Helpless world watches massacre in Syria

Syria's President Bashar a-Assad tried once again to quell the ongoing anti-government protests in several cities with tanks on the weekend. The US has therefore announced "tough sanctions" against Syria. But the threats of the West are empty blustering and neither Europe nor the US have any real chance of effective intervention, writes the left-liberal daily El País: "It's true that one would have to be very reckless to suggest a direct intervention in Syria that neither Western public opinion would condone nor the UN could support because Russia and China would be against it. What the West most fears is that the fall of the regime would cause a cataclysm in the region with Iran intervening and the mercilessness of Hizbollah in Lebanon, both allies of the Syrian regime. And less still can be expected from the Arab League, which is full of authoritarian rulers like Assad. Therefore the world looks on helplessly as a massacre unfolds."

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