THE APPLE--JUST LIKE THE TREE

Syria's Bashar Assad is living up to his father's legacy in his willingness to murder and maim anyone who dares hint at a desire for freedom.  True, he has not yet murdered 20,000 of his countryman from one city at one time.  But give him a chance.  He certainly is doing his best to demonstrate that, if the opportunity arises, he will match or surpass dear ole dad in ruthless murder.

President Assad the Second's regime in Syria continues to literally mow down the opposition, with the number of dead now at about 800.  Those that they happen to miss killing are being rounded up in mass arrests, with about 10,000 (yes, 10,000!) now in custody.  It's tough to know exactly what is happening because the foreign press has been banned. 

Assad' spokesmen have made it quite clear that the regime will crush anyone who does not submit.  The minority Alawite sect of which President Assad is a "leading light" recognizes that it is in a fight for survival.  The leadership has explicitly stated that it will fight to the end to retain its power and position.

Why does the world give the murdering Assad a pass?  Does this guy have compromising pictures of world leaders and journalists?  The press barely makes a  peep about being banned.  The U.S. and Europe have finally  imposed sanctions on some of the folks around Assad, but not on the tyrant himself.  While Secretary of State Clinton has ratcheted up the rhetoric a bit in recent days, we still hear no declarations that the regime has "lost its legitimitacy" or that it is "time for a transition" or any other such euphemism for "you're done, get the hell out."

Colonel Kadahfi, a virutally irrelevant dictator, rates military action to try to get him to go, and Egyptian President Mubarak, a dictator who at least provided stability, honored the peace agreement with Israel, and did not engage in mischief other than against his own people, had to get the boot.  But Assad can't have his bank accounts frozen?  Puzzling, to say the least.

Neither the U.S. or any other country I am aware of has pulled its ambassador.  (Recall that the Bush Administration had pulled the U.S. ambassador after Syria was implicated in the assassination of a former Lebanese president and the Obama Administration sent an ambassador back as part of its campaign to woo Assad away from being an oppressive dictator aligned with Iran.  So much for that idea.)

At least the Syrians were embarrassed enough to postpone their candidacy for a position on the UN Human Rights Council.  They swapped their current candidacy with another outstanding model of democracy, Kuwait, which was due up in 2013. 

One wonders why the Syrians felt compelled to temporarily delay their candidacy, given that the Council is filled with leading lights of democracy and freedom such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya (suspended), Jordan, Russia, China, and Pakistan.  Given this line up, no one needs to worry that Syria's absence will impede the Council's sterling record of routinely condemning Israel while ignoring the repression practiced by its own members and their pals.