West hopes deteriorating economy will be Syrian president Assad’s tripwire

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and the toppled Egypt's President and summit co-chairman Hosni Mubarak (right) welcome Syria's President Bashar Al Assad as he arrives to attend the Paris' Union for the Mediterranean founding summit. Europe is Syria’s main trading partner. (File Photo)

By JAMES M. DORSEY
AL ARABIYA

As they inch ever closer to cal…