Defying Crackdown, Syria Protesters Return to Streets in Stalemated Contest of Wills

 

Thousands of protesters defied a ferocious crackdown and returned to the streets on Friday, even in towns that the military had besieged only days before. But the protests seemed incapable of mustering a critical mass — as they did in Egypt and Tunisia — and, at least anecdotally, the number of demonstrators appeared to be smaller than in past weeks.

The government said it had subdued some of the most restive locales — namely Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast and Dara’a in the south — after deploying tanks and soldiers and arresting thousands. In the face of growing international condemnation and a reeling economy, though, it offered at least the facade of compromise, saying it would begin what it called a national dialogue next week.

Some dissidents in Damascus, Syria’s capital, described a deadlock in a conflict that has already shown the weakness of both the government and the opposition, dangerously exacerbated sectarian tensions in a country still struggling to forge a national identity and perhaps sown the seeds of an armed rebellion in rural regions knit by clan loyalties.

“We don’t know where we’re going,” said Louay Hussein, a prominent dissident who has met with a government adviser in a tentative dialogue that began last week. “We don’t know what’s next. If the crackdown is still in place by the end of next week, then we’re headed toward a disaster, and it will be almost impossible to overcome it.”

The death toll on Friday — six, according to human rights activists — paled before past weeks, a reflection of either government restraint or, more likely, the inability of protesters to cross red lines that the government has declared on successive Fridays. Demonstrators from the outskirts of Damascus did not try to march on the capital, a symbol of government prestige, nor were they able to gather in central locations in cities like Homs, Syria’s third largest and a center of the uprising.

“The main thing we wanted to show the world with the protest is that we haven’t stopped, that we’re not asleep and that we’ve broken the barrier of fear,” said Abu Haidar, a resident reached by phone who took part in the demonstration in Homs.

By all accounts, the protesters showed that. Even though they could not converge in the city’s center, demonstrators still gathered in five neighborhoods, despite a withering assault this week in which tanks shelled residential areas and black-clad security forces arrested so many people that they had to detain them in soccer fields. At least three people were reported killed before the protests ended in the late afternoon.

“We don’t like you! We don’t like you!” crowds chanted there, denouncing Mr. Assad in a fashion unheard of months ago. “You and your party, leave us!”

Residents fleeing to the Lebanese border spoke of clashes erupting in Homs and the hinterland this week, with men taking up arms to defend themselves.

Demonstrations were reported in at least eight towns and villages in the region around Dara’a, which is known as the Houran and is famous for its wheat and vineyards. That protests erupted even in towns like Hara, where tanks entered this week and several people were killed, suggested that the region, devastated by drought and populated by extended clans, was so restive as to be in revolt. One person was reported killed there.

Larger protests convened in towns and cities in eastern Syria, populated by ethnic Kurds. At least three small groups of protesters gathered in Damascus itself, but were quickly broken up by security forces that, in at least one locale, outnumbered marchers.

“People still have the will to demonstrate, but the security forces were prepared for us,” said one of the protesters in Damascus. “They were waiting.”

Katherine Zoepf contributed reporting from New York, and Hwaida Saad and employees of The New York Times from Beirut and Damascus, Syria.

 

Scientist at Work: Return of the Frigate Bird

。 Bryson VoirinTwo days after the sleep logger is attached to the first female frigate bird, she returns after a foraging flight.

Bryson Voirin, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and a fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, writes from Panama, where he is studying sleep in wild frigate birds.

Wednesday, April 20

The morning after our first successful frigate bird capture, I slowly creep through the thorny brush toward the field tent to check up on the female. It’s been about 12 hours since I put her back on her nest with a sleep logger and GPS unit, and I’m keen to see how she is doing, and if she is still here or if she has switched with her mate and is out foraging. Gazing through my binoculars, I spot her, sitting alert on her nest. I breathe a deep sigh of relief, knowing that her late-night capture did not cause nest abandonment. As in any zoology fieldwork, our first priority is the well-being of our study species. Before starting any project with animals, there is a stringent animal care committee that reviews and approves our protocols and procedures. Even though previous work on frigate birds shows that the birds would not be spooked off their nests, seeing this confirmed the morning after is a welcome sign.

Her sleep logger is still attached and looking fine, held on by the curious skin glue. I watch her head movements as she follows other birds floating overhead; she doesn’t seem affected at all by the device. However, judging by the angry glare she gives me, my presence is making her nervous. I want to avoid stressing the female any more than necessary, so I head back to camp and leave her alone for the rest of the day.

The next morning Sebastian Cruz reports back that a male has switched with her on the nest, meaning that she is out foraging. By the pinkish color of his throat we can tell that this is her nesting mate. Had she abandoned her nest, and another male taken over, that male would have a bright red inflated gular sac.

Relatively little is known about the behavior of magnificent frigate birds, so we can only guess how long the female will be out foraging. Sebastian thinks she will be out for three days, but it’s really only a guess. Magnificent frigate birds are a more coastal species than their strictly pelagic cousins, great frigates, whose foraging trips can last more than five days. Our theory is that our female frigate bird will fly up and down the coast of Panama feeding on small baitfish schooling at the surface.

The following morning, she’s back on her nest. The logger and GPS unit still look to be in pristine condition, and she appears to be quietly napping. Her foraging trip lasted only one night, which is shorter than we expected. Niels Rattenborg, Sebastian and I have a meeting about how to proceed. The sleep logger and GPS unit will record for up to five days, and so far have been recording for only two days. Should we catch her tonight and secure that data, or wait another two days to record a second foraging trip? It’s a difficult decision. Niels chuckles as he says, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” We decide to recapture the female that evening.

Sebastian Cruz Holding the bird after recapture and examining the logger for any signs of damage.

That night, it is absolutely black outside. From the field tent, Sebastian and I crawl through the thorns in the direction of the female frigate bird. Having carefully studied her position during the previous two days, we are confident that we can find her in total darkness. I briefly entertain the idea of trying to locate her with the night vision, but decide that the blinding aftereffect is not worth it. Sebastian, who is a few feet ahead of me and has a keen sense of direction in the dark, motions that he is ready to go. I turn on the spotlight, illuminating both Sebastian and the female frigate bird, which is only five feet from him. Sebastian expertly picks her up and holds her gently under his arm as you would carry a Jack Russell terrier.

Sebastian walks quickly back to the tent, where Niels is ready to remove the loggers. The sleep logger comes off easily. The German skin glue holding the logger in place works as advertised, coming off cleanly and easily. The tape holding on the GPS unit also works as intended, coming right off the feathers and leaving no residue. A few minutes after the bird’s recapture, the sleep and GPS loggers have been cleanly removed, and she is ready to be released. Sebastian swiftly walks her back to her nest, setting her right back in place. She rustles around briefly, flexes her wings once, and quickly settles into her nesting position. From a few feet away, Sebastian watches her close her eyes and fall back asleep.

The three of us return to camp to download the data from the loggers. I feel like a kid waiting to unwrap a series of gigantic presents on my birthday. I fire up the generator and turn on the computer. But as Niels unwraps the sleep logger, his face tells it all. The gauze around the batteries is wet. Saltwater and electronics do not mix well. I connect the logger to the USB downloader, but the device won’t initialize. A sense of despair overcomes us. Somehow, when the frigate bird was feeding, saltwater must have entered the logger. While it’s possible there is data on the sleep logger, we don’t have the tools to dissect the circuit board and rebuild it for downloading in the field. The logger would have recorded until it shorted out, so although it’s not a complete bust, it’s a morale setback.

Bryson VoirinAlthough the logger looks to be in good condition, saltwater entered it at some point during the bird’s foraging trip, and EEG data was unavailable.

Our mood improves when we download an exciting data set from the GPS logger. The $30 commercially available unit worked flawlessly, recording a GPS position every five minutes. I upload the data onto MoveBank, a free online database for movement data. The animated visualization of the bird’s flight lets us watch her take off from Isla Iguana, fly southwest around the Azuero peninsula and forage extensively on the western side of the peninsula. Even though we did not get any sleep data from this female, the GPS data alone is very useful to understanding the behavior of these birds. Next, we’ll go after another female frigate bird and hope that improved waterproofing will protect the sleep logger from the elements.

Bryson VoirinThe flight path of the female frigate bird is highlighted in pink. She soars around the coasts, feeds for one night, and then shortcuts across the mainland to the island. Click on the map to view the data at movebank.org.

View the original article here

Scientist at Work: Return of the Frigate Bird

。 Bryson VoirinTwo days after the sleep logger is attached to the first female frigate bird, she returns after a foraging flight.

Bryson Voirin, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and a fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, writes from Panama, where he is studying sleep in wild frigate birds.

Wednesday, April 20

The morning after our first successful frigate bird capture, I slowly creep through the thorny brush toward the field tent to check up on the female. It’s been about 12 hours since I put her back on her nest with a sleep logger and GPS unit, and I’m keen to see how she is doing, and if she is still here or if she has switched with her mate and is out foraging. Gazing through my binoculars, I spot her, sitting alert on her nest. I breathe a deep sigh of relief, knowing that her late-night capture did not cause nest abandonment. As in any zoology fieldwork, our first priority is the well-being of our study species. Before starting any project with animals, there is a stringent animal care committee that reviews and approves our protocols and procedures. Even though previous work on frigate birds shows that the birds would not be spooked off their nests, seeing this confirmed the morning after is a welcome sign.

Her sleep logger is still attached and looking fine, held on by the curious skin glue. I watch her head movements as she follows other birds floating overhead; she doesn’t seem affected at all by the device. However, judging by the angry glare she gives me, my presence is making her nervous. I want to avoid stressing the female any more than necessary, so I head back to camp and leave her alone for the rest of the day.

The next morning Sebastian Cruz reports back that a male has switched with her on the nest, meaning that she is out foraging. By the pinkish color of his throat we can tell that this is her nesting mate. Had she abandoned her nest, and another male taken over, that male would have a bright red inflated gular sac.

Relatively little is known about the behavior of magnificent frigate birds, so we can only guess how long the female will be out foraging. Sebastian thinks she will be out for three days, but it’s really only a guess. Magnificent frigate birds are a more coastal species than their strictly pelagic cousins, great frigates, whose foraging trips can last more than five days. Our theory is that our female frigate bird will fly up and down the coast of Panama feeding on small baitfish schooling at the surface.

The following morning, she’s back on her nest. The logger and GPS unit still look to be in pristine condition, and she appears to be quietly napping. Her foraging trip lasted only one night, which is shorter than we expected. Niels Rattenborg, Sebastian and I have a meeting about how to proceed. The sleep logger and GPS unit will record for up to five days, and so far have been recording for only two days. Should we catch her tonight and secure that data, or wait another two days to record a second foraging trip? It’s a difficult decision. Niels chuckles as he says, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” We decide to recapture the female that evening.

Sebastian Cruz Holding the bird after recapture and examining the logger for any signs of damage.

That night, it is absolutely black outside. From the field tent, Sebastian and I crawl through the thorns in the direction of the female frigate bird. Having carefully studied her position during the previous two days, we are confident that we can find her in total darkness. I briefly entertain the idea of trying to locate her with the night vision, but decide that the blinding aftereffect is not worth it. Sebastian, who is a few feet ahead of me and has a keen sense of direction in the dark, motions that he is ready to go. I turn on the spotlight, illuminating both Sebastian and the female frigate bird, which is only five feet from him. Sebastian expertly picks her up and holds her gently under his arm as you would carry a Jack Russell terrier.

Sebastian walks quickly back to the tent, where Niels is ready to remove the loggers. The sleep logger comes off easily. The German skin glue holding the logger in place works as advertised, coming off cleanly and easily. The tape holding on the GPS unit also works as intended, coming right off the feathers and leaving no residue. A few minutes after the bird’s recapture, the sleep and GPS loggers have been cleanly removed, and she is ready to be released. Sebastian swiftly walks her back to her nest, setting her right back in place. She rustles around briefly, flexes her wings once, and quickly settles into her nesting position. From a few feet away, Sebastian watches her close her eyes and fall back asleep.

The three of us return to camp to download the data from the loggers. I feel like a kid waiting to unwrap a series of gigantic presents on my birthday. I fire up the generator and turn on the computer. But as Niels unwraps the sleep logger, his face tells it all. The gauze around the batteries is wet. Saltwater and electronics do not mix well. I connect the logger to the USB downloader, but the device won’t initialize. A sense of despair overcomes us. Somehow, when the frigate bird was feeding, saltwater must have entered the logger. While it’s possible there is data on the sleep logger, we don’t have the tools to dissect the circuit board and rebuild it for downloading in the field. The logger would have recorded until it shorted out, so although it’s not a complete bust, it’s a morale setback.

Bryson VoirinAlthough the logger looks to be in good condition, saltwater entered it at some point during the bird’s foraging trip, and EEG data was unavailable.

Our mood improves when we download an exciting data set from the GPS logger. The $30 commercially available unit worked flawlessly, recording a GPS position every five minutes. I upload the data onto MoveBank, a free online database for movement data. The animated visualization of the bird’s flight lets us watch her take off from Isla Iguana, fly southwest around the Azuero peninsula and forage extensively on the western side of the peninsula. Even though we did not get any sleep data from this female, the GPS data alone is very useful to understanding the behavior of these birds. Next, we’ll go after another female frigate bird and hope that improved waterproofing will protect the sleep logger from the elements.

Bryson VoirinThe flight path of the female frigate bird is highlighted in pink. She soars around the coasts, feeds for one night, and then shortcuts across the mainland to the island. Click on the map to view the data at movebank.org.

View the original article here

At War: Stanford Debates R.O.T.C.'s Return

April 29, 10:18 a.m. | Vote Results After two hours of debate, the Stanford faculty senate voted to bring ROTC back on campus: 28 members voted for its return, 9 voted against it and 3 abstained. During the faculty senate meeting, Former Secretary of Defense William Perry discussed how bringing ROTC back to Stanford could help the military by providing better trained and educated leaders. Much of the debate was centered on the military’s posture toward transgendered people and also on whether academic credit would be granted to ROTC courses. An amendment to the resolution of bringing ROTC back to campus was added that stated the faculty senate’s objection concerning the military’s treatment towards transgender people.

Since Congress voted to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, several “elite” universities, including Harvard and Columbia, have decided to reinstate R.O.T.C. programs. Stanford might be next. Last week, an ad hoc R.O.T.C. committee at the university unanimously recommended that President John L. Hennessy invite the program back on campus. Today, the Stanford Faculty Senate is expected to support the idea as well.

R.O.T.C., the Reserve Officers Training Corps, is a program for college students. R.O.T.C. cadets supplement their undergraduate academic curriculum with military and leadership training. Upon graduating and successfully completing the program, college seniors are commissioned as second lieutenants. Roughly 60 percent of newly commissioned officers in the Army come from R.O.T.C. programs, and more than 40 percent of general officers in the Army are R.O.T.C. graduates. The military pays for many cadets’ entire undergraduate education.

The attitude at Stanford toward reinstating R.O.T.C. has generally been positive. In this year’s student elections, 44 percent of voters supported a return of R.O.T.C. while 17 percent opposed it. Also, both of the school’s student-run newspapers supported bringing the program back.

Though R.O.T.C. has been away from Stanford for decades, the military is no stranger to the campus. Throughout this academic year, there have been military-themed lecture events. For example, a Military 101 seminar series was started by R.O.T.C. cadets and veterans to share with the greater Stanford community what military service entails. The speakers at these events have been senior active-duty officers from the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Hoover Institution. Furthermore, Stanford is a veteran-friendly campus, with a vibrant veteran community at its graduate schools and a generous Post-9/11 G.I. Bill Yellow Ribbon Program. There are more student veterans on campus — upwards of 50 — than there are R.O.T.C. cadets. Perhaps as a result, the debate here has been civil and thought-provoking.

Now that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is ending, the military’s rules prohibiting transgender people from serving and granting academic credit for R.O.T.C. courses are the two main obstacles to inviting R.O.T.C. back on campus. A law school classmate of mine, Jon Margolick, penned an essay to one of the school’s newspapers, contending that although the concerns of transgender people were valid, the benefits associated with R.O.T.C. and public service outweighed the negatives.

The debate is not whether students can participate in R.O.T.C. but rather on whether the military can have R.O.T.C. cadres conducting training on Stanford’s campus. There are currently 14 Stanford students who are R.O.T.C. cadets. But because Stanford does not openly allow R.O.T.C. instructors and training on campus, these cadets have to travel off campus to complete their training. The travel can be onerous. One Marine cadet remarked that he had spent countless hours on the road driving to the University of California at Berkeley to fulfill his R.O.T.C. training. He found it odd that Berkeley never eliminated its program even though it is considered one of the most liberal schools in the nation.

One of the greatest challenges to bringing R.O.T.C. back to universities like Stanford and Harvard is the cost of education at these schools. Given that taxpayers finance R.O.T.C. training, the military could probably produce two to three R.O.T.C. graduates from a less expensive school for the cost of every Stanford cadet. Although some proponents say that quality is more important than quantity, my experience has been that there is little difference in quality among commissioning sources. I believe this stems from the success of the military’s officer basic training programs which establish a solid baseline for all R.O.T.C. graduates.

Both of my company commanders on active duty were R.O.T.C. graduates from small schools (Seattle University and Norwich). Both were considered among the best midlevel officers in the brigade, better than West Point graduates of the same year group or R.O.T.C. officers who had graduated from better-known schools. Moreover, unlike many of their peers, they are giving taxpayers a better return on their investment, because both officers plan on making the military a career.

With the federal government and military facing a constrained budget, the military will be looking to cut costs in all areas. Thus, the armed services may not immediately jump at an invitation to return to Stanford. And even if R.O.T.C. programs decide to return to elite campuses, there will be an issue of scale. Given the small number of R.O.T.C. cadets likely to be produced at a place like Stanford or Columbia, it might make little sense for the military to establish a large presence at those campuses.

Lacking sufficient instructors and resources on site, however, will only continue to dissuade prospective cadets from joining R.O.T.C. because the stresses associated with coordinating training and driving off campus for hours to attend mandatory training elsewhere. One Stanford cadet confided that he had contemplated transferring to West Point partly because of the stress associated with commuting to all of his military training requirements.

If the military really wants to grow its cadet population at elite schools, it will have to tailor its recruiting message. Some students will be interested in studying counterinsurgency, while others will be interested in the leadership training and still others in learning about weapons. Regardless, the military should develop a plan to single out talented college students who have options beyond the military, such as finance or consulting. The military should also focus on retaining these graduates once they become junior officers, where attrition rates have been high.

Despite any difficulties that might be associated with bringing R.O.T.C. back to campus, student veterans are optimistic that a move in this direction will help bridge a perceived civil-military divide between so-called elites and members of the military. Several Stanford cadets have told me that they deliberately conceal where they attend school during military training to avoid unnecessary attention. In an organization that emphasizes humility and teamwork, being a Stanford cadet could be difficult if fellow soldiers view him or her as pretentious.

In 1968, arsonists burned down Stanford’s Navy R.O.T.C. building. More than 40 years later, the pendulum of history has shifted, and the notion of having R.O.T.C. on campus no longer seems foreign. Thus far, the R.O.T.C. debate on campus has been framed through the narrow prism of faculty and student opinions about the military. The bigger takeaway that many Vietnam veterans point to, though, is how American society has come to embrace the military since the Vietnam War.

This Memorial Day, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business is hosting Paul Bucha at an event. Many students are looking forward to meeting Mr. Bucha, an alumnus of the Stanford business school and a Medal of Honor recipient for service in Vietnam. In a few years, a Stanford R.O.T.C. graduate, educated and trained on the Stanford campus, might be able to do the same for a new batch of young cadets.

Tim Hsia was the first soldier to contribute to the At War blog, after a chance meeting with the New York Times correspondent Stephen Farrell in 2008 in the Iraqi province of Diyala. A 2004 graduate of West Point and former Army infantry captain, he is now studying law at Stanford and is an R.O.T.C. instructor at Santa Clara University, which offers training for Stanford cadets.