Via FLC

"... Western diplomatic sources say that Bouthaina Shaaban, a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, has been placed in charge of exploring ways to launch a dialogue.

But amid a harsh crackdown on protesters, a rising death toll, and reports of thousands of people detained and missing, the regime is struggling to find anyone in the opposition who wants to talk.

“We say no to negotiations, at least until the secret police are gone from Syria. And when the secret police goes, then the regime will go as well,” says Rami Nakhle, a Syrian opposition activist in Beirut.

A European ambassador in Damascus says that the hard-line elements in the regime appeared to have the upper hand for now in attempting to suppress the uprising by force. “There are some [members of the regime] who want to talk to the opposition, but they keep telling us they have no one to talk to,” the ambassador says. The opposition has no credible, publicly visible figurehead or leadership group that can appeal across Syria’s complicated sectarian and ethnic divides... "The lack of an opposition leadership to talk to the regime means that those in the regime who want to use force will carry the day,” the European ambassador said..."

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 1:07 PM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian