Homs

The best the West could do, is to provide safe passage for civilians to get them out of conflict areas. I have no idea how this could be done though. I read this:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14482968

about the Shabiba - a militia that does what the Assad regime wants, but allows deniability because they are not government troops or police. These are the thugs who kill civilians including women and children, for pro-Assad, sectarian, and other reasons.

I feel the horror of what is happening, but know that outside interference in a civil war can only make things worse.

Putin could make Assad step down.

Obama could arm the anti-government forces.

Are they waiting for another Bosnia type massacre. Are these little ones not enough for them?

Interfering in the internal politics of another country, let alone joining one side in a civil war is a dangerous thing to do. In the case of Syria, there is not a united anti-government side in the way that there was in Libya. Even so, partisan support in Libya was not supposed to be the plan, just protection of civilians. Any sort of action in Syria would involve ground forces – are we, is the Government prepared to commit British soldiers in this way? Is it legal?

Regime change is very dodgy. I'm sure we all agree that Assad is a nasty piece of work, but if Assad, then why not North Korea's beloved successor, Robert Mugabe, Vadimir Putin, etc. etc.? And what happens if another country decides regime change is necessary in a country that is one of our allies?

The lack of action on the part of NATO and the British Government has nothing to do with those people who, correctly, protested against the Iraq War. No country in the world was under such intense oversight as Iraq before it was invaded in 2003. To smuggle out any chemical or biological weapons would have required an invisibility cloak. There was absolutely no reason to believe that any viable chemical or biological weapons still existed in Iraq at that time. And now look at the state of the country…

I hate that steely-faced Putin.

I don't know who the current Chinese big boy is. But I can google.

If I just had the use of three drone missiles for one day, I know exactly who my three targets would be.

Sorry all...I was for the Iraq war!..certain there were biological weapons there...I nursed a patient with Anthrax, ghastly I promise you..he was a farm worker..picked it up from infected straw..had a massive black pustule on his arm, full of Anthrax spores..deadly..he survived..it takes 1 ampule of Anthrax to infect God knows how many people..imagine a suitcase full!..I'm certain all were smuggled out before the war...The reason we cannot intervene in Syria is because of all the people who screamed about the Iraq War.As for relying on the UN..they are about as useful as a chocolate tea-pot..in Bosnia UN troops stood by whilst Muslim boys were massacred...Syria is incredibly complicated..if we get rid of the ghastly Assad, we may be letting Al Quada in..

Unfortunately china and Russia are agin. what does it gain them , I'd like to know? Apart from the fact they are all oppressive regimes?

EVERY night we listen to the news and see images of body bags that contain murdered innocent people. I have now reached the point where I SCREAM for justice. When will those with the means to put an end to these massacres, stop trying to pussyfoot around and negotiate with madman Assad, and have him removed from power? If I could, I would.

The first post on this thread was on 1st of March, that is 3 months ago....how much longer can we sit back and watch this to go on. After watching the news last night, through my soggy tissue, I could not believe these latest atrocities. Innocent toddlers murdered in their own homes, in God's (which ever God you choose) name it must be stopped now.Dont tell me about tribal wars and boundaries and an eye for an eye, I agree with Soop - somebody somewhere must do something and SOON

Couldn't agree more! It is horrific.

If ever there was a cause worth fighting for, this has to be it...we cannot simply shake our heads and murmur about the slaughter of the innocent from the comfort of our arm-chairs... someone [very important] has to say enough's enough and head off with the means and back-up to sort the bloody mess out once and for all.

It's a horrible, cruel situation and one feels so helpless against such bare-faced brutality. Heaven help us, but I almost feel like saying, 'Come back Tony Blair'! He was wrong on Iraq but he was dead right to go into Sierra Leone and Kosovo. Wonder what he's thinking now - when he isn't counting his millions, that is.

From the Telegraph today.

"in one horrific scene, a man held up the limp corpse of a boy aged around seven years old, a gaping hole where the child’s nose and mouth should have been. “This child, what did he do to deserve this?” he screamed."

But their president doesn't care that the UN have people on the ground now ...he just carries on with his genacide programme ...he has the west's measure. Too many burnt fingers in pies not of our making ...and he knows the other muslim coutries will not get involved ...they didn't in Libya!
Sadly there is no financial gain for any other country. and sadly that would be the reason for 'humanitarian' action

They must do something now.

This would be a war with a cause.

It's truly horrible. Words aren't enough anymore.

Does this man have a good, sensible suggestion for a way of stopping the conflict?

Moncef Marzouki

He sounds a very honest man.

Jess I know it's too late for that.

It seems Russia and China could live to regret not endorsing the UN resolutions.

here

No fly zones no help when they are shelling from the ground. They prevent air attacks.
Unfortuntately the west - as in the European colonial powers, was instrumental in drawing the national boundaries, creating states including Israel, setting up and supporting dictators.
Obama was very wily when it came to Libya.
One of the few things that can be done is to draw up the financial drawbridge as they did in Libya. Freeze assets, financial sanctions, no foreign jollies for the families of dictators. Even that hurts the innocent - no money for drugs etc. The Swiss though are also quietly culpable for letting dictators from around the world stash away money they have stolen from their people.

One of their top people has the copurage to go against the regime.

God help him.

Abad Hussameddin

But we do know - imagine how much worse (if possible) it would have been without modern communication.

Yes Joan. Because they don't want the world to see what is happening there.

Just as I thought - the Red Cross can't get to where they are needed:

www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/red-cross-with-syria-aid-stopped-in-homs/story-e6freonf-1226287939194

I do so agree. We (the general public) are in danger of making snap judgements on what should be done without the knowledge of how things really are. These are virtually insoluble problems as long as the Chinese and the Russians maintain their current stance and in any case what we would consider to be the right thing may patently not be what the country needs. Thank God for the Red Cross and other agencies doing their very best to help

Since beginning my research about Afghanistan I have been reminded that we in the West live lives far removed from what seems to me to be the anachronistic way of life in places like the Middle East. The culture is primarily tribal, artificial boundaries are less important than tribal links and the practice of 'an eye for an eye' is upheld by most. To us it is barbaric, to them a way of life that hasn't changed through the centuries. I have come to believe that a culture cannot be changed unless the people are literate and can be educated in new (better?) ways to live.
There are no easy answers and the desire to bring about change often leads to worsening situations like this, but to look on and do nothing seems just wrong.

It's disgusting that the world is just watching it happen.The Red Cross are there though.