|
Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
|
 |
Syria: Tourist paradise amid political hell
 The statue of the medieval warrior Saladin When saying that Syria today is a focus of the regional political and security hell we don't mean that the tourists' lives are constantly put on danger. Right now many visitors, except the frequent police presence and controls, don't see any inconvenience during their stays. What we mean is that given the profile of some foreign "guests" of Syria, this apparent peace may turn into nightmare once the considerations for war prevail. What we mean by "quests" are the myriads of foreign terrorist organizations, presented in Syria or in Syrian controlled territories in Lebanon, especially near the border of Israel. They have long history of violent activity and nobody should doubt that they might use violence against anyone considered to be a target, tourists including. But let's return to Syria itself and try to describe some of its particular features, making it so unique, apart from its tourist attractions. Unlike some other countries in the region, Syrian oil production and exports aren't enough to make the population rich and careless. On the other hand, the close military presence of Israel compels Damascus to maintain armed forces far above the level it could have been required if the country, all the rest being equal, belonged to another geographical region. Third, the socialist ideology requires the state to take care of its population and the government is directly or indirectly the main employer in Syria. All these matters demand from the government to make additional expenditures that at the end hinder the economic development, creating highly ineffective and sometimes corrupted political structures. The social need of some reforms is present, but the main political actors within and outside the country don't agree either on their scope or their speed. Some Arab countries plus Iran won't accept a political change in Damascus that will reduce the political pressure on Israel to liberate the occupied Arab territories. On the other hand, Israel and the United States, although Washington prepares in a near future new economic sanctions against Syria, won't be happy to see this regime collapsing. Such development will unleash the destructive forces of the "guests" so far under more or less political and military control of Damascus. On the other hand, given the history of militant Islamic movements in the country, a collapse of socialist-indoctrinating regime may push the population toward radical religious and not less anti-western political forces. As one old proverb said, it's better to deal with the devil we know than the devil we don't know. It appears to me that if Washington wanted to push Damascus to the wall, it could do it easily by repeating the Turkish tactics of late 1990's. Then Ankara forced Syria to expel some of the Kurds terrorist organizations under the threat of military intervention. Instead it seems that the United States prefer to make the demographic time-bomb do its job, by forcing Damascus to open gradually its economic and political system without direct treat of military intervention. There is another factor that plays against Syria in its push toward gradual modernization, the scarcity of water. So far no society has developed substantial traditional industries without immensely increasing the demand for water. The new technologies that don't require so much water depend on the western expertise. Traditional modernization in water-scarce region is a non-sense; the only viable alternative for countries like Syria is to follow the example of Israel in the new technological spheres. Such approach at the end will be the only realistic and sustainable strategy in modernizing society without destroying the limited natural resources. Without such approach Syria is doomed to remain a potential tourist paradise amid political and security hell.
Syria country profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Syria.
|
See also:
