There are several elements in the ongoing violence in Syria. There is the use of security forces by President Bashar Assad's regime; there are the reprisals and counterviolence by hodgepodge mix of defectors and armed civilians constituting the Free Syrian Army; and then there are coordinated attacks like last week's twin car bombings near a military-intelligence branch in a Damascene neighborhood, which reportedly killed at least 55 and wounded hundreds.

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Spending on foreign assistance by developed countries decreased in real terms in 2011, the first such decrease since 1997. Given ongoing economic troubles in the United States, Japan, and Europe, flat-line or declining aid budgets from OECD countries are likely to be the new normal. But foreign assistance from emerging economies is growing fast, albeit from a low starting point.
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