Fight against a political vacuum

With its calls for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad the West is showing more decisiveness in the region again, writes the liberal daily La Stampa: "For the past few months the political leaders have been almost entirely overpowered by a wave of unpredictable events. ... A West that focuses solely on itself basically means a political vacuum in all those regions of the world where it was previously active, first and foremost the Middle East. ... Thanks to the West's inability to seize the initiative, the Syrian crisis has been able to explode and profit from this lack of resolve. ... Two weeks ago Saudi Arabia broke its diplomatic silence, and Turkey took the same path. With yesterday's declaration the West has now also followed suit. ... But we're still far from a solution to the conflict, because the best ally of terror is a political vacuum."

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