The Guardian reports: Western air forces must be willing to confront Russian military jets over the skies of Syria to enforce a no-fly zone and protect the citizens of eastern Aleppo from a bombardment akin to the attack on Guernica during the Spanish civil war, UK MPs will be told by a former cabinet minister in an emergency three-hour Commons debate on Tuesday.
The intervention by Andrew Mitchell, the former international development secretary, and the granting of the debate itself, will force the UK’s Foreign Office to set out how it intends to respond after Russia’s veto of a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in eastern Aleppo. The west has been criticised for lacking any leverage over Russia in Syria.
Britain has criticised Russia but set out no clear plan on how to respond to the growing threat posed by Moscow not just in the Middle East, but across eastern Europe. Mitchell argues the whole post-cold war international diplomatic architecture is being torn down by Russian actions. [Continue reading…]
I wonder whether there will also be a proposed no-fly-zone for Yemen, or for Gaza. I don’t think so. How can one expect Putin to conform to the “international community” when said community clearly has a political agenda reflected by such stark double standards? As I said, what the West finds most irritating about Putin is the fact that he’s acting like any American president, choosing allies and foes at a whim and unilaterally deciding whose war crimes are acceptable.