Arab Cover for Assad?

As Saudi Arabi joins the chorus calling for Syria's withdrawl from Lebanon, Mideast-watchers are saying he's going for "Arab cover," so it doesn't look like the West (with America in the forefront, but Germany and England in there as well. France? Well you know) isn't pushing him out.

"They're trying to find an Arab umbrella for the withdrawal from Lebanon," said Adnan Iskander, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. "It's a formality which gives the impression that Syria is responding to pressure from Arab countries, which makes it easier. It saves face, really." (in today's LATimes)

It is indeed about face, which means it is not about brains. The world sees through this. The world sees purple dye on index fingers and US soldiers dying for democracy while Arab thugs die and kill for repressive despots and mad-eyed mullahs. With all the focus on Lebanon, the larger question for Syria remains unasked: Once retrenched within his borders, how long will Assad's dictatorship be able to hold back democratic reform?