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The situation in Syria appears to be have reached its most violent and volatile point since protests against the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad began, with the ensuing violent government repression and violent uprising in response. As in other situations since the Arab Spring began, the western democracies have found themselves at various points changing positions on regimes they had either supported or tolerated for reasons of stability or concerns related to terrorism. Thousands have died in Syria and after the resistance had made substantial progress, the Assad regime is striking back harder than ever, with journalists being expelled and a full-scale civil war on the horizon. The situation, as throughout the middle-east, is complex, with Syria being internally divided, closely allied with Iran and the last ally of Russia in the region. An extraordinary article in the New York Times Magazine Sunday predicted that Israel will attack Iran's nuclear facilities, perhaps with tacit US approval, within months if sanctions don't succeed in stopping the program. President Obama's state of the union speech specifically left the US military option with Iran on the table, and also virtually said Assad must go, which was said explicitly by the White House today. The last chance to avoid escalated violence in Syria that could turn into larger war, and that at the least will likely turn into an even larger bloodbath in Syria, may be a UN resolution by the security council supporting the Arab League's plan for Assad to step down. Support for the resolution, which has large majority support in the UN security council, is led by the US, UK and France. However, Russia is threatening a veto, saying the resolution itself may cause civil war or become a precursor for intervention. Russia did not stand in the way of intervention in Libya, but has larger political stakes in Syria. The Guardian newspaper's Julian Borger, diplomatic editor, and Martin Chulov in Beirut report today that "Hillary Clinton, William Hague and Alain Juppé are due at the UN security council in New York on Tuesday to support an Arab League plan to end the violence in Syria and to try to overcome Russian-led opposition to a UN-backed demand for political change in Damascus. As Syrian forces poured into Damascus districts to wrest them from rebel control, a joint European-Arab resolution calling for Bashar al-Assad to hand power to his deputy as a prelude to political transition won the support of the 10 security council member states necessary to force a vote. Diplomats at the UN said that a vote on the resolution, formally presented by Morocco, was likely by Thursday, after the council considers a report on the Syrian situation by the Arab League secretary general, Nabil Elaraby, and the Qatari prime minister, Hamad Bin Jassim, on Tuesday followed by an ambassadors' meeting on Wednesday aimed at finding a compromise formula acceptable to Russia, Assad's principal supporter on the world stage. 'We believe the UN must act to support the people of Syria and that Russia can no longer explain blocking the UN and providing cover for the regime's brutal repression,' a Downing Street spokeswoman said. Juppé's spokesman, Bernard Valero said: 'The goal of tomorrow's ministerial meeting is to ensure that the security council has an opportunity to listen to the report by the Arab League, which has been involved on the ground since the end of December, and that it is able to support its efforts and recommendations.'" Do you support a UN resolution calling for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to hand power to his deputy as a prelude to political transition, the plan developed by the Arab League of which Syria had been a member until suspended, and supported by the US and other western nations, as well as a large majority of the UN security council, as potentially the last chance to avoid even larger-scale bloodshed in Syria and perhaps wider war in the region?
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