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A Shameful Impasse on Syria
(Washington Post) Editorial - Administration spokesmen now publicly recognize that the UN diplomatic initiative it has backed for the past seven weeks has been a failure. They acknowledge that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has no intention of ending violence against his opposition, or meeting any other condition of the "Annan plan." The prolongation of the conflict poses serious threats to U.S. interests and allies. Events may degenerate into a sectarian war in which the majority Sunni community targets Mr. Assad's minority Alawites, while Kurds, Christians and other minorities are caught in the middle. A second danger is that al-Qaeda and other Sunni extremist movements will take advantage of the chaos. The third threat is that sectarian war in Syria will jump across borders. Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey all have the same divides among Shiite and Sunni sects.