Make Some Noise!

Oh, look! Blogspot is behaving again!

Sometimes you come across a line in writing that just strikes you in some odd way. This is such a line:

You're a great guy, Mahmoud, but I'm just not that into you.

Which is actually a line waaaay down in an interesting essay on Syria on Slate.

Obviously, Syria can't, and doesn't particularly want to, completely turn its back on Hezbollah; the usual rent-a-crowd demonstrations on the streets of Damascus, and the vitriolic statements from the Assad regime have happened as expected. But the country is clearly keeping its options open. Syria may offer more support for Hezbollah than the United States and Israel are happy with—but U.S.-backed regime-change here, despite the tough talk out of Washington during the last few days, now seems more unlikely than ever. In fact, in light of the failure of the Rome cease-fire talks, which excluded both Syria and Iran, it seems inevitable that Damascus will ultimately play a role in negotiating a lasting cease-fire agreement.

And there's more.