Eurasia Security Watch: No. 187

DAMASCUS TIGHTENS INTERNET CONTROLS
The regime that first brought the World-Wide Web to Syria in the year 2000 is now in the midst of a major Internet censorship campaign, according to a new report by the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression. The regime of Bashar al-Assad manages all Internet traffic through two state-owned servers and has extended its array of controls on "controversial" websites while closing technological loopholes in its censorship operations, according to the report. Oddly enough, it is Arabic-language websites that have consumed most of the censors' attention, while many English-language sites - though not popular U.S. sites such as Myspace and Facebook - remain readily accessible. And more such moves are in the works. An "e-publishing" law currently being drafted is expected to require all Syrian-based websites to register with the government and apply for a license, while civil society campaigners claim the Syrian regime has established special prison wings for those accused and convicted of Internet crimes. (Abu Dhabi The National, September 30, 2008)

[Editor's note: Censoring local- and Arabic- language websites while ignoring English-language ones may seem counterintuitive, but it is not uncommon for authoritarian governments obsessed with online control. A similar focus on local-language websites can be found in China and elsewhere, where governments have resigned themselves to the fact that citizens affluent enough to read English and surf English-language websites probably have access to outside information anyway. It is the relatively uneducated masses authoritarian governments fear most.]

RUSSIAN ADVANCES IN CENTRAL ASIA...
With Kyrgyzstan agreeing to host a new Russian military base, Moscow appears to have secured yet another victory in the great game for influence in Central Asia. In return for the rights to a second military post, the poor Central Asian nation, already host to one Russian airbase at Kant, the Russian gas giant Gazprom has said that it would "consider" buying a stake in Kyrgyzgaz, the country's national gas operator. Kyrgyzstan's natural gas reserves, estimated at some 6 billion cubic feet, are miniscule by Russian standards, so Gazprom's investment holds little economic value. But Russia is keen to maintain the favorable treatment from Bishkek regarding its military bases; unlike the United States, which operates the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan, Russia currently pays no rent, landing, or takeoff fees for its military installations there. (Moscow Times, October 10, 2008.)

...AND THE GULF
Given the considerable challenges confronting the U.S. in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability and securing peace in Afghanistan and Iraq, confidence in American military prowess was already on the decline in the Gulf. But Russia's August invasion of Georgia, and the tepid response to it from Washington and Brussels, have further eroded regional confidence, and a number of Arab states are now pursuing closer ties to Moscow. Saudi Arabia, for example, has signed several billion dollars in arms deals with Russia over the past year. Riyadh's strategy is not solely about hedging, however; Saudi officials are particularly keen on maintaining close ties with Russia so as to prevent Moscow from drawing too close to Iran. "[R]iyadh and other gulf countries want to show Moscow that it has more interests in Arab Gulf states than it does in Iran," says one Gulf defense official. (Defense News, October 6, 2008)

SYRIAN-SAUDI COLD WAR CONTINUES
Saudi-Syrian relations appear to have hit a new low with the announcement by Damascus that it will be banning a popular Saudi newspaper. Back in 2006, Syria angered its Arab neighbor by banning the sale of the Saudi-owned Al-Sharq al-Awsat, and now it appears the Kingdom's other major Arab-language daily, al-Hayat, will be following its colleague into exile. Al-Hayat was the only Saudi-based publication still on the newsstands in Syria, and its banishment has been seen as a response to the paper's critical coverage of Syria. Syria has long argued that Saudi publications have been hostile to it in their reporting on Lebanon, where Syria supports the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies, while Saudi Arabia favors the U.S.-backed Hariri-bloc.

The two countries have been trading barbs since Syria was implicated in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a close friend of the Saudi ruling family. The feud only grew worse as a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel bled into a tense political standoff between Lebanon's two opposing political blocs - a struggle that Hezbollah won after gaining a veto-wielding share of power in the Lebanese parliament. The most recent point of contention, however, stems from a September 27th suicide bombing in Damascus that killed 17 people. Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country to refuse to condemn the attack, and Syria has long accused the Saudis of funding Sunni extremists hostile to Syria, Hezbollah, and Iran. (Hong Kong Asia Times, October 8, 2008)