Just like the nuclear talks between Iran and the West in Istanbul two weeks ago, special U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's plan for Syria was unanimously adopted by the international community, even though everyone knew that it didn't have a chance of succeeding. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad keeps massacring his people, and the world is still at a loss for words, in every possible language. The images coming out of Syria in recent days have been shocking. If this is how a cease-fire looks, what does a war in Syria look like? French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was the first official representative of the western world who admitted that, "things aren't happening as we expected," and that the Annan plan hasn't delivered the goods. Annan is now depending on a delegation of UNIFIL solders to prevent escalation. Annan is much more concerned with preventing Syria from becoming another Bosnia or Rwanda, than with toppling Assad's regime. Assad should be welcoming Annan's plan because it gives him an opportunity to retain power. But Assad isn't satisfied with retaining power. He wants to obliterate any remnant of the uprising against him even at the cost of massive bloodshed. Paris isn't waiting until May 5, when Annan is set to brief the U.N. on the situation in Syria, to announce that in the case of failure, the international community might have to employ the military option. Like Moscow is really going to let French President Nicolas Sarkozy do anything... Just like with the Iranian nuclear issue, Paris is now the toughest gun in the west on the Syrian issue. But according to the polls, Sarkozy is likely to lose power on May 6. Before President Assad does. The French may sound different when that happens.
