The die is cast

That the die is cast for President Assad and his associates is clear; the question though remains whether or not he is paying heed. He has vowed to fight to the last breath. It may be recalled that Qadhafi was also told to leave or face the consequences, and he chose to fight to the end.
Before him, sensing the intentions of US' warmonger President George W Bush, Russia had tried to talk Saddam into accepting an asylum offer, which he refused, vowing instead to fight and die in his country. Maybe, Assad will draw a lesson from those examples and bow out when there is till time to escape; maybe he won't and decide to fight to the finish. Already in the two years of fighting a very large number of Syrians have lost their lives, and thousands forced to take refuge in neighbouring countries. According to a UN estimate about two million homes have been damaged and thousands of schools and businesses destroyed.