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Syria's Future: A Black Hole of Instability
(New York Times) Thanassis Cambanis - Syria has cracked up and no peace settlement can put it back together. Despite talk of a "regime" and "opposition," Syria today is a mosaic of tiny fiefs. The government has ceded control of stretches of land to Iran, Russia and Hizbullah. Its opponents range from Islamic State to a coterie of tiny insurgent groups led by local warlords reliant on foreign donors. Even if some fraction of the opposition can reach an accord with the government, the area they could try to rule would amount to a rump state. The nation's industrial heartland and most populous city, Aleppo, has been almost completely destroyed.