Syria's population is 74% Sunni Muslim.

It seems clear to me that the Obama Administration has no human rights policy. That is, while in some inchoate sense they would like respect for human rights to grow around the world, as all Americans would, they have no actual policy to achieve that goal - and they subordinate it to all their other policy goals.

While all Alawites fear vengeance against their entire community should Assad fall, there are varying degrees of loyalty to the Assads.

Honduras was the original 'banana republic,' and its poverty remains extreme.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned, it seems, to direct the Middle East policy of the Obama administration.

Al Qaeda's message that violence, terrorism and extremism are the only answer for Arabs seeking dignity and hope is being rejected each day in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and throughout the Arab lands.

There isn't any way for the people of Nicaragua to find out what's going on in Nicaragua.