"The king (a non-Sunni in a majority-Sunni country) is smart enough to know that a civil war in Syria, if it happened, would not be a quick victory for professional soldiers with tanks and planes over civilians learning how to shoot a rifle and a few military deserters. It would be long, ugly and sectarian."
I hope you're not inferring that Assad is a royalist BECAUSE he is a non-Sunni. The anti-Alawite agitation of the Sunnis reminds me very much of the anti-Semitism of old Europe's oh so pious Christendom. Yeah, there are lots of backward people pissed that a "heretic" is president, and that most of the country's leadership are "heretics" as well.
"Most of those opposed to Assad's royal dictatorship are not 'religious terrorists' (though the longer the civil war goes on the more true that becomes). Most of the opposition to the king comes from Syrians who see a chance to escape from life under a repressive regime."
How do we know the character of "most?" And does it matter who is numerically superior in any case? Who will achieve hegemony is not just a function of numbers. What Syria, which of the roads that are open to the Syrian people, will lead to the country best for the women, for the non-Muslims, even for the gay people like me!
The NCB, the progressive opposition force, the one that has never engaged in suicide bombings, beheadings, or driven Christians from their homes, has been completely crushed in the pincers between the autocratic government and Sunni extremism.
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