An opposition activist tells Al Jazeera that 650 regime soldiers, including 50 officers, have defected in Damascus Province.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KHj1C9amc88
In many recent battles, Assad's troops have fled or surrendered in droves but a defection on this scale is amazing if confirmed. The regime also lost a major base west of Aleppo yesterday. Let's not forget a news story earlier this week from the NY Times on the regime's unkempt and clearly demoralized troops in Damascus. It does not matter how many big toys the regime has available to combat if few Syrians want to man them these days.
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FG
ReportThe following excerpts are from a Washington Post article entitled, "Pope Benedict XVI’s leaked documents show fractured Vatican full of rivalries." They have nothing directly to do with Iran. Neverthess, I'm sure any discerning reader can't miss the similarities:
EXCERPTS:
...whoever he may be, the 266th pope will inherit a gerontocracy obsessed with turf and Italian politics, uninterested in basic management practices and hostile to reforms.
...an unprecedented leak of the pontiff’s personal correspondence (reveals) tales of rivalry and betrayal, and allegations of corruption and systemic dysfunction that infused the inner workings of the Holy See and the eight-year papacy of Benedict XVI. Last week, he announced that he will become the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign.
...VatiLeaks, as the scandal came to be known, dragged the fusty institution into the wild WikiLeaks era. It exposed the church bureaucracy’s entrenched opposition to Benedict’s fledgling effort to carve out a legacy as a reformer against the backdrop of a global child sex abuse scandal and the continued dwindling of his flock.
OBSERVATION> Khamenei and Benedict could write one another sympathy letters. At least the latter showed the good grade to resigned. The Iranian people would jump for joy and do flips if only Khamenei--Assad's identical twin--were to do the same).
There's more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/pope-benedict-xvis-leaked-documents-show-fractured-vatican-full-of-rivalries/2013/02/16/23ce0280-76c2-11e2-8f84-3e4b513b1a13_story.html
...
faraway
ReportIndeed, the parallels are uncanny.