Joshua Muravchik, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, is the author of The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East.

Protests are sweeping Syria, but any U.S. response may be hamstrung by President Obama’s insistence on multilateralism in Libya. Getting the Arab League and U.N. Security Council’s approval on military action against Bashar al-Assad will be a no-go, says Joshua Muravchik.