Its army, though crucial to Mr Assad's survival, is not powerful in global terms, having been serially swatted over the years by its Israeli neighbour.Yet Syria can put spokes in just about every wheel in the Middle East.
Other cities have banned their services outright, or tried other ways of putting spokes in their wheels.
Meanwhile, a growing shareholder rebellion at Arcelor threatened to put a spoke in the wheels of its proposed merger with Severstal.
The sandy-haired man, trying to put his spoke in and win favor, split his face into a smile as well.
But what's fascinating about this low-budget attempt to put a spoke in the wheels of capitalism is how powerfully we are in thrall to the Christmas spirit.
Tim Burton put a spoke into the wheel of this adolescent cycle with his 1989 Batman, which insisted that we abandon the foetal attraction of that hidden infant and go in search of our dark sides.
It is even possible that the same 5-4 right-of-centre court might yet put a spoke in his health-reform wheel; more than 20 states are clubbing together to argue that requiring everyone to buy health insurance violates the constitution.
But he will continue to be presumed innocent of the bribery charges that could have sent him to prison for up to ten years and put a spoke in the wheel of his sports empire.Mr Ecclestone's lawyers settled with prosecutors under paragraph 153a of the German legal code.
But it seems that the threat of legal action may be on hold after a government intervention, and any move to put a spoke in the wheels of the 4G rollout might not play well with the public.
France, in contrast, have little chance of putting a spoke in the wheel of England's chariot when the sides meet at Twickenham on the final weekend of the tournament if they continue to play like this.
With less than 24 hours of negotiations left, who is putting a spoke in the wheel?
