Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Josh Landis & Ausama Monajed on Syria

By John Ballard


Via The Arabist, this exchange is very informative.
It's nearly half an hour long, but Landis is a card-carrying expert, well-informed and candid without being offensive.
Nevertheless as The Arabist says...



A good episode of Bloggingheads pitting Syria specialist Josh Landis vs. activist Ausama Monajed. They really disagree on many things, which makes it all the more interesting.











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Of all the countries being swept up in the "Arab Spring" Syria is the toughest nut to crack. Not only has the regime had a lock-hold on power for two generations, the economic circumstances and distribution of wealth among several linguistic, confessional and geo-political groups makes the Syrian situation more complicated than other countries in the region, with the exception of Lebanon (which, cedar trees notwithstanding, is one of the most unnaturally-conceived nations in the world).

This exchange will make little sense to anyone who doesn't already know the meanings of Alawite, Druze, Sunni, Christian and Shiite (not mentioned). Landis is of the opinion that Syria is in a civil war, and Ausama Monajed argues exactly to the contrary. My heart wants Monajed to be correct but my head says Landis is more likely right.


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