Quadriga: The International Talk Show | Quadriga

Bloodshed in Syria - as the World Looks on The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has launched a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. Over 1800 civilians are thought to have been killed by government troops since the start of the uprising. Over 12,000 people have been imprisoned. And many regime opponents have simply disappeared. In the latest assault, Syrian troops attacked the rebel stronghold of Hama and unleashed a bloodbath. Some reports say as many as 140 people have been killed there. It is difficult to verify the reports coming out of Syria, because the authorities are refusing entry to international journalists. The Syrian government's attacks on its own people have triggered international condemnation. But the UN Security Council has not agreed to impose sanctions. Any such move has so far been blocked by veto powers Russia and China. In the meantime, the killing in Syria continues. President Assad has denied that there is a serious protest movement in his country and instead accused"armed groups"of stirring up trouble. Any military intervention on the part of the West seems out of the question. Neither the Arab League nor any element within the United Nations is pushing for that - unlike in the case of Libya. Even regime opponents inside Syria have not called for outside military intervention. Both the West and the Arab League are being very cautious. There is a geniune fear that the unrest could spread to neighboring countries. Syria is a patchwork of ethnic and religious groups held together by the firm hand of the Assad regime. If Assad is toppled, it could have unforeseen consequences for the entire region.What do you think? Bloodshed in Syria - as the World Looks on Drop us a line at: Quadriga@dw-world.de Our guests:Salam Said - Born and raised in Syria, Salam Said studied economics at Damascus University, majoring in macro-economics and international economic relations. She came to Germany in 2001 and earned her doctorate at the University of Bremen. Afterwards, she worked in research posts at various institutes, mostly in Hamburg and Berlin. Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Iraq Studies, part of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Her specialist areas of interest are economic change in the Arab world, the Syrian-European economic partnership, international trade relations and the globalization of world markets.Michael Stürmer -- has been the senior correspondent at the German daily"Die Welt"since 1989. Born in Kassel in 1938, Stürmer studied History, Philosophy and Languages in London, Berlin and Marburg. He is also Professor of Modern History at the University of Erlangen. Kristin Helberg - She studied political science and Journalism in Hamburg and Barcelona. First she was a freelance correspondent in Syria from 2001 to 2009. She worked for various radio stations such as ARD, DRS and ORF, as well as for German newspapers such as die Tageszeitung. In 2009 she returned to Germany and lives in Berlin where she works as a freelance journalist. Her main emphasis still focuses on the Middle East and she travels and reports from there regularly