CIRCUIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 61
By RANE Worldview by Stratfor, Ryan Bohl
Syria’s Normalization Risks Continuing the Cycle of Conflict and Authoritarianism in the Middle East A growing number of Arab countries have recently begun rekindling relations with the Syrian government after a decade of civil conflict and failed attempts to oust President Bashar al Assad’s regime.
As Damascus slowly emerges from isolation, other undemocratic regimes and actors in the Middle East and North Africa risk seeing al Assad’s success as proof that force is a very valid option to quell 96
threats to their control — and while it may spur a bloody and destructive war, it’s a war that can, with the right allies, be won. Indeed, in a region plagued with long-standing economic inequality,
