
 |
|
May 25, 2012
Mark Clayton: Is Hillary's State Dept. hacking Al Qaeda? Not quite
Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
Jeff Jacoby: The peace process battered Israel's reputation
Michael Muskal: 'Pro-choice' position hits record low, according to poll
Chris Farrell: Are We in a Tech Bubble?
The Kosher Gourmet by Penelope Wall: PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS --- hold the steak!
May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 14, 2011
/ 18 Kislev, 5772
The last days of a despot, Or: A nervous man sings a nervous song
By
Paul Greenberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It won't work. Talking to Barbara Walters, interviewer to the stars, Syria's bloody dictator acted as if he were just an innocent bystander to his country's sufferings. Rather than their cause. By now Bashar al-Assad's act may not fool even Bashar al-Assad. Under the sharkskin splendor of that Beirut business suit, he has to be sweating.

His country is in spreading flames, bodies litter the streets of rebellious cities like Homs, the resistance is no longer waving banners but guns, a rival army of defectors is already in the field, and the revolution is following the same general arc as every other in the Arab Spring. It may have turned to winter elsewhere, but it's still fresh in Syria. And blood red.

Even as Bashar Assad explained how much his people supported him, the fate of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya must have preyed on his mind. They, too, were the people's choice -- till the very moment they weren't.
Syrians call their dictator The Giraffe when they think his secret police aren't listening, and it is hard to look at his picture, with that long neck of his, and not imagine a rope coiled around it. He must feel it tightening every day. No wonder he sounds nervous. His days as a dictator, or just his days, are numbered. He sounded not only strange but estranged from reality.
Maybe it was the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor this year that did it, but a half-remembered ditty that Cab Calloway used to sing about another dictator keeps coming back:
Der Fuehrer's got the jitters, he's lookin' thin,
We made our reservations, and we're movin' in . . .
He don't know where, he don't know when,
But we made our reservations, and we're movin' in
Where, when and exactly how the House of Assad will fall remains uncertain. The bloody details always are as power slips out of the tyrant's grasp. Will it be the next slight breath that topples his house of cards, or the one after?
The endgame has begun in Syria, but how long before checkmate? The pieces -- pawns, knights, bishops, rooks -- are falling one by one. Or joining the opposition. Or fleeing the country. It is only a matter of time before the king is pushed over, and the game done. As he must know. No wonder he's got the jitters, and he's lookin' mighty thin.
The longer his regime struggles, the longer the innocent will be massacred. The death toll just topped 5,000. Even the United Nations has noticed. Why, even the Arab League has spoken up, and this time not to say it's all Israel's fault. (Surely, that will come in time.)

The specter of civil war and sectarian chaos, as in Iraq before the Surge, grows more real every day -- for Syria is a potpourri of creeds and ethnicities: Sunnis, Shi'a, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druse, Circassians, Armenians....
It's the Yugoslavia Syndrome. When the iron dictatorship that held all the restive sects and peoples together falls apart, civil war ensues. While the world stands back and goes tut-tut. Till it can no longer just look on and finally, finally imposes some kind of peace, or at least a diminished war. Chaos impends, if it hasn't already begun. Homs, the epicenter of the revolt, has been leveled before -- by Assad the Elder -- and now Assad the Younger may try a repeat. Before he himself is leveled.

As Syria's regime cracks, the world talks. And only talks. Or votes for empty sanctions. This country's ambassador to Damascus, a brave man who has spoken out against the dictatorship and raised hopes of freedom, is headed back to the spreading bloodbath in Syria. Quite aside from the question of whether Washington would have done better to withdraw its ambassador months ago, his heroism is admirable. But it will prove only a gesture unless the rest of the world does more than talk.
What can be done? The free world has just done it -- in Libya. It may have waited too long, but it did act at last. A coalition of the willing enforced a no-fly zone that gave the rebels the air cover they needed to begin advancing. All the way to the shores of Tripoli. Given that kind of support, Libyans freed themselves. The world knows what to do -- if only it will do it.
But the longer such a step is put off, the more innocents will be mowed down. For now the American secretary of state offers only pap. ("We certainly believe that if Syrians unite, they together can succeed in moving their country to that better future...." --Hillary Clinton in Geneva last week.) As for the American president and commander-in-chief, he dithers. As usual. While a country bleeds. How long, oh how long, must the Syrians wait for freedom?
Bashar al-Assad's fall is in the cards, but why wait till they are dealt one by one, atrocity after atrocity? He's on his way out, but there's no reason his departure shouldn't be hastened. Just as Moammar Gadhafi's was. For mercy's sake.
Now it's Bashar al-Assad who's got the jitters and looking thin. The world needs to move in.
Paul Greenberg Archives
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
include "/usr/web/jewishworldreview.com/t-ssi/jwr_squaread_300x250.php";
if (strpos(, "printer_friendly") === 0)
{}
else {
=<<
© 2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Alan Douglas
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
Marybeth Hicks
A. Barton Hinkle
David Horowitz
Jeff Jacoby
Renee James
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Ben Wattenberg
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
Tech Maven
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|