Making Sense of Developments in Egypt and Syria: A KPFA Interview with Jadaliyya Co-Editors Hesham Sallam and Bassam Haddad

In the following interviews with KPFA's Khalil Bendib and Sharam Aghamir, Jadaliyya Co-Editors Hesham Sallam and Bassam Haddad, discuss developments in Egypt and Syria, respectively (listen below).

In his interview, Hesham Sallam (between the two minute mark and the  thirty-four minute mark) highlights what these protests are about, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces's (SCAF) brutal response, and how the uprising is not a limited protest or occupation, but rather the potential start of a national mass uprising. He specifically discusses the ways in which statement and speechs by the SCAF are designed less to respond to the demands of the protesters and more to sway Egyptian and international public opinion in the face of a brutal violent response to protesters, including unconfirmed reports of the use of a type of tear gas banned by the international Chemical Weapons Conventions.

For his part, Bassam Haddad (between the thirty-seven minute mark and the sixty minute mark) highlights the different strands of the domestic Syrian opposition. He specificaly discusses the challenges to formalizing the opposition inside of Syria as compared to outside, as well as the dynamics of military defections and their assumed relationship to the Free Syrian Army. He ends his discussion with an assessment of commonalities and dififerences across the various forces that make up the domestic opposition, as well as the potential for foreign intervention.