Before David Miliband, Britain's foreign secretary, visited Syria last month in a sign that its relations with the West are getting less frosty, he said the country faced the choice of being a force either for stability or instability in the Middle East. Yet for much of its 40 years under rule by the Assad family, until 2000 by the father, Hafez, and since then by his son Bashar, Syria has succeeded pretty well in escaping that choice. Too weak to make war, Syria has proved strong enough and patient enough to deny its neighbours peace.
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