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1/ It is always fascinating to observe the imbecility with which Assad's thousand tongues try to excuse the boundless brutality of the regime. In this case, the systematic repression of the uprising is explained with "ill-prepared" security forces. #Syria
2/ The reference to the authoritarian rule in the ME as "Mukhabarat State", provides information on the composition of the elements of coercion of contemporary authoritarian states & emphasizes the security service as a pillar of authoritarian rule. journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/…
3/ In case of #Syria, the intelligence branches of the Assad regime were constructed in such a way that no secret service could become too powerful to organize a coup against the house of Assad. Thus there was/is a permanent competition between the different affiliates. 
4/ In addition to a discrete and strict chain of command in #Assad's responsibility, the impunity of the elements of these institutions of coercion was decisive for the successful repression of any dissidence. sn4hr.org/public_html/wp…
5/ In numbers there are about 48 base branches with several local affiliates. Due to the extensive reach of this network, this bureaucratic complex employs thousands of Syrians who are charged with controlling civil society, state institutions & society.
6/ In view of such an extensive size of this intelligence network, to assume an "unprepared" & "untrained" security complex can't be proven empirically & contradicts the historical research. E.g. the regime was always intent on learning from its authoritarian mentors in Germany.
7/ Thus the regime under Hafiz al-Assad was introduced to the torture & interrogation techniques of the Nazi regime by SS-Sturmbannführer Alois Brunner, who was a close servant of Adolf Eichmann & enjoyed political asylum in Syria until his death in 2010. theatlantic.com/international/…
8/ In addition to the fascist teacher, the regime was also willing to adopt the secret service techniques of the GDR. Since the 1970s there had been close cooperation between the Syrian intelligence branches & the Stasi as a sign of "socialist solidarity". bpb.de/geschichte/deu…
9/ The central aspirations of this cooperation were expressed at a meeting with Stasi chief Mielke in 1981. In order to make repression more effective against opposition groups, such as the MB, the regime wanted the security forces to be trained in the field of internal security.
10/ But not only the cooperation with foreign partners was decisive for the preparation of the Kingdom of Fear. With the establ. of the National Institute for Security, the regime attempted to instruct its security service in sophisticated techniques of behaviour & implementation
11/ There is certainly more evidence to disprove this claim about ill-prepared security forces. The War on Terror, with its scandals like Abu Ghraib, has repeatedly raised the question of whether there is any real training at all for actors involved in state-organised repression.
12/ In the case of the Syrian regime, however, I would like to end this thread with the following words, which should remind us of the true purpose of the Syrian security apparatus & the systematic prison complex described by Barnard. In the past as well as today...
