Arab League Gets New Sense of Purpose With Syria Pressure: View

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Syria’s rejection on Monday of anArab League plan calling for the country’s president, Bashar Al-Assad, to hand over power was not a surprise, and neither shouldit be seen as a setback.

Rather, those hoping for an end to Syria’s bloodshed shouldbe heartened that the league, long a cozy club for dictators,has found a new sense of purpose. Assad is nowhere near feelingthe sort of pressure on his regime that forced Yemen’s strongman,Ali Abdullah Saleh, to accept a similar deal from the GulfCooperation Council in November. Although it will be largely upto the rebels within Syria to make Assad’s seat too hot toremain in, there are several concrete steps the league, the U.S.and the European Union can take to raise the temperature.