Syria - what is to be done?

What really is worrying though is that the next Tory government is even thinking of entering Syria militarily. I thought Iran would have taught them a lesson. But clearly Johnson has learned nothing.

I hope that this poodle like stance towards America isn't all part of the charm offensive in the hope that they will throw us some crumbs from their trading table. Their minister for Commerce has already indicated that the E U comes before us and that we are small beer when it comes to trading partnerships.

I would imagine that May choked over her breakfast tea when she heard him, well I sincerely hoped that she did.

I thought the same luck I think what it really shows is his immaturity at needing to catch the limelight with off the cuff and what he thinks are "oh such clever" remarks. He really is a lose cannon and not to be trusted. A tad too chaotic for my taste.

Yes - heard that this morning and it seemed a bit too "off the cuff" for my taste. Pronouncements with such dangerous and far-reaching potential results should be fully and openly debated. Does he have the authority to make this statement of his own bat?

I see Johnson declared unilaterally that we will almost certainly go in with the USA if Trump decides to invade Syria, and without recourse to Parliament.

If the Trump administration, had wrung it's hands over Assad 'chemical bombing'
his own people, but done nothing , what then? Even more of the same, that's what, with Putin laughing over the ineffective US.The bombing of the airfield has given Assad and Russia pause for thought.Good!

It's a real dilemma isn't it, especially with a reactive, emotional responder in the White House.

We all loathe what's happening in Syria. We all know that interference in Iraq and Lybia caused chaos and has led to suspicion and often hatred of the US and its allies. I have no regard for Trump but his insistence (pre election) that the US would not get involved in Syria and would no longer see itself as the Police person of the world suggested things would change. They seem to have but not for the better.

To be honest Welshwife I agree with your comments about the Middle East. Their culture is so different from the West that for us to try and impose western democracy is perhaps foolish and arrogant?!! Putin is right of course, get rid of Assad, and then what or who?! Remember what happened in Iraq when there was no plan of action!!

I have just see. Assad giving a speech on TV - he says that the last attack was a figment of the imagination and did not happen and was reported as happening to give Trump a reason to drop the bombs. He said it was not two separate incidents but the same one. I saw it - and what the reporters had to say about it - on France 24 -Channel 205 on a Freesat box.

What ever is happening out in Syria they have ruined what was a lovely country - when it is all sorted however will they get their society going again?
I think that these middle eastern cultures are so different to Western ones that they are best left alone to sort themselves out. The whole of that region is somewhat of a mess now. Up until recently Libya was functioning reasonably normally - we know a football commentator on their TV and radio channels and we were seeing postings and getting messages from him about his programmes but they have ceased for the last couple of months.

I am liking Rex Tillerson's manner and apparent straightforwardness: trib.al/1Tm1fKi

But maybe behind the scenes Putin will have told Assad to stop using chemical weapons.

Both Corbyn and Johnson had proposals that had to be put on th table. Neither were going to get far. I guess they both knew that.

Has to be put on the table, though, Fitzy.
Boris didn't get his way and he's in the government.

I shouldn't mock though. We all had to try. It's just he wouldn't accept that it had no chance whatsoever of success.

So Corbyn's plan crashes and burns -draft UN resolution that Syria submit to an investigation is vetoed by Russia.

I guess we all have to choose our superpower and stick with it. He has his (serious) issues, but I prefer ours.

Do you just see all this as fun durhamjen ?

Got it!
But no, I think they will have said "why didn't you go to Russia and suck up to Putin like us, instead of sucking up to Trump?".

Boris sanctioned Russia by not going?

I wonder what the G7 people said to him when they first saw him.
"Hello, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't like meeting people."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/12/boris-johnson-brexit-tim-farron

Sorry Jen - can you explain that one?

Boris had his own special sanction, didn't he?
They were really worried about him not going.

Well,of course they didn't! As roses says they're far to afraid that Russia will turn off the pipeline and worse! I think BJ exposed their cowardice and indecisiveness, and showed them for the idiots/hypocrites that they are! The very young, the old the vulnerable? when compared to a pipeline and of course money (sanctions aren't good for making that!) Well, there is of course, no contest, why on earth did we think there would be. I could hardly bear to look at their grinning self satisfied faces in the group photograph. Funny how suffering can be something to grin about! Awful people that they are!

Sorry WW, I may be wrong but I don't think you are any more able than the rest of us to tell us what the Foreign Office know. They will have been advising him, and I would guess he must have had at least some support. Maybe a great deal. In any event I don't see any reason why Johnson shouldn't try to convince the others to ramp up sanctions, even if the likelihood of success was always low. He may have had no takers this time but he has made his point and others may follow later if their own idea (cross your fingers and hope it all goes away) doesn't work. Having said that, if it was my decision I might well have tried that one first as well! Let's none of us pretend we really have any idea what to do for the best in this impossible situation.

My point being that someone with better diplomatic skills would not have said what Johnson said.

Well and America of course?