Videos: If a Protest Is Staged In Syria And The Media Is Warned Not To Cover It, Does It Have An Impact?

Assad is betting it doesn't.

Today, there were protests in Damascus:

It's hard to tell how many protesters are in the streets of the Syrian capital, but it's hardly surprising that, after Egypt and Libya, the regime in Damascus might be next in line. Bashar al-Assad and his security chiefs guessed as much, which is why the last few weeks they warned the foreign and Arab press corps not to cover the protests scheduled for today and the only record we have so far is from YouTube.
Here are two videos from today's scenes in Damascus with more protests scheduled for other Syrian cities, like Aleppo, Qamishly and even Deir al-Zawr, which was the site of the regime's secret nuclear program that Israel bombed in the fall of 2008.

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As Ed Morrissey points out, the protesters have every reason to be careful, because Assad has no reason to fear any repercussions from the West:

Let’s hope the protesters can push Assad aside on their own, because they won’t get any help from the West:

Hopes of quickly establishing a no-fly zone over Libya were dashed in Paris Wednesday when leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations declined to adopt the measure.

Instead, the G8 foreign ministers called on the United Nations Security Council to examine further sanctions against Libya, including economic ones, but made no mention of a possible military action against Col. Gadhafi’s regime, including the setting up of a no fly zone.

The G-8 agreed “that the U.N. Security Council should increase the pressure, including through economic measures, for Moammar Gadhafi to leave,” G-8 foreign ministers said in their final statement.

Lebanon, the only Arab country that is a Security Council member, on Monday began conferring on a draft resolution for the no-fly zone over the weekend, but it remained unclear whether if it would get the necessary votes. The draft is based on a proposal approved by the Arab League.

...Bashar Assad is bright enough to draw the obvious conclusion. Engagement and negotiation means demands for removal from the United States and our allies, while brutal crackdowns mean … few lasting consequences from the West. Guess which path we’re most likely to see from dictators in the region from now on.

The ludicrous spectacle of the West running around issuing threats while doing nothing is a message not lost on Assad--or any other Middle East dictator.

As far as the protesters in the Middle East are concerned, it most appear that there is very little to recommend  democracy when it really counts.

Technorati Tag: Syria and Protests and Middle East.