JUST TELL ASSAD TO STEP ASIDE GRACIOUSLY OR BE HELL-FIRED:

Could Syria be the next domino to fall? (Hugh Macleod, January 30, 2011, Global Post)

In one of Old Damascus’ new cafes the text messages buzzed between mobile phones in quick succession, drawing woops of joy and thumbs up from the astonished Syrians.

Suzan Mubarak, wife of the reviled Egyptian president, had flown into exile with her son, so the rumours went, driven out of the country by days of unprecedented protest against the 30-year rule of her husband, President Hosni Mubarak.

The news from Cairo has brought with it a flutter of excitement to this country, founded on principles so similar to Egypt that the two nations were once joined as one.