On Wednesday, Bashar al Assad pledged to die in Syria. Just as  two other dictators of Arab countries who were evicted, tossed out, disposed of, had done earlier in the "Arab Spring." Hosni Mubarack and Gadhafi were those "others" and they more or less got what they promised, one was executed, the other is in prison on life support. Assad, stating on Russia Today television that he " is Syrian, and he will live and die there" also ranted about not "being a puppet of the West." It was one of his rare public appearances, and still rarer interviews. He warned the West not to interfere in his countries internal affairs and stated that he felt they would not, or the region would be engulfed in flames. It is quite likely he will meet his fate if he chooses to stay. Assad's remarks came one day after Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK offered him "safe passage" out of Syria, but not protection from any criminal prosecution he would face.

In other more important news, Turkey stated it would ask NATO to deploy Patriot Missile batteries to their border with Syria. Turkey has been kicking around the idea of establishing "safe zones" for civilian refugees on the Syrian side of the border. The missiles would help ensure the integrity and protect the perimeter of any such zones. Turkey hosts more than 100,000 Syrian refugees, as do several other countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. These numbers are expected to top more than 750,000 by years end.

Today the ICRC(Red Cross) stated that it "could no longer cope" with the sheer number of the displaced, distressed and those in need of humanitarian aid. That number is over 2.5 million and is only expected to increase as the winter sets in and the battle for Damascus intensifies.