The Road From Damascus

The PBS NewsHour reported last night on the mass exodus of Syrian refugees fleeing into neighboring Turkey to escape the crackdown by the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, in retaliation against anti-government demonstrations. Syrian authorities talk of instigators having brought on the trouble there (that sounds vaguely familiar), but refugees fleeing Syria into Turkey have different tales - tales of heavy-handed cruelty by Assad's government against his own people. The former dental student, who assumed the presidency of Syria when his father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, died in 2000, is suggesting parallels with the sadistic Dr. Szell in the movie Marathon Man.

Assad - who is beginning to feel the heat of the international community - isn't safe, nor are many other Arab leaders. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is recovering from a rocket-propelled grenade attack on him even as his country is falling apart. In Libya, Qaddafi is still resisting a newly resurgent rebellion. Even in Jordan, the motorcade King Abdullah II, perhaps the most benevolent ruler ion the Arab world, was attacked with stones and empty bottles, though the king himself was unharmed. One can only wonder where this will all lead.