You have to wonder how long this can go on. Reports that up to 1/4 of the entire Syrian army has deserted or defected may be driving President Assad to greater brutality as he seeks to somehow defeat the rebels and tamp down the rebellion against his rule. New York Times: Syrian opposition groups that track casualties reported on Friday that the previous day was the deadliest so far this year, and possibly in the entire Syrian uprising, with as many as 190 civilians killed in a 24-hour period. The dead on Thursday were scattered in towns and cities throughout Syria, with the largest number concentrated in the Damascus suburb of Douma, about eight miles northwest of the city, according to reports from both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain, and the Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian-based group. Neither the tallies provided by antigovernment activists nor the distinctions made by the groups between opposition fighters killed while battling...(Read Full Post)