International Crisis Group Report On Syria

Syria is going “quickly beyond the point of no return”. A slightly cautious report but a good general overview of where things stand at the moment.

The only small problem I have, — and really, unless you’re also a nitpicker you can stop reading here — is with the formulation “quickly going beyond the point of no return”. This doesn’t really answer the question: Did we cross the point of no return? If the answer is no, then why use the word “beyond”? If the answer is yes, then why use the gerund tense as if to imply that the process of crossing the point of no return is a long protracted one (but then why use the word quickly?) And that still wouldn’t make sense because we’re already “beyond” it, unless the “beyond of the point of no return” is in itself a long protracted place. But then wouldn’t “Syria has crossed the point of no return” have been a much more dramatic title?

Meh.. Sorry for involving you in this mental and linguistic torture..