Knowledgeable statesmen and strategic experts have warned that, given the nondemocratic, authoritariancharacter of the Syrian regime and the unpredictability of what might take place in Syria after Hafez al-Assad is no longer in power, an Israeli agreement to return to the 1967 borders could cause Israel to end up with neither peace nor the Golan Heights.
Still, it is not in the character of Mr Rajapaksa's authoritarian regime, which has terrorised the country's once-vigorous independent media, to brook dissent.
Order has collapsed in Haiti, Venezuela is governed by a populist with authoritarian tendencies, Bolivia's next president may be a similar character and the governments of Ecuador and Peru are shaky.