Over the weekend, the Arab League suspended [NYT] Syria's membership and plans to impose sanctions on Assad's regime. The decision prompted riots from pro-regime mobs and thankful demonstrations like the one above. Jack Goldstone thinks the move is a big deal:
This formal denunciation, to be followed by discussions of how to protect Syrian civilians, will put Bashar on the defensive, and offer enormous moral support to the courageous Syrian opposition. Whether any kind of intervention will follow — from providing shelter for refugee or opposition groups on the borders, or even more direct intervention to separate civilians from assault by armor or air — is still quite uncertain. But as with Libya, the action of the Arab League starts a process of isolating and deligitimizing the Syrian regime. And that process, once begun, is likely to continue to its logical conclusion, which will be a regime change.
Michael Totten nods, but Joshua Goldstein is less confident. Juan Cole sees the vote as partially motivated by anti-Iranian sentiment, while David Ignatius situates it in the history of previous Arab League actions. Meanwhile, a new video gives you a sense of what it's like to be in a protest broken up bloodily:
Massive crowds, like this one today in Hama, gather to commemorate the dead and call for an end to the brutality:
These crowds gather even in the face of near-certain torture if captured (via The Revolting Syrian):
The Dish 