When a dictatorship cannot regain control over a country in revolt for 18 months despite repeated offensives, when it cannot police the countryside away from the main roads, cannot secure the capital or its main trading hub, cannot even protect its innermost citadels and has to pull troops from its borders to protect its palaces, it is finished. This is the case with the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, who is still trying to kill his way out of the crisis, even as poorly armed rebels swarm through Syria’s cities and his supporters melt away. He is finished.
當一個獨裁政權在18個月的叛亂中多次發動進攻，仍無法重新取得這個國家的控制權，當它無法保衛遠離主要道路的農村地區、無法保護其首都和主要貿易中心、甚至無法保護其最隱祕的堡壘（不得不從邊境抽調軍隊來保護王宮），這時，這個政權就已經完蛋了。巴沙爾•阿薩德(Bashar al- Assad)獨裁政權現在就面臨這樣的情形。裝備不良的叛軍正大舉湧入敘利亞各城市，阿薩德的支持者四散而逃，即便在這種時候，這位獨裁者仍在試圖通過殺戮走出危機。阿薩德已經完蛋了。