By Daily Star Editorial

Syria has announced the formation of a new government, to which one can only say: good luck. Perhaps a new government will help address the country’s pressing challenges, and express the aspirations of the Syrian people. Perhaps a new government can live up to the expectations of other regimes in the region, some of which hope that the unrest in Syria will not deteriorate into all-out chaos and conflict.

However, the Syrian regime’s continued insistence on focusing on the role of external intervention in the current unrest can only divert attention from the hugely important task at hand: reform.
The resort to decrying foreign conspiracies has been tried, and has failed, in a number of countries, such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

A foreign conspiracy is simply unable to put thousands and thousands of people into the streets on a daily basis. And even if foreign parties are at work, they can only succeed on fertile ground; their role might explain an isolated incident or two, but not a process of revolt and revolution that has shaken pro-western and anti-western regimes alike.
Meanwhile, President Bashar Assad has grudgingly admitted that in this year of Arab revolutions, Syrians are raising legitimate demands.

Actual foreign involvement should be expected, but it should also presumably be contained by a regime so heavily dependent on a network of intelligence agencies.

The entire “foreign involvement” issue is threatening to spin out of control – as Damascus accuses others of interference, it is being obliged to issue its own denials, namely of American assertions that it is receiving Iranian help in quashing the unrest.
The cycle of accusation and counter-accusation will only siphon off the energy needed to look the real problem – the lack of reform – square in the face.

Perhaps the regime has been banking on the notion that the protests will remain confined to a single segment of society, namely the Sunni majority, but Thursday’s outbreak of protests in the town of Suweida, the “capital” of Syria’s Druze community, indicates that all bets are off.

Instead of relying on wishful thinking, and mobilizing talking heads to make accusations and counter-accusations, the simple fact is that there is a new government, and a long-held desire for reform.
If Syria is trying to please certain Arab countries, or avoid U.S. wrath, as it deals with the unrest, the efforts will only reduce the focus on where the problem lies.

The demands are well-known, but can be summarized as what some Syrian activists are calling a “dignity” revolution. For now, the mass of Syrians are not insisting on toppling specific figures as much as they are demanding the toppling of a system that does not allow them to live a dignified life. It is not too late for Syrian leaders to act, but they must certainly see the writing on the wall.