AND NOW SYRIA? – AT 8:42 A.M. ET:  What is remarkable about what is being called the "Arab spring" is the number of countries that have seen protests.  It's one right after the other, of varying degrees of intensity. 

Yes, we concede that some of the protesters may have ideas that need "further study," but the fact that there are protests at all is striking.  And now Syria, one of the most critical of Arab states, and an ally of Iran, is feeling the impact.  From The New York Times:

DAMASCUS, Syria — Protesters set fire to the ruling Baath Party’s headquarters and other government buildings in the southern city of Dara’a on Sunday, as protesters rallied and clashed with the police for a third straight day, witnesses said.

Police officers fired live ammunition into the crowds, killing at least one and wounding scores of others, witnesses said. But the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, also made some conciliatory gestures in an apparent attempt to stop the cycle of public anger that has fueled uprisings in other Arab countries in the past three months.

Syria, a police state known for its brutal suppression of any public protests, seemed immune to the wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab world until the past week, when demonstrations took place in several cities. The southern town of Dara’a, where citizens were outraged by the arrest of more than a dozen schoolchildren, has seen the largest protests by far. Thousands took to the streets on Sunday, as they have for several days now.

COMMENT:  My sense is that the odds are against a huge revolution in Syria because it is such a complete police state.  But you never know.  They said that about Libya.  If Syria can be broken off from the Iranian axis, it would be a coup for the West.  Stand by.

By the way, John Kerry is considered America's intermediary with Syria, and is reportedly active right now in trying to get the Syrian government to be more cooperative with us.  Not exactly the best timing, Johnny.  You should be working to have that government replaced.

March 21, 2011