I am totally confused by the situation in Syria, despite having spent some years there until the recent past.It was a country that had three major religions co-existing for a thousand years, a vibrant tourist trade and a very friendly populace. Travel restrictions were minimal and downtown Damascus would be safe for anyone, even in the early hours.
    Suddenly it changed. Demonstrations in the streets and then people being killed. From the outset it would seem foreign elements were involved. I wonder who their paymasters were? I am fairly confident they were not Russian. Both sides are now reputedly using poison gas, although the Russians say only the rebels are.
    If the only agenda on the table was the replacement of an autocratic government then why only Syria? There is not a single country in the area that could be considered a democracy and of all of them Saudi Arabia is probably the most autocratic of the lot. Syria has far less oil than most of her neighbours but as a potential area to route pipelines to the Med another story unfolds.
    A very confusing picture is evolving that I suspect is for control of the territory, and those seeking to wrest control obviously care not a fig for the people. I suspect that those that protest too much are the very same manipulators of the sorry situation. It is all ratcheting upwards for a very sad outcome for the Syrian people.