Syria quicksand

Years ago pundits warned Western inciters of the so-called Arab Spring, that if the fire of that "spring" was carried to Syria, not only would Syria catch on fire but the consequences of such a development would be felt all over the world. There were even some people who warned that Syria was neither a Libya, nor an Iraq or Tunisia. No one was of course trying to humiliate any one of the three countries that suffered at various degrees from the "democracy nourishing program" of the "Western World."

Over 1.5 million Iraqis died since the father and son Bush periods and in between them the Clinton administration tried to save the Iraqis from ruthless dictator Saddam Hussein and push that country into an era of democratic governance. What a big success? The world is still battling the consequences of the failed Iraq campaigns of the Americans. The Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse saga testified bitterly to the status the saviors considered best fit the people they saved from a ruthless dictator. Guantanamo Bay stories, likewise, demonstrated how highly Muslims and Islam's holy book, the Quran, were appreciated. Mind you, most of these stories were written by the American media, demonstrating the existence of democratic norms, including press freedom and tolerance of "nasty" journalists investigating the dirty laundry of the "most powerful ones."

In any case, when people started saying the time had come for a change of regime or war drums started to beat for Syria, some went to the extent of warning that such a development would be no less that stirring up a hornet's nest and the resulting colossal impact on global security of such an adventure might carry the world to what French apothecary and reputed seer Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus)...