Egypt readies for the first post-revolution presidential race and Damascus and Sanaa, though embroiled in revolutions, are going in opposite directions. Doaa El-Bey and Gamal Nkrumah peruse the print Yemen's task is modernising its governance and economy. Real reforms will be tough enough. However, the Syrian regime is entrenching its position stepping up its clampdown on dissent. On the plus side, Yemen's oil-rich neighbours have pledged to restore the South Arabian country's finances. In political and economic terms, the Gulf Arab proposal looks attractive. On the minus side, Yemen's reconstruction requires far more than overhauling the impoverished, resource-poor country's creaking economy. The same cannot be said of Syria. Its economy is in shambles and Syrians have been complaining of a squeeze on incomes as well as a lack of political liberties. Steering the country to this point is, for all the repellent aspects of his system is Ali Abdullah Saleh's undoubted achievement, modernisation requires far more than overhauling Yemen's creaking economy hooked on qat, the national narcotic consumed by most men in the country on a regular basis. Indeed, the Yemeni press noted that the Egyptian authorities arrested an Yemeni passenger at Cairo International Airport for carrying 27 kilograms of qat that he was hoping to smuggle from Yemen to Egypt. The Yemeni independent weekly Al-Ahali in its front-page headline noted that it is ironic that on the very first anniversary of the day in which Saleh vowed never to step down as Yemeni president, he was forced to leave the country exactly a year later. Saleh conducted an essentially sham handover of power this week. Now his successor Saleh's long-term right-hand man and Vice President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi must begin preparing to so for real. Yemen's daily Al-Sahwa featured an article by Yassin Said Nomaan, the secretary general of the Socialist Party and member of the Supreme Council, entitled 'The February revolution managed to move Yemen to new heights'. Other non-Yemeni Arab papers busied themselves with examining the current political situation in Yemen. In an article entitled "New Yemen: Partner of the Future" Hashim Abdo Hashim writing in the Saudi daily Okaz warned the "Yemen is entering into one of the most difficult periods of its long history". Yet the writer is optimistic in outlook foreseeing a period of prosperity in the years to come. "With Yemen being part of the wider Arabia and Gulf Arab regional organisations there is hope for development. It has become imperative that the Yemenis enjoy the standards of living and economic gains of their Gulf Arab neighbours�ê� We want integration, cooperation and unity between Yemen and its Gulf Arab neighbours," Hashim noted in Okaz. The London-based Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat featured in-depth reports on both Syria and Yemen. A most intriguing article in the paper entitled "The Spring of Nations on the Cultural Front," written by the Syrian Kurdish commentator Hoshtek Ousi tackles the rights of ethnic and religious minorities within Arab countries in the post-Arab Spring uprisings. Note that the writer speaks of "The Spring of Nations" and not the "Arab Spring". "It is true that some of the Christian Democratic-run nations of Europe are far more progressive than the Islamists of the Arab world, but the progressive, modernising and revolutionary dynamic of the Islamists in the Arab world must not slide into the morass of conservatism and stale traditionalism," the Kurdish writer warns. The election of national assemblies in the post-Arab Spring with Islamist majorities drawn mainly from the Muslim Brotherhood and from ultra-conservative and reactionary Salafist militant Islamists has dismayed religious minorities and secularists in the Arab world. Secularists and Christians and ethnic minorities are struggling to end their ruthless marginalisation in public life in the post-Arab Spring era. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad again ducks the big political reform challenges. "Homs bleeds�ê� and a massacre in Iblib," read the front-page headline of Al-Hayat. The "Friends of Syria" conference scheduled to be held in Tunisia on Friday 24 February 21, 2012 attracted much attention from the pundits. The opposition coalition, the Syrian National Congress (SNC) will participate, but it is not clear whether the Syrian Free Army will attend and there was much speculation in the Arab press about the split in the ranks of the Syrian opposition forces between "liberals" and "Islamists". Another London-based Pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat also highlighted the Syrian conundrum. This would include some political liberalisation that Al-Assad adamantly refuses to concede. In a most provocative article entitled 'Dancing to the Damascene beat' is the upbeat title of a riveting article by Tarek Al-Hamid. "Egypt recalled its ambassador from Damascus and there is talk about severing diplomatic relations between Egypt and Al-Assad's Syria. Indeed, many are weary about how long it took for the Egyptians to secure direct action and sever ties with Al-Assad's Syria. Activists networks are also urging Arab countries to cut diplomatic relations with Damascus. Police shoot into the air to frighten protesters in the more affluent suburbs of Damascus. How much more bloodshed and suffering do Arab governments need in order to be convinced that the Syrian regime ought to bow out unceremoniously, the Arab commentators lamented. In yet another article in Al-Hayat devoted to Syria and entitled "Syria between civil war and International Question" the focus was on the demonstrators in the suburb of Mezeh, Damascus, suggest that the Syrian uprising has spread to well-to-do Damascene neighbourhoods. This, indeed, is a turning point for Syria's opposition. Why does Syria, an Arab country with little or no oil -- cause such headaches? Syria is strategically located but has few natural resources and so the alarm bells rang loud when it was revealed that trade with the US fell by 31 per cent last year over sanctions. Syria's inflation rate, meanwhile, doubled last December. Syria's banking sector saw a decline of 13.5 per cent in total assets last year even though the country witnessed increased revenues and profits, largely the Syrian opposition and independent papers conceded because of foreign currency revaluation. Syria's neighbours Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan bore the brunt of the Syrian economic slowdown. The Arab papers are replete with examples of promises not kept and conditions not met. One of the most pertinent commentaries came from Ali Salem Al-Beed, the former president of South Yemen's communist regime. "Time will tell that Al-Qaeda has been ousted from the Presidential Palace�ê� and Ali Abdullah Saleh was a conniving military man who was not interested in absorbing knowledge and reading�ê� he surrounded himself with good-for-nothing yes-men," Al-Beed lamented. In the official Syrian daily Al-Thawra, commentator Khalaf Ali Al-Muftah asks why Arabs appear to be siding with the West against Syria. In an article entitled 'What Do Arabs and the West Want From Syria', Muftah notes that there appears to be a deliberate policy of isolating Syria in the region. "How do we explain the negative stance of most Arab countries towards Syria? Are Arabs fighting proxy wars for the US and Israel against Syria? The Syrian, Saudi and Egyptian axis frightened the US and Israel," Muftah mused in Al-Thawra. Syria faces a catch 22 situation as the post-Arab Spring governments are hostile to the ruling clique in Damascus. However, the inherent animosity between successive US administrations and the Syrian regime go back far deeper in time. "Relations between Syria and the US deteriorated sharply after the Baath Party came to power for obvious reasons�ê� A strong and politically stable Syria is a threat to Israeli interests in the region," Al-Muftah concluded.
