Unh-oh. The protesters will be out in force tonight.
How dare the Western powers put any limits on the right of Bashar al-Assad to choke down the local version of Arab spring. After all, everybody knows that the Muslim Brotherhood, a purely secular organization, has only the interests of the downtrodden majority at heart, and this is the avenue to the rise of democracy in the Middle East.
Of course, unseen below the surface, the death match between the Sunnis and the Shi’ites is going on full force, and any dispassionate opinion about the situation would be to let them muscle each other around until neither side has sufficient strength to force its will upon the other. Apparently Middle Eastern power struggles are largely predicated on neither side actually winning, but only continue to cull out the less effective and adaptable fighters on each side.
Of course, a lot of women and children end up as collateral damage, but what you want the Western powers to do? Bomb them from 30,000 feet like they did in Kosovo and Bosnia?
Spot on!