Two smaller events happened over the course of the week that seemed worth passing on.
The first being the announcement that France has appointed a special mediator in an attempt to get peace negotiations going between Israel and Syria. While George Mitchell is green with envy, I’m not sure this really matters much to the rest of us. While Syria and France have been working together on a number of issues recently the peace process hasn’t been on the list. The only players who will be able to really accomplish anything on this front are either the US or Turkey. Call me when this develops into anything.
Piracy on the Decline
In other news, apparently Somali pirates are getting really desperate. A Syrian cargo ship carrying sugar was boarded by pirates over the weekend in the Gulf of Aden. After realizing the ship wasn’t carrying anything particularly important, and that it hailed from a country that is both poor and really good at bargaining, the Pirates abandoned ship in a lifeboat.
Also, Hasan Nasrallah made another speech regarding the ongoing STL saga. This issue is starting to veer away from Syria so I will simply direct you to this piece by Elias Muhanna for Foreign Policy.
