The death rattle of the Assad regime.

Whether he likes it or not this is the death rattle of the Assad regime, he will eventually be heading for the exit. It make take the tragic death of many more in Syria by chemical weapons, but in the fullness of time, he will be a tombstone in Middle East history. Why is he doing this when the end game is so assured? I think the main reason is that he and this family plus others, have over many years run the country like a Mafia state stealing from the Syrian people. He cannot let them see what a kleptomaniac clan they are. Moreover there is the outside threat of modernity banging on the door. This is a touchstone issue. Can the politicians in the Middle East respond in a positive enlightened way to this - new modern technological interconnected world? Unless they do this could also be the death rattle of their theocratic system, it make take however another hundred years. How depressing.