This means that Israel need not hurriedly accommodate Syria. If anything, it should sit back and await Syria's collapse to proceed, for the economic situation is getting worse with time. The United States won the Cold War by letting the Soviet empire collapse under its economic dead weight, with no military confrontation. A rush by Israel to reach agreement with Assad makes about as much sense as would have been the United States rushing in 1989 to reach agreements the Soviet Union. With each passing year Syria will be less capable of feeding and arming itself, and more susceptible to outside economic threats and pressures from the West.
Western states can help things along by imposing economic sanctions.
With a bit of determination, this could lead to a collapse of the totalitarian regime in Syria and that, in turn, would redraw the strategic map of the Middle East, most likely in a direction that would benefit Syrians, Lebanese, Turks, Jordanians, Israelis, and everyone else. Steven Plaut teaches at the Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Haifa. Copyright 1997-2001 United States Committee For A Free Lebanon. All rights reserved.