Others do not subscribe to this analysis. Two major political issues will determine the viability of the Bashar Assad regime - one is economic and the other is foreign and security policies. Bashar is known to be fanatic about high tech, and he believes that e-commerce can lift the sagging Syrian economy from an agrarian base directly into the information age. The information age, however, contradicts the rule that the father left to his son. There is a price to be paid for enthusiastically embracing the information age.
Information dissolves dictatorships.
Bashar will find great resistance to this policy from his security and military services and party leaders. He will face a struggle for power that will necessitate juggling the balance of forces among competing military and political police elites. His regime will certainly be transitional. Until Bashar Assad demonstrates the political skill his father possessed in dealing with adversaries, his regime will not be secure and he will not be in a position to successfully negotiate with Israel. It is doubtful whether Bashar Assad will move even an inch from his father's policy regarding the peace process.