Juan Cole: It's becoming a Syrian government strategy when it assaults a city.

Activists accused the Syrian Baath Party of committing yet another massacre on Wednesday, this time at Qubair in Hama Province. Around 100 are said to have been killed. In what has become a modus operandi, it is alleged that Syrian artillery pulled up and bombarded the town, which had sided with the rebels, and gave cover for the pro-regime shabiha militia, which moved in with guns and knives. About 20 of those killed were children, and another 20 were women.

The news came as the Russian foreign minister warned that any intervention in Syria would bring catastrophe in its wake. China reaffirmed that it is on the same page as Russia.

Looks as though this thing is going to go on for a while.

http://www.juancole.com/2012/06/100-dead-in-fresh-syrian-massacre.html

In the past Cole has likened Syria today with Czechoslovakia in 1968 when the USSR sent in tanks to stop the Prague Spring. It's a horrible situation but there is little that anyone can do about it. In both cases it is extremely sad for the citizens involved, but in the long run they did and will triumph.