Twittern(function() { var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true; po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); SMN No. 7, August 2, 2010 Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of Bashar al-Assad becoming president of Syria, a blogger wrote an open letter to Assad deploring the squandering of public funds on [...]

Twittern(function() { var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true; po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();SMN No. 7, August 4, 2010 Facebook remains officially blocked in Syria for “security reasons”, but this doesn’t prevent the country’s first lady from being one of the most popular Syrian figures on the [...]

Twittern(function() { var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true; po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();SMN No. 7, August 11, 2010 A number of Syrian bloggers have criticised alleged corruption at Syrian universities, including claims of a trade in exam questions at some faculties. A number of stories have [...]

Twittern(function() { var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true; po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();SMN No. 7, August 12, 2010 Syrians have been complaining about ongoing power shortages across the country, which have been caused by increased energy demand resulting from a heat wave. One blogger, Husain Ghurez, [...]

Twittern(function() { var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true; po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); SMN No 7, August 13, 2010 Supporters of the prominent imprisoned Syrian activist Haytham al-Maleh have been urged to send him greeting cards on his 80th birthday this week. A newly launched website, [...]

Twittern(function() { var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true; po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();SMN No. 7, Augsut 16, 2010 Syria’s state television, on its fiftieth anniversary, has been severely criticised by Syrian bloggers. While the Syrian minister of information, Mohsen Bilal, praised state broadcaster during an official [...]