SYRIEN - En sammanställning av konflikten

"---Of course we should reserve our harshest criticism for Congress rather than the Administration. If the people’s branch of government abrogates its Constitutional authority to the Executive branch, who is to blame? Who is to blame that Congress as a body will not stand up and demand that the president treat the Constitution as more than an anachronistic piece of paper, or merely a set of aspirations and guidelines? The Constitution is the law of the land and for Congress to allow it to be flouted speaks as badly about Congress as it does about a president who seeks to do the flouting.

Just last week the administration announced that it would begin providing material support to the rebels who seek to overthrow the Syrian government. Was Congress involved in this decision to take sides in what may develop into a full-fledged civil war? And what of reports that US special forces may already be operating inside Syria? Still, Congress sits silently as its authority is undermined. Does anybody really wonder why approval numbers for Congress are so low?---"

EU foreign ministers imposed sanctions Friday on Asma Assad, the stylish, British-born wife of the Syrian president, banning her from traveling to European Union countries and freezing any assets she may have there

But French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he believes the regime is getting weaker. "Their economic situation becomes ever more difficult. Syria has few reserves," Juppe told reporters. "We think its economic situation will become untenable."

In thousands of personal e-mails apparently intercepted by the Syrian opposition and published in newspapers earlier this month, Mrs. Assad demonstrated a love of expensive furniture, fine jewelry and Christian Louboutin shoes. In one email she was reported to have ordered (EURO)35,000 ($46,300) worth of furniture and candlesticks from a Paris boutique.

"We had a certain number of indications -- I am sure it has not escaped you -- how the wife of President Assad uses her money. It is perhaps this that pushed us to toughen the sanctions," Juppe said.