The Plot Thickens: Ghalyoun's 'lousy, incompetent & certainly not autonomous leadership!'

Via FLC

"Leaving the problematic statements about Iran and Hizballah aside, in whose interest is it for the head of the Syrian National Council (SNC) to talk about how the (possible) future Syrian leadership will or will not pursue its right to restore the occupied Golan Heights territory from Israel? ... And where did all this positivity suddenly emerge about Syrian-Western relations?

Most importantly, why should the strategies of a potentially democratic Syrian government be announced before the appropriate conditions for such a representative leadership are met? What if most Syrian citizens want to keep all options on the table for restoring their land and other rights in the future? On both related counts, Ghalyoun (can we still say “poor Ghalyoun?”) and the Syrian National Council sound very much like the Syrian regime: They are both (practically, in the case of the Syrian regime) giving up certain options for restoring occupied Syrian land, and they are both less concerned with the democratic process. Even the enemies of the Syrian people and Syrian rights are baffled, if pleased, at this seeming “political immaturity,” to use a euphemism...

The question here is the one posed at the outset. Who benefits from such pre-mature and ill-timed statements? Can we continue to act as though Ghalyoun, the scholar, has been thrown into this position and is essentially a mumbling politician unaware of statements’ political consequences? Is this simply about political acumen? Or is there something else going on that has little to do with political immaturity or acumen? ...

To Burhan
Consider these two statements from the interview:

Ghalyoun: “The current relationship between Syria and Iran is abnormal. It is unprecedented in Syria's foreign policy history.”
Ghalyoun: “We are banking on our special relationship with the Europeans and western powers in helping us in reclaiming the Golan as fast as possible.”

So, if a relationship between two nations (Syria and Iran) is unprecedented, it becomes “abnormal;” but if a nation (Syria) is colonized/exploited by another (France), and its government and people are maligned in the press of other nations (the “West”), and if these nations support (fund) and protect (UN Veto) the occupier of Syrian land, they deserve a "special relationship" in the eyes of the new Syrian National Council. Congratulations Burhan on this new and exciting language, logic, and principle...

Moreover, Ghalyoun states above that the SNC is “banking” on the “western powers” to help reclaim the Golan, presumably through international law and diplomacy. Really, Burhan? If a student of yours wrote this in a paper you would probably get an eye infection reading it. Since when did anyone with an ounce of historical knowledge rely on western powers to respect international law and human rights when it comes to the Middle East, and Israel in particular? When it comes to international law or the United Nations and Israel, the United States behaved like a rogue state for decades, vetoing dozens of UN resolutions against Israel’s international law and human rights violations. Germany is now subsidizing the sale of nuclear-head capable submarines to Israel for nukes that Israel supposedly does not have, while Israel is in constant violation of nearly every important human value possible. You expect these decades-long law- and rights-crushing actors suddenly to help Burhan Ghalyoun’s SNC restore the occupied Golan Heights, and, mind you, “as fast as possible?”...

One more remark, though many can be pulled from this first interview with Ghalyoun after heading the SNC. In an interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Ibtisam Azem, Ghalyoun asserted the “three no’s” of the opposition’s local Coordinating Committees in Syria:
"The goal is democracy and the "three no's" are: no to military intervention; no to sectarian strife; and no to the use of arms in any way."
In this fitting WSJ interview, the latter “no” found no home. It was dropped like one of Burhan’s decades-long political principles.
Where is the Syrian National Council Going?
Perhaps this is not about Ghalyoun at all; and probably not about the SNC altogether. Surely it is not about the interests of the Syrian people. But, should this trajectory of foolishness, dependence, and/or infantile approach to politics by the SNC continue, the books will register that a brutal Syrian regime was (might) be replaced with a lousy and incompetent, and certainly not autonomous, leadership..."

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian