An interview with Bassam Alkadi, President of the Syrian Women Observatory http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=10574&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Syriacomment+%28Syria+Comment%29

Q3. As president of the “Syrian Women Observatory” which monitors and promotes Women’s rights in Syria, and which is dedicated to non-violence, and one who used to meet with Western NGOs and diplomats, you recently wrote a letter expressing your anger and distrust of the real motives behind the close follow up by the US and the EU, of events in Syria. You are also a critic of Turkish intervention in Syria’s affairs. Do you believe that Syria today is still capable of maintaining its independent foreign policies, and how?

Bassam: I object to describing what the West is doing (especially the US, French, British, and German governments) as “close follow up”. On the contrary, their intervention is a deliberate provocation of the crisis with one goal, and that is to coerce the Syrian People to adopt the Libyan Scenario, or to force the regime to surrender to the West’s political agenda. They [the West] have not only ignored facts on the ground, but have recently started exerting open pressure on the Syrian People, by punishing state-owned institutions and companies that tens of thousands of Syrian families depend on for their livelihood.