Assad might do something worthwhile after all:

Beset by U.S. attempts to isolate his country and facing popular expectations of change, Syrian President Bashar Assad will move to begin legalizing political parties, purge the ruling Baath Party, sponsor free municipal elections in 2007 and formally endorse a market economy, according to officials, diplomats and analysts. …

Emboldened opposition leaders, many of whom openly support pressure by the United States even if they mistrust its intentions, said the measures were the last gasp of a government staggering after its hasty and embarrassing troop withdrawal last month from neighboring Lebanon.

Michael J. Totten thinks a Ceder Revolution may take place in Syria.

Roger L. Simon has an interesting take:

I don’t think too many people are really ready to believe it yet, but the fact that it is even in the air you would think would be sensational news, but as Jonah Goldberg points out, it only made page 10 of the Washington Post today. Is this because we have become so blasé about the spread of the democracy or because the WaPo is loathe to give more credit to the Bush Administration? If it’s the latter – and I don’t know that it is – I’m beginning to find some of my old allies pathetic.

And yet it is from the blogosphere that we hear about a pro-democracy protest in “Syria” earlier this week (HT Instapundit). Only Aljazeera and the Jordan Times (HT Terrorism Unveiled) seems to have mentioned it.