On the topic of successor, although it is widely presumed that Mr. Assad's son Bashar, a London- trained eye doctor, will assume the leader's role, an editorial in the Washington Post says nothing is certain right now. Nor is clear that modernization domestically would translate into a more reasonable foreign policy. It may be, in fact, that the price of his accession will be his continuation of the hard-line policies that gave his father his nationalist credibility. And even if Bashar Assad were inclined more positively, he might still lack the internal clout to take the controversial steps that peace will require. Another cautious appraisal comes from Boston's Christian Science Monitor.
Arab societies are just too conservative.
Even fax machines were banned until recently under Hafez Assad's rule. The defender of pan-Arab nationalism preferred, in the end, not to seal a peace that would allow Israel to dominate the region. USA Today, the national daily published in a Washington suburb, finds that comment surprising. He suppressed dissent, locked up the free press, closed Syria to outside influences and was always quick to denounce peace treaties as sellouts by Arab nations to Israel. His role as peacemaker was more crass strategy than genuine yearning.