Technoglitch
Core Member
When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? Perhaps when it allows a blood-soaked tyrant to continue raining barrel bombs on his rebellious people. The “nationwide ceasefire” supposedly agreed for Syria belongs in a special category of futility.
Bashar al-Assad’s Russian friends made very sure that the truce signed in Munich does not stop anyone from attacking “terrorists” – and the dictator flatly maintains that he has never done anything else.
After all, Assad defines every Syrian who has ever opposed him as a “terrorist”. So the logic is inescapable: operations against “terrorists” are allowed, all Assad’s enemies are “terrorists”, therefore the regime’s onslaught can press on as normal.
Assad may now complete the encirclement of Aleppo and ravage the last enclave of northern Syria held by non-Islamist rebels – with Russia bombing from the air and Iran supplying fighters on the ground – and still obey the terms of the truce. As an example of supremely cynical diplomacy, the Munich ceasefire is in a class of its own.
In truth, the latest events in Syria are still more worrying. The tragedy now unfolding in and around Aleppo poses a direct threat to European security, combining the dangers of terrorism with the risk of direct conflict between Nato and Russia.
We tend to associate the latter peril with Nato’s most exposed European members and the possibility of Vladimir Putin invading the Baltic states. But never forget that Turkey is also part of Nato.
Vladimir Putin wants to destroy Nato: the Syria war may offer him the chance - Telegraph
Bashar al-Assad’s Russian friends made very sure that the truce signed in Munich does not stop anyone from attacking “terrorists” – and the dictator flatly maintains that he has never done anything else.
After all, Assad defines every Syrian who has ever opposed him as a “terrorist”. So the logic is inescapable: operations against “terrorists” are allowed, all Assad’s enemies are “terrorists”, therefore the regime’s onslaught can press on as normal.
Assad may now complete the encirclement of Aleppo and ravage the last enclave of northern Syria held by non-Islamist rebels – with Russia bombing from the air and Iran supplying fighters on the ground – and still obey the terms of the truce. As an example of supremely cynical diplomacy, the Munich ceasefire is in a class of its own.
In truth, the latest events in Syria are still more worrying. The tragedy now unfolding in and around Aleppo poses a direct threat to European security, combining the dangers of terrorism with the risk of direct conflict between Nato and Russia.
We tend to associate the latter peril with Nato’s most exposed European members and the possibility of Vladimir Putin invading the Baltic states. But never forget that Turkey is also part of Nato.
Vladimir Putin wants to destroy Nato: the Syria war may offer him the chance - Telegraph
