Just a round up of some stories from the region.
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/libya-escalation-inevitable-5259Libya Escalation Inevitable
There are four courses of action that have a much greater potential to resolve the stalemate in Libya than our current indifference:
Invade and occupy Tripoli.
Offensive air strikes.
Deploy NATO ground forces as peacekeepers
Arm, train, and organize the Libyan rebelshttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-libya-20110506,0,5037167.storyNo exit
An inconclusive slog in Libya.
The problem is that the U.S. and its allies don't have interests important enough to justify a full-scale effort to defeat Gadhafi but are in too deep to simply walk away. It may be that we can't win at a reasonable cost and can't afford to lose — leaving us with the unsatisfying task of prolonging the conflict without resolving it.
The U.S. and its allies can hope for a lucky break that will bring Gadhafi's government to its knees. But hope is not a strategy.
And of course good old Syria, slaughtering away...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syrians-defy-crackdown-stage-widespread-protests/2011/05/06/AFH8DB8F_story.htmlSyria sends tanks to coastal town as protests spread
Most notable to me is the way this understated paragraph is just sort of lodged into the story..
On Friday, Syrian troops used heavy machine guns and artillery to quell anti-government protests in the key city of Homs, as tens of thousands of Syrians yet again braved the threat of bullets and tanks to take to the streets around the country.
Doesn't that seems like it's a bigger part of the story? eh...
and of course this...
The clashes in Homs came amid further signs that Syrians have not been cowed by the hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests carried out in recent weeks in an effort to suppress the biggest challenge to the regime headed by al-Assad since his father brutally suppressed an armed revolt in 1982.
That crackdown, in which as many as 40,000 people died, earned the Syrian regime a reputation as one of the most repressive in the Middle East, and when revolts began rippling around the region earlier in the year, many predicted that Syrians would not dare join the swelling clamor for change.
