Is calling your ambassador home a sign of impending doom?

In response to yesterdays massive explosion and assassination of a Lebanese former Prime Minister and up and coming Syrian opposition leader, the White House today has recalled the ambassador to the US in order to begin "urgent consultations" and decide the next best course of action in regards to the terrorist attack in Beirut.

Taking a step back from this situation and looking at events that have unfolded in the region and on the international stage in the past 6 months, one can quickly see a pattern emerging. Syria is on the chopping block and they know it. Unlike its Hezbollah co-sponsor Iran, Syria does not enjoy the benefit of deterrence from possible nuclear weapons nor from a friendly Shi'ia majority in neighboring Iraq. Iran has become almost completely immune to international threats for these two reasons irregardless of the heated rhetoric exchanged between Tehran and Washington.

So what does this mean for Syria?
It means that without drastic changes in its policies and international dealings, it is next in line for a democratic overhaul courtesy of the United States of America. It means that Syria may have one last chance to heed UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and remove its troops and support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. It means that continued complacency in allowing Islamists and Jihadi wannabes to stream through the borders into Iraq will begin to have real and tangible consequences. It means that Syria will soon find itself alone, without other Arab allies or friends and quite possibly with many neighboring enemies. It means that the days of the Syrian Baa'thists regime is as numbered as was Sadaams and that clock may have already been started on its demise. but most importantly, it means that another despotic, isolated and disconnected regime may in fact be on its way into the bright shining light of freedom and liberty.

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