalan jadi sempit. Kalau angukutan massalnya diperbanyak, itu sangat membantu para pekerja dan pegawai,” katanya. [aji] Source: inilah online Berita Lain:
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| Presiden Hadiri Peringatan Hari Antinarkoba Internasional Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:06 PM PDT Minggu, 26 Juni 2011 08:51 WIB JAKARTA: Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pagi ini menghadiri peringatan hari antinarkoba internasional (HANI) di Silang Monas, Jakarta Pusat. Source: media indonesia Berita Lain:
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| Chaos feared as Syria crisis nears bloody impasse Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:04 PM PDT Chaos feared as Syria crisis nears bloody impasse Associated Press, Wadi Khaled, Lebanon | Sun, 06/26/2011 8:47 AM A |A |A| Chaos feared as Syria crisis nears bloody impasse Eds: For global distribution.[ AP Photo BEI505, BEI504, BEI503, BEI502, BEI501[ By TIM SULLIVAN= Associated Press= WADI KHALED, Lebanon (AP) – When the Arab Spring came to Talkalakh, the little Syrian hill town a few minutes walk from this border village, it seemed to last barely a moment. Squads of secret police descended on the town within hours of the first protests. Then the army came with its tanks, and the shadowy pro-government militia called the shabiha. The May siege killed at least 36 civilians, activists say. Hundreds of people were arrested. Thousands fled. By mid-June, the Sunni Muslim town of 70,000 people had only a few dozen families remaining, according to residents who recently escaped into Lebanon, and those still there are constantly watched by security forces. But when night falls, the Arab Spring comes back to Talkalakh. Because that is when the young people slip quietly to the rooftops of their concrete homes. And in the darkness they shout out for freedom and for the help of God. Silence returns only when soldiers begin blindly spraying gunfire. As the early success of theArab Spring has bogged down in turmoil – civil war in Libya, repression in Bahrain and anarchy in Yemen – Syria has become mired in its own bloody grind of protests and repression. Its stalemate is a reflection of the new and more complicated chapter in the string of Arab uprisings. If much of the Syrian urising has been cloaked by an authoritarian Damascus regime that expelled foreign journalists, the stakes could turn out to be far higher there than almost anywhere else in the Arab world. In the balance are political reform for one of the region’s most brutally repressive countries, and fear that the natin of 22 million people could descend into sectarian conflict that would draw in players from across the Middle East. Residents of protesting towns describe relentless shelling of their neighborhoods. They pass around cell phone videos of young men so badly tortured that their corpses look like butchered met. More than 1,400 Syrians have been killed in the crackdown, activists say, and 10,000 have been detained. “Soldiers kick the faces of demonstrators under arrest, when they are handcuffed on the ground. They say: “You want freedom? This is your freedom!” said a bookish 21-year-old from Talkalakh who aked to be identified only by his first name, Zakariya, fearing retribution against relatives. “They think they can stop our protests by abusing us, but that is not going to work.” Like many demonstrators, he was surprised to find himself in the streets at all. “We couldn’t even imagine that we couldtalk like this, that we could ask for freedom,” he said, standing in the shade of a tree on Wadi Khaled’s quiet main street. But then satellite TV brought news of demonstrators overthrowing dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and of political convulsions across the Middle East. “It gave us the courage to raie our voices,” he said. However, three months after the protests spread to Syria, the country is in a political no-man’s-land, with President Bashar Assad’s regime unable to crush the tenacious grassroots opposition but unwilling to begin talks with them. Assad’s most recent peace offering, a vague promis to consider political reforms, was quickly dismissed by the opposition as a ploy to buy time and hold onto power. The regime “still believes it can crush the protests,” said Rami Nakhla, a Syrian activist now living underground in Beirut who has spent months disseminating news and video clips sent fromnside the country. “But it’s clear the regime has played all its cards and the protests are not burning out. They’re spreading.” At the same time, the activists have not managed so far to draw in Syria’s middle class, resulting in protests that hopscotch across the country but seldom touch the largest cties. The Assad regime has long used sheer brutality to hold together a fragile jigsaw puzzle of Middle Eastern backgrounds – Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druse, Circassians, Armenians and more. Sectarian violence is widely feared, and in the worst-case scenario the country could descend into a Lebanese-style civil war. At the same time, Syria is an important geopolitical linchpin. It borders five other nations, has close ties to Iran and powerful militant groups, and controls water supplies to Iraq, Jordan and parts of Israel. Meanwhile, though Damascus and Israel are officially at war and Israel has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967, their quiet, behind-the-scenes contact has sometimes been key to preventing the eruption of fighting. “People are afraid of what could happen if Assad falls from power,” said Elias Muhanna, a political analyst at Harvard University. At worst, it could become what he calls “an Iraq scenario,” with armed militias carving out ethnic fiefdoms. It is a fear that Damascus has carefully nurtured in recent months, warning repeatedly that only Assad can keep chaos at bay. And while most analysts say Assad is exaggerating, few deny that such violence is a serious possibility. That is why many opposition figures are putting their hope on an unlikely player: the Syrian army. Dissidents say they are in touch with many lower-ranking soldiers, and have publicly urged top-ranking officers to oust Assad in a coup d’etat. “We don’t have other options right now,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a prominent Syrian exile and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. “We need the army officers to take the initiative.” Getting to that point, though, would require crossing a deep sectarian chasm. Syria’s deadlock is rooted in the divide between the Sunni Muslim majority and the Alawites, a Shiite offshoot that makes up about 11 percent of the country. The Assad family is Alawite, as are most key leaders in the army, the intelligence services and top businesses. While Sunnis dominate the military’s enlisted ranks, the top commanders are mostly Alawites. They also make up much of the army’s feared 4th Division, which is led by Bashar Assad’s brother Maher and used to crush the biggest protests, as well as the Republican Guard, which is responsible for protecting the capital, Damascus. Then there is the shabiha, the mafia-style militia the regime uses as enforcers, a network of fearsome young Alawite men known for dressing all in black. The Alawites rose from economic obscurity after the 1970 coup led by Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, gaining power and financial muscle in exchange for loyalty to the Assads. It is their support that the younger Assad sees as the key to continued power. Alawites claim they would be oppressed as Muslim heretics if the Sunnis come to power, and Sunnis claim they are unable to get the government jobs essential to reach the lower rungs of the middle class. Analyst Muhanna says the now-privileged Alawites would see majority rule as a nightmare. “They would see it as the end of Alawite culture,” he said. “The Alawites look at Syria the way the Jews look at Israel.” Whether or not the Alawite military commanders turn against Assad may depend on the new middle class. For now, Assad counts on the support of a small but growing Syrian middle class, a mixture of Sunnis, Alawites and other ethnic groups that live mostly in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo. This newly monied class, mostly traders and small manufacturers, has seen life gradually improve since Hafez Assad died in 2000, and his son began opening up the country’s economy. “So far, they continue to think that Assad’s regime ensures stability and continuity,” said Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. “If they reach the conclusion that Assad is not their man, and the regime is not one to rely upon, they will join the protest movement.” That, he said, would be the point when the Syrian army would step in – when they believed a coup could keep economic chaos at bay while allowing Alawite military commanders to retain at least some power. “In order to avert the specter of civil war, you would have to include the Alawites in a post-Bashar Assad political order,” said Khashan. While there has been no sign of a split in the military, the protests’ momentum has yet to slow. For every Talkalakh where demonstrations are crushed, others break out. Dozens of protests have erupted across the country. Most recently, the government laid siege to towns along the northern border, sending thousands of refugees streaming into Turkey. In many ways, Syria’s turmoil is not surprising. Across the Middle East, protesters have discovered that creating new governments is far more complicated than driving out old dictators. The chaos in countries like Libya and Yemen is welcome to the Assad regime, which has carefully mixed vague promises of eventual reform with none-too-subtle warnings that Syria could also spiral into violence. Government officials blame the protests on mysterious gunmen or Muslim extremists, while warning that Israel or other unnamed foreign powers are stage-managing the demonstrations. The opposition insistently denies any foreign involvement, and the scattered nature of the protests appears to indicate broad grassroots support and little central planning. Still, dissidents acknowledge they began preparing for protests early this year, when it became clear that calls for democracy were spilling across the Arab world. According to Ziadeh, an informal exile network smuggled satellite telephones and other communications gear into the country, presuming the government would clamp down on communications if protests began. That equipment has been essential to getting news out through the network of exile-activists. But as for Assad himself, he has been nearly invisible. He has spoken only three times in public since the protests erupted. For the most part, he uses his speeches to talk about dangerous saboteurs and international conspiracies he insists are out to undermine Syria. But he also makes clear that violence may be the ultimate answer. “What is at stake is the homeland,” he said in March 30 speech to Parliament. “The Syrian people are peaceful people, loving people, but we have never hesitated in defending our causes, interests and principles, and if we are forced into a battle, so be it.” When the Arab Spring came to Talkalakh, the little Syrian hill town a few minutes walk from this border village, it seemed to last barely a moment. Squads of secret police descended on the town within hours of the first protests. Then the army came with its tanks, and the shadowy pro-government militia called the shabiha. The May siege killed at least 36 civilians, activists say. Hundreds of people were arrested. Thousands fled. By mid-June, the Sunni Muslim town of 70,000 people had only a few dozen families remaining, according to residents who recently escaped into Lebanon, and those still there are constantly watched by security forces. But when night falls, the Arab Spring comes back to Talkalakh. Because that is when the young people slip quietly to the rooftops of their concrete homes. And in the darkness they shout out for freedom and for the help of God. Silence returns only when soldiers begin blindly spraying gunfire. As the early success of the Arab Spring has bogged down in turmoil – civil war in Libya, repression in Bahrain and anarchy in Yemen – Syria has become mired in its own bloody grind of protests and repression. Its stalemate is a reflection of the new and more complicated chapter in the string of Arab uprisings. If much of the Syrian urising has been cloaked by an authoritarian Damascus regime that expelled foreign journalists, the stakes could turn out to be far higher there than almost anywhere else in the Arab world. In the balance are political reform for one of the region’s most brutally repressive countries, and fear that the natin of 22 million people could descend into sectarian conflict that would draw in players from across the Middle East. Residents of protesting towns describe relentless shelling of their neighborhoods. They pass around cell phone videos of young men so badly tortured that their corpses look like butchered met. More than 1,400 Syrians have been killed in the crackdown, activists say, and 10,000 have been detained. “Soldiers kick the faces of demonstrators under arrest, when they are handcuffed on the ground. They say: “You want freedom? This is your freedom!” said a bookish 21-year-old from Talkalakh who aked to be identified only by his first name, Zakariya, fearing retribution against relatives. “They think they can stop our protests by abusing us, but that is not going to work.” Like many demonstrators, he was surprised to find himself in the streets at all. “We couldn’t even imagine that we couldtalk like this, that we could ask for freedom,” he said, standing in the shade of a tree on Wadi Khaled’s quiet main street. But then satellite TV brought news of demonstrators overthrowing dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and of political convulsions across the Middle East. “It gave us the courage to raie our voices,” he said. However, three months after the protests spread to Syria, the country is in a political no-man’s-land, with President Bashar Assad’s regime unable to crush the tenacious grassroots opposition but unwilling to begin talks with them. Assad’s most recent peace offering, a vague promis to consider political reforms, was quickly dismissed by the opposition as a ploy to buy time and hold onto power. The regime “still believes it can crush the protests,” said Rami Nakhla, a Syrian activist now living underground in Beirut who has spent months disseminating news and video clips sent fromnside the country. “But it’s clear the regime has played all its cards and the protests are not burning out. They’re spreading.” At the same time, the activists have not managed so far to draw in Syria’s middle class, resulting in protests that hopscotch across the country but seldom touch the largest cties. The Assad regime has long used sheer brutality to hold together a fragile jigsaw puzzle of Middle Eastern backgrounds – Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druse, Circassians, Armenians and more. Sectarian violence is widely feared, and in the worst-case scenario the country could descend into a Lebanese-style civil war. At the same time, Syria is an important geopolitical linchpin. It borders five other nations, has close ties to Iran and powerful militant groups, and controls water supplies to Iraq, Jordan and parts of Israel. Meanwhile, though Damascus and Israel are officially at war and Israel has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967, their quiet, behind-the-scenes contact has sometimes been key to preventing the eruption of fighting. “People are afraid of what could happen if Assad falls from power,” said Elias Muhanna, a political analyst at Harvard University. At worst, it could become what he calls “an Iraq scenario,” with armed militias carving out ethnic fiefdoms. It is a fear that Damascus has carefully nurtured in recent months, warning repeatedly that only Assad can keep chaos at bay. And while most analysts say Assad is exaggerating, few deny that such violence is a serious possibility. That is why many opposition figures are putting their hope on an unlikely player: the Syrian army. Dissidents say they are in touch with many lower-ranking soldiers, and have publicly urged top-ranking officers to oust Assad in a coup d’etat. “We don’t have other options right now,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a prominent Syrian exile and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. “We need the army officers to take the initiative.” Getting to that point, though, would require crossing a deep sectarian chasm. Syria’s deadlock is rooted in the divide between the Sunni Muslim majority and the Alawites, a Shiite offshoot that makes up about 11 percent of the country. The Assad family is Alawite, as are most key leaders in the army, the intelligence services and top businesses. While Sunnis dominate the military’s enlisted ranks, the top commanders are mostly Alawites. They also make up much of the army’s feared 4th Division, which is led by Bashar Assad’s brother Maher and used to crush the biggest protests, as well as the Republican Guard, which is responsible for protecting the capital, Damascus. Then there is the shabiha, the mafia-style militia the regime uses as enforcers, a network of fearsome young Alawite men known for dressing all in black. The Alawites rose from economic obscurity after the 1970 coup led by Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, gaining power and financial muscle in exchange for loyalty to the Assads. It is their support that the younger Assad sees as the key to continued power. Alawites claim they would be oppressed as Muslim heretics if the Sunnis come to power, and Sunnis claim they are unable to get the government jobs essential to reach the lower rungs of the middle class. Analyst Muhanna says the now-privileged Alawites would see majority rule as a nightmare. “They would see it as the end of Alawite culture,” he said. “The Alawites look at Syria the way the Jews look at Israel.” Whether or not the Alawite military commanders turn against Assad may depend on the new middle class. For now, Assad counts on the support of a small but growing Syrian middle class, a mixture of Sunnis, Alawites and other ethnic groups that live mostly in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo. This newly monied class, mostly traders and small manufacturers, has seen life gradually improve since Hafez Assad died in 2000, and his son began opening up the country’s economy. “So far, they continue to think that Assad’s regime ensures stability and continuity,” said Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. “If they reach the conclusion that Assad is not their man, and the regime is not one to rely upon, they will join the protest movement.” That, he said, would be the point when the Syrian army would step in – when they believed a coup could keep economic chaos at bay while allowing Alawite military commanders to retain at least some power. “In order to avert the specter of civil war, you would have to include the Alawites in a post-Bashar Assad political order,” said Khashan. While there has been no sign of a split in the military, the protests’ momentum has yet to slow. For every Talkalakh where demonstrations are crushed, others break out. Dozens of protests have erupted across the country. Most recently, the government laid siege to towns along the northern border, sending thousands of refugees streaming into Turkey. In many ways, Syria’s turmoil is not surprising. Across the Middle East, protesters have discovered that creating new governments is far more complicated than driving out old dictators. The chaos in countries like Libya and Yemen is welcome to the Assad regime, which has carefully mixed vague promises of eventual reform with none-too-subtle warnings that Syria could also spiral into violence. Government officials blame the protests on mysterious gunmen or Muslim extremists, while warning that Israel or other unnamed foreign powers are stage-managing the demonstrations. The opposition insistently denies any foreign involvement, and the scattered nature of the protests appears to indicate broad grassroots support and little central planning. Still, dissidents acknowledge they began preparing for protests early this year, when it became clear that calls for democracy were spilling across the Arab world. According to Ziadeh, an informal exile network smuggled satellite telephones and other communications gear into the country, presuming the government would clamp down on communications if protests began. That equipment has been essential to getting news out through the network of exile-activists. But as for Assad himself, he has been nearly invisible. He has spoken only three times in public since the protests erupted. For the most part, he uses his speeches to talk about dangerous saboteurs and international conspiracies he insists are out to undermine Syria. But he also makes clear that violence may be the ultimate answer. “What is at stake is the homeland,” he said in March 30 speech to Parliament. “The Syrian people are peaceful people, loving people, but we have never hesitated in defending our causes, interests and principles, and if we are forced into a battle, so be it.” Source: the jakarta post Berita Lain:
+ Arsip Berita Indonesia - Chaos feared as Syria crisis nears bloody impasse.
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