What's up in Syria ?

Another US cock-up in the Mideast that will cause generations of problems, due primarily to short sightdness and a lack of accountability, just like supporting Saddam.  That’s what’s actually going on in Syria
 
Firstly, the FSA [Free Syrian Army] – that you have been hearing so much about – does not exist.
A better title would be MWG, or men with guns, because having guns and firing them in the same direction is the only thing that unites them.
The word “army” suggests a cohesive force with a command structure. Almost two years after the FSA was created, that remains illusive.
The situation has been further complicated by the introduction into the arena of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists and armed criminal gangs.

Secondly, the Syrian opposition’s political leadership – which wanders around international capitals attending conferences and making grand speeches – is not leading anyone. It barely has control of the delegates in the room with it, let alone the fighters in the field.

These two things can help explain why this crisis has so far shown no sign of being resolved politically.
America is not acting because it does not know what to do or whom to do it with.
Neither do the European countries.
Having spent the last few days in Beirut and Damascus, talking to the international community, Western diplomats, FSA activists and Syrian regime supporters, it is clear that nobody knows how to end this crisis.
That’s just about the only thing all sides agree on.
Saudi and Qatari ‘meddling’
The vacuum created by Western inaction has been filled by two of the Gulf states – Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
These are both sorely undemocratic states, they are not champions of democracy either at home or abroad.
So, why in Syria did we have a “free world” standing by and watching the democratic uprising being brutally crushed, when suddenly from over the horizon came the cavalry from the very un-free Gulf world to arm and support the aspirations of the people?This bit is simple – they did not.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are meddling in Syria for thoroughly selfish reasons. Freedom, democracy and human rights have absolutely nothing to do with why they are arming the rebels.
President Assad’s Alawite community is a splinter from the Shia faith – its closest allies are in Shia Iran.
Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia hates Shia Iran, so it is using the war in Syria to try and weaken it.