The Intervention drums Beat for Syria, But To What End? – Spectator Blogs

Poor Syria. The Syrian opposition struggled for attention before the latest Israel-Hamas conflagration. Yet despite this, the agitation for intervention continues. But to what end? That’s a question I ask in a piece for Foreign Policy:

The international community’s attitude is best-summarized by a recent headline from America’s most reliable news source, The Onion: “Having Gone This Far Without Caring About Syria, Nation To Finish What It Started.” That may be about to change, however as European powers — as such Britain and France insist they be deemed — inch closer and closer to intervening in the Syrian tragedy.

[…] British and French agitation still resembles nothing so much as an unorthodox variation on the classic governmental mantra: Something Must Be Done. In this instance, the novelty is this: no Something has actually been identified.
There is talk of lifting the arms embargo that currently hampers the Syrian opposition’s attempts to topple Bashar al-Assad’s regime.