It is only natural for the Syrian regime to view the disputes within the Syrian National Council (SNC) as evidence for its own good health and vitality. Indeed, such a regime can only interpret disagreement in points of view as a rebellion against the sole leader. This is why it considers the news of Burhan Ghalioun's resignation from chairmanship of the SNC to represent evidence for the weakness of the Syrian opposition and its inability to be an alternative fit to replace the regime. Yet the truth is that Burhan Ghalioun remaining chairman of the SNC or leaving is no longer the standard that will define the course of the Revolution in Syria. Rather, one could venture to say that the survival of the SNC itself is no longer important for such a course. The Syrian Revolution has cleared a path for itself that goes beyond the opposition abroad and those whose names the regime and its allies keep mentioning and who call themselves the “domestic opposition". Such a path is drawn with the blood of victims, with the destruction that now covers the towns and neighborhoods of members of the opposition, areas that have become predominantly characterized by displacement and exile, and with the magnitude of the massacres and violations which the leaders of the regime have ordered to be committed, which their men have carried out, and which have become documented in the reports of international humanitarian organizations. A regime that would commit crimes of this magnitude against its own people has no need for an opposition that would move to topple it. It is a fallen regime in view of the de facto situation, and in view of it having become a regime distinguished only by its aberrant conduct, which departs from the nature of regimes in the Arab region and outside of it. This does not mean downplaying the importance of the Arab and international contacts established by the opposition, whether the SNC or others, with foreign governments since the start of the Syrian Revolution, but it certifies the fact that the Syrian regime has lost its ability to survive in spite of all the political maneuvers by which it has tried to extend its own life –whether it be the new constitution which it has tried to hint at its openness to pluralism by drafting and submitting to a referendum, or the legislative elections – the measly results of which, followed by the election of the Baathist Speaker of the new People's Council, came to prove the lie of this claimed desire for pluralism – which can only be described as tragically laughable. Yet all of this should not divert our attention from the importance of the step Burhan Ghalioun has taken by resigning from chairmanship of the Syrian National Council, after he had described the SNC as moving at the speed of a hundred meters per hour, while the Revolution moved at that of a hundred kilometers. This represents proof that there is a climate of self-criticism within the SNC, whether in terms of its slowness at keeping pace with the protest movement inside of Syria, or its lack of hesitancy to publicly declare the extent of the rift and disputes that exist within its ranks between Islamists and secularists. Such a climate of political transparency is what the Syrian regime is lacking, remaining as it is trapped in a system of rigid ideology, which views as right only what it itself does, to the exclusion of all others. It is to the credit of Burhan Ghalioun and his rivals within the SNC to have had such a loud voiced debate as we have heard over the past few days. Thus, while Ghalioun recognizes that he has become “the candidate of division" and that he cannot go on in a situation such as this, the Muslim Brotherhood asserts that it has stood by his side against his rival Georges Sabra because it considers him to be the most suitable candidate at this stage, as a result of the contacts and international relations he has established. Meanwhile, General Supervisor Riad Al-Shaqfa said that the Muslim Brotherhood did not object to a Christian reaching the presidency if he were to obtain the support of the majority of Syrians, because what matters for this post is competence, not religion or creed, something they had previously asserted in their famous political document, which outlined their vision for the coming phase.
