The Syrian regime is showing its true colors in the southern town of Deraa:
Syria’s government escalated its crackdown on antiregime unrest on Monday, sending tanks and armored vehicles into the southern city of Deraa, raiding homes and deploying snipers, according to activists and websites reporting on the country.
The military assault killed at least 35 people, dozens of them in Deraa, and sparked more condemnations of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The regime also deployed members of the army’s fourth brigade—an elite unit headed by Mr. Assad’s brother Maher—and parts of the country experienced electricity and telephone service blackouts, according to eyewitness and activist accounts posted online.
The Assad regime’s decision to crack down harder after a weekend that saw 80 protesters killed puts more pressure on the international community to respond, even though many countries worry the regime could be weakening. Syria has had prickly relations with most of its neighboring countries, and remains technically at war with Israel. But those same neighbors also worry that upheaval in the country could spill over and destabilize the region if the Assad regime were to fall.
Because the region is so stable now.
When it comes to slaughtering his citizens, Bashar al-Assad has a lot to live up to: Back in 1982, Daddy killed between 10,000 and 40,000 citizens of the town of Hama in order to quell a Sunni-based Islamist rebellion. Facing stiff resistance in the city’s old quarter, the Syrian army withdrew, surrounded the town and barraged it with artillery fire for three weeks.
There are times it seems as though the Arab Middle East only exists to break the hearts of those optimists who believe things can’t get any worse.
The Bamster’s Endless War® #4 begins in 3….2….1…..
It’s for the civilians!
Either that, or we will cut a 180 and declare this is, like Iran, something we needn’t meddle in….
Oh, just out of curiosity, how much oil does Syria provide to European nations? Ah, the War for Oil(or not)™ rationale is alive and well (is this a pun?)!
I vote we pull out and move White Sand Missile Range (WMSR) to the Middle East. Lotta room for ‘testing’ special weapons, and a lotta structure in need of rearranging. We’ve got enough oil without any of theirs, and we get all our other crap from China anyway. Screw ‘em.
If it wasn’t for the oil, we could apply my old CO’s suggested solution to that Viet Nam unpleasantness….
1. Put the friendlies on ships
2. Kill everything that’s left and pave the country over with 6 inches of concrete.
3. Sink the ships
Bravo, your CO! What kind of ship?
Use an LCS…..won’t be as hard to sink.
I’d rather turn everything from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the western border of India (Israel excepted) into one big Arabian Nights Disney with A LOT of parking.
You mean, you would close Rick’s?
Yes, a Disney would infuriate all the right people.
I really wonder if any of the leadership has ever opened a history book? This situation hasn’t changed for thousands of years. Our happy efforts to bring joy and enlightenment to these countries is about is about as achievable as unicorn cloning.
Feel good politics doesn’t work well in reality, and about the only predictable outcome is the look of bafflement on the newscasters faces as the Arab Spring degenerates into anarchy- up until the next strongman comes into power by establishing a police state and shooting all the protesters.
Rome didn’t become the greatest Empire the world had ever seen by holding meetings and seeking a concensus with the territories it conquered. It became the greatest Empire the world had seen by killing all those opposed to it.
There’s a real lesson to be learned in that. Dictators in the Middle East do not seem to have forgotten it. The question is if we will remember it too.
Note that as a business plan this strategy will garner you market share, but will also decrease the potential market base. I do not recommend it as a sales and marketing strategy.
– Max
Max,
The problem with Rome was it decayed from within and basically fell apart, no one conquered it (all).
Toynbee has observed that civilizations are not murdered, they commit suicide.
Dang, you had to remind me QM.
I keep throwing the chicken bones around to get a more positive portent, to no avail.
The R’s need to get their act together if BHO is to be limited to one term. On balance, I think the “Tea Party” attitude is a hope (though I would prefer another description such as non-affiliated independents, as if that would work in this world of sound bites). Non-traditional media will play such a significant role in the 2012 elections IMO. Perhaps not quite an “Army of David’s” yet, but close.
The two scenarios that the Conservative Leadership must prevent is Perot redux, or giving the nomination to a person “because he deserves it” à la Dole and McCain.
Yeah, Max; the only problem is that we are a Republic, the last I checked.
This is just me talkin’, but I prefer Republic to Empire. Your mileage may vary.
If Egypt goes bonkers, fine. No more aid. Ditto for the rest of the totalitarian states. The Cold War is over, and we don’t need to prop up every anti-Commie regime on the planet.
“We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but we only the guardians of our own.” – John Adams.
We’re supposed to be a Republic. Lincoln’s War ended that little experiment.
I’m still amazed at how (relatively) benign the Syrian government’s response has been- so far.
Well, The O-bomber says that Syria is “different”. The Mad Moammar has “no credibility to lead his people so we bomb the crap outta him” says our Peaceful Prez. But Syria? Bashar al-Assad is a respected and recognized world leader, so we will sanction him into change. And the 300 or 3000 dead Syrians – well, might be a little late for the Hope and Change.
Yep..I wonder if Hillary still feels all warm and fuzzy about him..
G-man, I’ve been trying to get a read from sources who have some understanding of the ME (to the degree that is possible) such as Israel and bloggers like Michael Totten.
Syria in and of itself I do not GAS about. What I do see as paramount is stopping them from being Iran’s primary conduit to Lebanon and parts South.
Dways -HRC is still a slick article IMO. MSM is still saying that she has not further political ambitions, which is so much BS, but then that is true of the MSM in general. If there is a way in which HRC can get her butt on the Oval Office chair I would not like to be the person in her way. Thinking that the Clintons are off the National Political radar is a mistake.
Sooner or later the demise of the status quo in the Middle East will end up in a common spot…
The uncontained desire to exterminate Israel.
Add in Iran’s influence in a destabilized Syria…And thats real trouble for them.
As early as this October perhaps (as that seems to be an favored time of the year)?
Syria is already a BFF with Iran.
lol -they have been in that role for awhile.
Since Daddy Assad was still around.
O/T, but a good article by Instapundit: “Yes, as Jerry Pournelle says: “We have always known that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It’s worse now, because capture of government is so much more important than it once was. There was a time when there was enough freedom that it hardly mattered which brand of crooks ran government. That has not been true for a long time — not during most of your lifetimes, and for much of mine — and it will probably never be true again.”
And, of course, when you have a system of government so demanding at top levels that few normal people care to participate in it, you will get few normal people at the top levels.”