Friday, October 28, 2011

Update on the Syrian Revolt

I have never thought that Syria's brave protesters really had a chance of overthrowing the Assad regime, which seems to have a firm hold on the army and other key levers of power. But French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe disagrees, and since his government was largely responsible for getting the west to support the revolt against Gaddhafi, perhaps we should pay attention:
"It's true that in New York (at the United Nations) we were blocked, and that is a stain on the Security Council, which said almost nothing about this barbaric repression," Juppe said on France Inter radio. "This will end with the fall of the regime, it is nearly unavoidable, but unfortunately it could take time because the situation is complex, because there is a risk of civil war between Syrian factions, because surrounding Arab countries do not want us to intervene."

Juppe pointed out that Turkey, which had been opposing any outside intervention, has been moving toward the western view, and indeed I just saw a news story saying that Turkey is harboring an armed rebel group dedicated to overthrowing Assad.

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