The Syrian Problem: Some Other Voices

Since I don't claim to be an expert on Syria (well, not since the fall of the Umayyads, at any rate), I offer you a roundup of intelligent comment, and perhaps some other:

• Diplomat and specialist Nikolaos van Dam in The Independent;

• Rami Khouri, one of the last reasons to still read The Daily Star;

• Josh Landis, writing at Foreign Policy this time;

and, for something a little more Byzantine:

• There were reports in the Israeli press that recently fired Defense Minister ‘Ali Habib was found dead;

• From which Elliott Abrams at the CFR did an analysis which is predicated on the death of Habib;

• Which just might be slightly undermined by the appearance of Habib on Syrian TV, rather emphatically denying that he is in fact dead. (Video in Arabic.) (But can he be trusted?)