A consensus seems to have developed over last few days that the end of the Syrian regime is very near. Now in circulation as “intelligence information," the rumor mill’s favorite headline of the day is that Bashar al-Assad and his family will not be running the country in 2013.
Mind you, the Syrian regime’s life expectancy was already predicted to be short when the uprising started in March 2011. The hope that he was about to be toppled at any moment so prevailed that the Turkish government, which had promoted Assad as a “strategic partner” at the beginning of 2000s, dumped him and emerged as his most dedicated foe. How did that come about?