Syria: What is everyone waiting for?

Events in Libya have overshadowed what is going on in Syria. The situation there is obviously grim - yet the West, the UN and everyone else, are doing little, if anything other than talk, to stop the carnage.

"At least 2,600 people have been killed in Syria since pro-democracy protests broke out in March and President Bashar al-Assad sent in troops to crush the unrest, the United Nations said on Monday.

The death toll, 400 higher than earlier U.N. estimates, was based on "reliable sources on the ground," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who released the data.

The figures were almost twice the size of the Syrian government's estimate.

Bouthaina Shaaban, one of Assad's advisors, earlier on Monday said about 1,400 people had died -- half of them police officers and half opposition activists.

Syria blames armed groups and "terrorists" for the violence and argues the security forces are defending public order.

"With regard to Syria, let me note that, according to reliable sources on the ground, the number of those killed since the onset of the unrest in mid-March 2011 in that country, has now reached at least 2,600," Pillay told the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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