The Arab League Points

I didn't follow the Arab League decision and press conference, but I have seen some Youtube clips of what happened and read a few commentaries about the main points that arose. So far it seems the Arab League want Bashar to hand full authority to a vice president who will then run a coalition government that would include the opposition. There is then an aim to have presidential elections within a few months.

Naturally the Syrian regime is frothing at the mouth that anybody dares insinuate a Syria not run by Assad. And what man (or woman) will fly to Syria as a member of the Syrian opposition in order to take part in the government. I mean honestly, who would seriously accept the word of the Syrian regime that they wouldn't be assassinated as soon as their plane lands? I know some people think there is a chance that might stop the bloodshed, but seriously, where are all the shabiha (thugs) going to go? Will they just pack up and return to wherever they came from? Not likely, none of this is likely.

Not surprisingly, I've heard that the regime has already rejected this "interference" in its affairs outright. I'd like to remind most supporters of Assad that interference in Syria's affairs only arose because this regime and its president were so incompetent and stupid, killing and maiming demonstrators and torturing Syrian citizens because they thought they could crush this revolution. When they thought they didn't need to negotiate they didn't. Do you remember how long it took before anybody in the regime even admitted that there was a problem in the country? Every step the regime has carried out so far has always been too little and too late. It was only after thousands of Syrians had already died before the first announcement of "reforms" were announced by the regime. Now that the Arab League is interfering in Syria the regime remembers that it has a national sovereignty to protect. It didn't remember that there was a national sovereignty when Israeli jets bombed Syria in 2007, or when US marines carried out a raid on Syrian land in 2008, or when a Syrian general was assassinated in 2008.

Anyhow, I'm going to stop writing now because the head of the Arab league monitors is giving a press statement about his work in the country.