Nabil Fayyad: The regime in Syria is very strong and has a broad popular base

Nabil Fayyad is a Syrian intellectual who is an outspoken critic of the Syrian regime. He happens to be [AR] an expert in comparative religion and biblical criticism and has many writings in those fields. He has been arrested and detained by the Syrian authorities in the past.  The following quote by him was tweeted [AR] into my Timeline today by Syria-based Twitter user @Atoraia. I asked him for the source and he kindly pointed me to it: a Nabil Fayyad Facebook fan page [AR].

"نبيل فيّاض : رغم موقفي السلبي للغاية من النظام لأسباب خاصة وعامة، إلا أن الحقيقة تقول إن النظام قوي جداً ولم يستطع الخارج ولا الداخل إلى اليوم إخراجه عن مواقفه المعتادة. هذه القوة لا تتأتى من فراغ. النظام له قاعدة شعبية عريضة تدعمه في الداخل والخارج سواء عن قناعة أو عن انتهازية. وتجاهل هذا الأمر في المجلس الانتقالي أول إشارة إلى أن المعارضة لا تعرف حتى الآن المعنى الحقيقي للديمقراطية..."

"Nabil Fayyad: Despite my very negative position from the regime for private and public reasons, but the truth is that the regime is very strong, and neither the outside nor the inside were able to make it change its usual stances. This strength does not come from a vacuum. The regime has a broad popular base that supports it at home and abroad, whether out of conviction or opportunism. And ignoring this issue in the Transitional Council is the first indication that the opposition does not know until now the true meaning of democracy..."