Warning: Defending your rights may be hazardous to your health. Potential side effects can include rubber bullets, tear gas, and batons wielded with impunity.

Over the last few days protests have been growing in Egypt in response to the continuing control of the government by Mubarak era military forces.

Only eight days away from parliamentary elections which activists believe are being subverted by the military to protect their continued control, activists are back in Tahrir, Alexandria and Suez demanding democratic control of the Egyptian government.

The action by the collection of Arab states against the Syrian regime followed a so-called peace agreement that the Arab League brokered with Bashar al-Assad, which was supposed to end violence by security forces. However, a day after agreeing to the peace deal, Syrian security killed 10 protesters, and since that time Syria has continued to lay waste to the country, killing 250 protesters in 11 days.

The movie of the life of US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is going to be great. I just hope it ends well.

It turns out that the Iraqi leadership essentially backed the Syrian side of the divide over their repressive attacks on their own people. It’s credible to suggest that Iran played a role in Iraq’s decision-making.

The Iraqi government is most certainly not unified on this point. The Parliament has denounced the violence in Syria, particularly the Kurdish and Sunni factions. But Maliki appears firmly in the Syrian camp, in contrast to his government’s anger at Bahrain when the Sunni minority brutalized a Shiite majority. So the sectarian lens has come to govern Iraq’s positions in the region.

What continues to unfold in Syria is a massive crime against humanity. The UN Security Council has unanimously condemned the violations against human rights and use force against civilians by President Bashar al Assad’s regime. But sending a US envoy to open lines of communication with the Syrian people and the Syrian government could further aggravate the situation in Syria.

The uprising in Syria may have reached a tipping point. The Arab League has ended its silence on Bashar al-Assad’s brutal repression of protesters and condemned the violence, expressing “growing concern and serious distress” at the attacks. But more important, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador, a crucial vote of no confidence in the Assad regime.

n the aftermath of a massacre in Hama, Syria state media broadcasted images of “burnt, buildings, makeshift barricades and deserted streets strewn with rubble,” according to the New York Times and claimed the revolt in Syria has ended. Meanwhile, The Guardian reports tens of thousands have taken to the streets all over the country and are continuing a five-months old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

If it’s possible, things are getting even more intense in Syria. The incursion into Hama, site of a large massacre of citizens at the hands of the regime in 1982, carries symbolic significance, as well as continuing the brutal repression which has killed or disappeared thousands since the start of the uprising.

So, have you heard the one about the former American ally in the Middle East turning against us? I know, how rare.