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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303674004577433941049832760.html
What Bashar Assad Knows
(Wall Street Journal Europe) Douglas Murray - It is now more than a year since Assad began using his security forces in a full-scale assault against the people of the country he treats as family property. As the tragedy escalates for the Syrian people, a new reality of power is emerging. What everybody else knows and does not want to admit is that though we may talk somewhat tough, there is nothing at all that we are going to do. The Western allies' forces are still recovering from the engagement in Libya - and we never want to have to do anything like that again. What we are now see unfolding around Syria is the result of a gap between what our politicians pretend to be able to do and what they are actually able to do, in an era in which everything, from financial resources to political will, is in short supply. Iran is now boasting of sending arms and troops to Syria. And nobody is going to do anything to stop them. Some years ago, the tide of American leadership started to go out. That fact may be felt in America last, but it is being felt in Syria first. The writer is associate director of the Henry Jackson Society in London.