I live in the center of a town of 100,000 and am used to continuous noise. Now, suddenly, everything is silent and quiet. The pidgeons are sunbathing in the middle of the street and courting each other. I hear every movement of the upstairs Russian couple and the shouts of the first floor Persian tribe.
Bored, look up what the CIA thinks of Syria. It seems tht Syria is ruined, the GNP is 2900 dollar per capita, the bare survival. I used to think of Syria as an Arab country, but CIA says is only ~50% Arab, the rest Alawite ~15%, Kurd ~10%, Levantine ~10%, other ~15% (includes Druze, Ismaili, Imami, Nusairi, Assyrian, Turkoman, Armenian). The Alawites are not Arab? I have never heard of the ethnic group of
Levantines? Always thought of Syria as a homogeneous Arab country, but now the CIA is describing it as diverse. May be the plan is to break up the Middle East into small ethnic countries, like Europe after WWII. In Europe it worked and there is peace.
The population is growing at the rate of 4.25% NA (2020 est.), half of it immigrants. Immigrants to dirt poor Syria, with 40% unemployment? GNP is $24.6 billion (2014 est.) - about 5% of Israel. Millions are trying to escape from Syria. It all started with a draught and the Sunni rebellion against the Alawi dictatorship and in less that three years the conflict destroyed the country. Who could imagine it?
P.S.: Researching the Levantine ethnic group, apparently it is mixed European population that rejects the Arab identity and wants to be classed with Europeans, just as they were in the past. Is its
renaissance a CIA initiative? May be the idea is to weaken the Arab identity and de-Arabize the region? Could be. It also could be a natural development, as the peoples living here are realizing the total failure of Arab states. I do not know.
