The failure of the Obama administration, its Western allies and several Middle East regional powers to take bolder action to stop the carnage in Syria is often explained by their fear of anarchy.
Given the Syrian opposition's manifest ineffectiveness and disunity, so the argument goes, President Bashar Assad's fall, when it finally comes, will incite civil war, massacres and chaos that may spill over Syria's borders, further destabilizing weak neighbors like Iraq and Lebanon, and leading perhaps to a regional crisis.
What is actually happening in Syria refutes this argument. In fact, the lingering crisis is corroding the fabric of Syrian society and government. Anarchy is setting in now: It is preceding — and precipitating — the regime's eventual fall.