Washington Post; "In Syrica, Iraq's Fate Silences Rights Activists"; Knickmeyer; Oct 2006

Syria, the last Baath-rule country, now isolated since the assassination of the Lebanese PM, now is even less likely to risk discussion of democritizing their country. Firstly because crackdowns are harder (talk of democracy is siding with US=traitorous), but also because at least things are better in Syria than they are in Iraq.