Will the west stand up to Assad?

I have no doubt the Americans will keep up the pressure on Syria, but the Europeans?

President Bashar al Assad of Syria threw down the gauntlet to the West yesterday, announcing "he would not bow his head to anyone in the world".

In a defiant speech, he promised to cooperate with a UN probe that implicated his officials in the murder of a Lebanese leader but warned that the policy would end if Syria were harmed.

"We will play their game," he told an audience in Damascus university.

But he also launched a scathing attack on Lebanon's leadership, accusing them of turning their country into a hotbed of conspiracy against his regime.