I don't think that Putin is stompable at the moment, the Russians aren't as "down" as they were in the 90's.

The potential loss of the Med port of Tartus and the eavesdropping facility in Latakiya seem to be at least a kick in the balls.

An intervention in Syria is rank hypocrisy, we have stood back and let people commit genocide for decades in Africa.

How exactly are we going to pay for this? What is the mission?

The mission is to get the Dems re elected.

The Tony Blair approach!

That doesn't make doing nothing now right as well. Expect more military action in Africa in the coming years, especially as China extends its influence in Africa. : unsure:
Er, "debt"?
See my earlier post: a generous mix of R&D and Marketing, oh, and a dash of "humanitarian concern".

I agree that 2 wrongs dont make a right, I just don't see what has really changed. Obama spoke of a 'red line' last year that was promptly violated, and yet nothing happened. I suppose we're closer to the mid-terms now though!

Yes 'debt' - oh and I see the debt ceiling is to be reached in October too. Oh goody, another round of brinkmanship.

I'm surprised action hasn't been taken in Sudan yet, what with their substantial oil reserves...er, I mean, humanitarian crisis.

Ok, so we watched Egypt kick dictator which left a power vacuum leading to chaos. Syria will surely resemble the same once Assad has gone, is the plan to just leave the middle east in an eternal power vacuum resembling a Dyson -(i.e. - never loses suction)?

A variation on divide and conquer perhaps. We keep on stirring up hornets' nest, which attracts the jihadis, so they're busy fighting in their own back yard instead of attacking the west.

With only Israel left standing I imagine.

Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?

/Joshua

This I think is one of the biggest headaches for the issue, those nice freedom fighting rebels are Al-Qaeda.

Assad is a shame, I'm not sure what happened. I do vaguely recall when he took over from his dad he was lauded as a modern European educated leader who could really do great things for Syria.

Like Kim Jung-un, Assad is just a figure head for the military, and the military elite won't allow a change to the status quo, so anyone who expected Assad to be able to change much was ill-informed about who was really in charge in Syria.

When you try to change the status quo from a military controlled government you usually get the sort of messes we see in Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to name a few.

US?............

Things changed very little when he took over from his father. He wears a suit and tie and has a degree in medicine, but he is essentially a neo-Ba'athist dictator at the head of a family cult that rules the nation, and is corrupt into the bargain who has stolen £950 million for himself since coming to power.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...d-950m-fortune