Why Not Syria?
"Why Not Syria?" This was a hot topic of conversation at the Paris Air Show where I have been this week. As the civilian body-count mounts in Syria , I am puzzled by the lack of international action, or even effective condemnation. The international community was caught totally unprepared for the events of historical magnitude which have rolled across the Arab world during “The Arab Spring”. The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a sole unemployed student demonstrator in Tunisia in December 2010 led to mass demonstrations which successively toppled regimes in both Tunisia (President Ben Ali) and Egypt (Hosni Mubarak). Still hanging by a thread are the dictators of Libya (Muammar Gaddafi) and Yemen (Ali Abdullah Saleh). Bahrain seems to have pulled itself back from the brink – probably because on March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered Bahrain , to prop up their fellow Sunnis in Bahrain . Syria ’s President Bashar Al-Assad h...