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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324549004579070802007714622.html
Survival of the Syrian Regime Is a "Red Line" for Russia
(Wall Street Journal) Fouad Ajami - The sun may have set on the old Soviet empire, but Syria offered Russia the consolation that it could still play the game of the great powers. From the outset of the civil war, Moscow insisted that it would not stand idly by and accept a repetition of what had happened in Libya. By their lights, the Russians had let Gaddafi down when they let slip through the cracks of the UN machinery a proposal that called for the protection of Libyan civilians. The proposal gave NATO the warrant that led to the destruction of the Libyan dictatorship. This time around, Russia was determined to see its client regime in Damascus to victory. The writer is a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.