A Mix of News about Syria Today

There are days when Syria just won’t stay away. Today is one of those days. So, dear readers, let’s try to cover the major topics that are coming at us from TV, the Net and newspapers.

1. The UN Syria monitor head said today that Syria is entering a grave new chapter in its rebellion. While he was quoted as saying there is now a civil war, it was in fact a reporter who used the term and the UN leader seemed to agree. Later, a UN spokesman said that the term used is not important. What is important for the UN, he said, is that children under ten are being used a human shields and being tortured and killed by al-Assad partisans and military. Also, he added, there is more coordination and counterattack by the rebel army, with destruction of infrastructure. This makes a full blown conflict likely unless somehow the UN and the Arab League can intervene. Refugees are now fleeing into Jordan, as well as Turkey and Lebanon. It is not an encouraging picture.

2. One European TV channel reported today that Russia is now sending helicopters to Syria. If true, it confirms what I have thought for some time, that Russia is not interested in peace but in the largest possible conflict in the Middle East. Why? Because in this way, Russia might be able to cobble together some semblance of her former influence in the region. If you go back and look at the Balkan conflict of the early 1990s, the pattern of Russia’s behavior is similar. But, Russia did not win in the Balkans and it will not win in the Middle East. The world has moved on and imperialism has died. Good riddance. Perhaps the anti-Putin protesters in Moscow ought to add Russia’s role in Syria to its list of grievances against the man who calls himself an elected Russian president but who is in reality a petty dictator clinging to power wherever he thinks it is available.

3. No lesser a world leader than Israeli President Simon Perez, who will receive the American Freedom Medal in Washington later this week, said on CNN today that he supports the Arab Spring protesters. He said the war in the Middle East is not religious, it is generational - that the young generation in the Middle East does not want to go on as their parents did. He said it will all be for the better. We can always count on Perez and the Israelis to take the longer view of history - that is the only way they have managed to survive as a people. Don’t count Perez’ view out. He will probably be proven right in the longer term.

4. And, finally, a small note from none other than Christiane Amanpour of CNN. She noted on her program tonight that it was 25 years ago today that President Ronald Reagan stood in Berlin and challenged Soviet President Gorbachev: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” It signaled the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and its hegemony over Eastern Europe. And, Amanpour added, President Obama has the same chance that President Reagan had. Obama could call on the Syrians and the Middle East to end the fighting and build a region that is based on democratic principles. She looked into the TV camera and ended with, “But will he?”