Apparently, what Syrians really, desperately need (and the entire Arab world with them) is Arabism. More Arabism. True Arabism. New and improved Arabism.

The real political and economic reforms which have been promised and talked about ad nauseam since the last party conference will have to wait.

There is no such thing as an old guard and a new guard; there is only the guard. And the guard is guarding the assets it has acquired over the past decades.