In Syria, at least three major mass killings have been reported in recent weeks, the most notorious being the murder last month of more than 100 civilians, mostly women and children, in the central town of Houla. And for the first time, there were clashes on Friday in the capital of Damascus.
Yesterday the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 57 people were killed nationwide on Sunday, 37 of them civilians.
Meanwhile, diplomacy to end the slaughter has gone nowhere, with the U.S., its European allies, and even the Arab League deferring to Russia, which has steadfastly supported the Syrian government. Weeks ago the UN said that at least 9,000 people have been killed since the violence began over a year ago — opposition groups now say it's more like 14,000.
On CNN's State of The Union, John McCain, who has never found an international conflict that he didn't want the U.S. to intervene in, mocked the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, who recently argued that the U.S. shouldn't ship arms to the opposition to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, since we don't know who they really are.
This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2012.