It is over the hill where he had to go. Samuel Burroughs squinted hard at the horizon and his eyes thought he saw wisps of smoke rising. His heart told him it was smoke, maybe his silent, incorrect wish. His head said they were merely dirty clouds.

Over the hill was where the tip from Carla Hudson said to go, the one that came to him almost by accident, the way the beginning of most true scoops, true stories come. He had been back to Berlin, where he lived, and was in the Cafe Paris with an out-of-town buddy, and during dinner an old girl friend of the guest dropped by. She worked for an aid group, was worried about the war and told Sam and his chum that her group was deeply concerned about rumors of Bosnian villages where Muslims lived being destroyed – along with the Muslims. She was heading down there to see what her group could do.

So Sam’s friend went home with her that night, but two weeks later she showed up in Belgrade, at the Hyatt, where Sam’s friend had thoughtfully told her where to find Sam. The friend was back in Boston and had no interest in burning villages. Sam had no interest in the woman but a lot in burning villages in Bosnia. Carla actually came through. She got him a seat in a humanitarian convoy and paperwork and he did not have lie or break any journalistic vow, just keep his mouth shut. Then, the plan was when they got to the village, he could ask away.

But that was over the hill, or perhaps several hills. The seven hours from Belgrade had produced many zigs and zags, numerous checkpoints and already a very bad back. But each village they went through was still standing and, although there were not a lot of people, each village felt like it was alive and moderately well.

And then suddenly is changed. As the collection of trucks and autos turned the next corner, there were people on the road. At first, Sam did not take note, lost in thoughts and the eagerness of the hunt. Then, the paces of the people quicken and thickened and the convoy slowed to a crawl, then stopped.

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There were many dangers faced by reporters during the four-year Bosnia war. Gunfire. Freezing. Food poisoning. Checkpoints manned by drugged out crazies. Yet one fear stood out, and it was usually away from the fighting.

That was going to Zenica, a city in the central part of the area controlled by the Bosnian government. The danger was something new – and a harbinger of things to come. Zenica was the bastion of the radical Muslim extremists who came to Bosnia to help their beleaguered Muslim brothers – or at least, on paper that was the reason. The real reason, as we all learned, was to get a new beachhead in their effort to purify Islam and the world.  They quickly took over Zenica and make it clear that any outsiders, especially western media, were extremely unwelcome.

This less than pleasant memory rears back into the mind as reports continue to filter in about more and more “foreign fighters” entering the fray in Syria. That will certainly mean one thing: any resolution of the conflict in Syria will immediately become even more complicated – and any tentative peace that may stumble from a settlement will be constantly pockmarked by these elements.

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The American Revolution and the broad romantic view of U.S. democracy have often provided inspiration and guidance to those seeking democracy in their own nations – and for good reason. The amazing set of circumstances that made the American Revolution spark and then succeed, the lofty words of human rights that fueled the new government and still ring universally, and the high quality of those first American leaders are the stuff democratic dreams are made off.

So as the hopefully democratic elections draw closer in Egypt, it may be helpful for democracy supporters there to look again at what happen to keep the American Revolution on track when it looked like it could wither apart before it really took root.

On May 9, 1754, a political cartoon penned by Benjamin Franklin appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper, showing a snake cut into eight pieces. Each piece was labeled with the name of one of the colonies. The cartoon appeared along with Franklin’s editorial about the “disunited state” of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity.

“Join or die” the caption said.  Franklin knew if the different democratic factions could not unite any hope for a full democracy would perish. That is a warning those seeking democracy in Egypt today should heed – and heed now.

Right now in Egypt competing agendas have thwarted a united front against the ruling military. Distrust, resentment, competitive juices and desire for power have broken down the facade of unity that briefly existed on the streets during the Arab Spring last year.

Join or die.

For the full posting, please go here:

You hear many words of wisdom traveling through the Mideast, all which offer insightful pondering to events past and present.  Watching the tragic escalation of events in Syria and the failing efforts to bring the fighting to a close bring to mind words often spoken by the Kurds of the region, who are well-versed in being oppressed and slaughtered.

“It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions for vegetarianism when the wolves are of a different persuasion,” they often would observe.  And so it is.

The United Nations talks ceasefires and negotiations as it tries to cajole the Assad government into peaceful means to stop the carnage and find a solution that can reset Syria as a living nation. Assad offers hollow promises as he ramps up the attacks.  The day before the U.N. ceasefire was to go into effect– or at least begin — dozens more civilians were killed when regime forces intensified their operations to mow down more opposition. At least 101 were killed and that is before any real count could begin – since the shelling, missile strikes, tank blasts and the gunfire were in full fusillade. To make sure it was thorough, the air force was also involved.

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The world has found a way to strike back at Syrian President Bashar Assad: they have slapped travel sanctions on his London-born wife, Asma, to thwart her addiction to luxury shopping.

One year into Assad’s churning assault against various opposition groups, stopping his wife from shoping in Europe is one of the few things the EU was able to agree upon.

Assad already had travel and other sanctions placed on him since last May but he really was not planning to go anywhere. Some suggest that is part of the problem — he won’t leave. Now his mother and sister also face travel bans.

But for Asma, that may mean an end to her buying the Chanel dresses and Louboutin shoes she apparently craves, at least according to hacked emails that were made public.

To read the entire posting, please click here: http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2012/03/27/bad-assad-scarves/