What’s Going on in Syria?

The Israelis tell a great joke about Bashar al-Assad, the dictator who until last week ruled Syria from 2000, when his father died who had been the country’s dictator for the previous thirty years.

The joke goes like this:

The day he took over the government, Bashar al-Assad called in his Interior Minister and said, “Listen! We need to have an election. The United Nations loves elections, so I want you to hold one as soon as possible, maybe in the next week.”

To which the Interior Minister replied, “But your Excellency, who should we put on the ballot besides you?

Answer: “You don’t need any other names. The United Nations doesn’t care who’s on the ballot as long as we hold an election soon.”

So, a week later, a national election, complete with international observers was held, and the next day the Interior Minister returned to al-Assad’s office and said, “Your Excellency! Your Excellency! We’ve finished counting the ballots and you received 99.7% of the vote!”

The Interior Minister paused for a moment and then added with a smile on his face: “This means that only three-tenths of one percent of our people don’t want you to be in charge. What more could you want?”

The newly elected President thought for a moment and then quietly said, “Their names.”

The civil war which broke out in 2011 has so far claimed at least 600,000 lives, maybe more. There are whole parts of the country where even…