Some interesting developments on the Syrian track here. The saying about Syria in the '60s was that they were always willing to fight to the last Egyptian. They were always the most radical and least courageous of all the Arab countries. Now that image is being replayed as farce in the person of the monumentally inept Bahir Assad, who may finally have gotten the message that it isn't smart to play games with the US, especially over issues like international terrorism. Whether this will actually lead to a redeployment I don't know, but if it does it could also mean the beginning of the end of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon (a brutal imperialist endeavor which the Left has never made a peep about) and something like a real peace on Israel's Northern border. Obviously, the US is moving in that direction, and Bush has a lot of clout right now, at least in terms of intimidation factor. The political will to force the Syrians to a deal seems to exist as it hasn't before--I'm cautiously optimistic.