Erstellt am: 29. 5. 2012 - 14:11 Uhr

Syria: is the time for talk well and truly over?

Reality Check: Kofi Annan in Syria, Suu Kyi on international trip, violence in Egypt, Saskia Sassen on social movements, fingers, face and character

Following the horrific massacre in Houla on Friday, UN.Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, is meeting Syria's President Assad. Of course, there has been widespread international condemnation - but words have little effect on the Syrian regime.

It's already clear that protestations, condemnations and verbal threats cut no ice at all with Syria's government, and in the view of analyst, Rime Allaf, diplomatic channels have already been exhausted. In fact, she says the Kofi Annan would be better off going to Moscow than Damascus.

It's Russia that is blocking any serious action against Syria, fearing yet another messy middle-east entanglement by the West, that ends up making a bad situation worse. However, while the West may be talking about military intervention in Syria as being a "worst case scenario", according to Rime Allaf, no military intervention is the "worst case scenario" from the point of view of the Syrians.

Aung San Suu Kyi on diplomatic trip

As Burma's opposition leader Suu Kyi starts a diplomatic tour of the region, analyst and journalist Peter Popham looks at the significance of the trip for change in Burma.

Violence ahead of Egypt run-of

As the two candidates for the presidential run-off are confirmed as the Muslim Brotherhood candidate and the former Prime Minister under Mubarak, violence is erupting among the supporters of the Tahrir Square protests. Our Cairo correspondent, Karim El Gawhary, reports on the mood in the Egyptian capital, and the feeling among many people that the presidential election process is unconstitiutional.

Social movements of today

Sociologist Saskia Sassen talks to Gennie Johnson about today's social movements, from the Occupy protests to the London riots and gives her interpretations of what such movements mean.

Fingers and faces

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What your fingers can say about your character

The connection between your fingers, your face and your character! Anthropologist Katrin Shäfer of Vienna University tells Joanna Bostock about the curious relationship between our fingers, our faces and how we are perceived.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.