Thursday, August 11, 2011

Sanctions Wont Stop Assad's Brutalization of Syria

The UN is contemplating stepping up sanctions against Bashar al-Assad and Syria, but does anyone think that sanctions are going to stop his brutalization of Syrians, murdering, torturing, and engaging in war crimes and crimes against humanity all because some Syrians have the audacity to question the autocrat's right to govern in a peaceful manner.



Assad keeps trying to claim that the military crackdown is necessary because of terrorists involved in the opposition, but there's no evidence that anyone is actually fighting back against the Syrian security forces that have laid siege against multiple towns and cities throughout the country.

Yet, there are signs that Assad's support is splintering. Yet, despite 5 months of crackdowns, there's no sign of an actual uprising or revolution in the air among Syrians. Assad, by playing out of the Hama rules playbook, has thus far been able to contain the threat to his regime, but at a cost of more than 2,000 dead and thousands detained.

Assad can try to rebrand his regime as new and more moderate, but it's still as evil as it ever was.

The US has widened its sanctions against Syrian assets, including a bank and telecommunications company. That comes as Assad's security forces raided Homs and killed at least another dozen people.

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