The world has come to expect brutality from the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
As Syria's civil war enters its eighth year next month, the suffering of the besieged people of eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, is as extreme as anything seen since this appalling conflict began. Less expected, perhaps, is the shaming inability, or unwillingness, of the international community to put a stop to this latest upsurge in death and destruction.
Its failure points to a bigger problem, with dire implications for the global order.
The past few days have witnessed a shambolic orgy of bickering and mudslinging at the UN Security Council over a modest proposal for a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire in Syria.
The resolution put forward by Sweden and Kuwait was not intended as a long-term fix. It is separate from the stalemated UN peace process. Its immediate, urgent aim is to halt the slaughter in Ghouta, where nearly 500 people have died and thousands have been wounded by Syrian and Russian bombardments since last weekend.
Even this small mercy, in the context of a war that has taken half-a-million lives, was too much for the Russians. Threatening a veto, Vladimir Putin's Government insisted on prior ``guarantees'' that besieged Islamist opposition fighters would abide by any ceasefire. This was a cynical, time-wasting move. In this boundless war, there is no such thing as a cast-iron guarantee.
Most saliently, there is no guarantee that Assad's forces will honour any agreement in the coming days. In 2016, the regime ignored a similar ceasefire deal during the siege of Aleppo.
Russia's delaying of UN action underscored the unrepentantly outlaw nature of Putin's leadership. Moscow has vetoed 10 previous Syria resolutions in furtherance of its policy of support for Assad. It has protected him and his cronies from UN investigations into war crimes.
Last November, Russia blocked UN inquiries into reported, resumed regime use of chemical weapons in contravention of a 2013 deal that Putin brokered in order to head off US military intervention. Russia's transparent attempt to buy time, in the hope that Assad's forces will finally overrun Ghouta, left it wholly isolated.
Even China, which typically follows Moscow on international security issues, kept its head down. All 10 non-permanent council members favoured a ceasefire. So, too, did the three Western permanent members. Even Donald Trump, Putin's chum, said Russia's behaviour was a ``disgrace''. But as he has shown over Ukraine and other issues, diplomatic isolation holds no fears for Putin.
If they really want to deter Russian sponsorship of Assad's war, it is the clear responsibility of the US and the European allies to apply the sort of asymmetric pressure Putin understands. If they really want to help Syria's people, additional economic sanctions on Moscow, a switch to alternative energy suppliers and thorough investigations into Russian abuses of the international financial system would be a good start. Russian gas exports to Europe hit record levels last year; while Russian pipelines keep Germans warm, Syrians are left out in the cold. But the West did nothing to squeeze Putin last week.
Trump, like Barack Obama, has also failed Syria and Ghouta is one direct result. When the US refused to take action in 2013 after Assad attacked Ghouta with sarin gas and crossed Obama's ``red line'', Putin read it as a green light. Direct Russian military intervention ensued in 2015, while the Americans confined themselves to fighting IS. This, broadly, is Trump's position now. He cares not a fig for dying Syrians. But he does want to stay pals with his Russian buddy.
Last week's ineffectual wrangling over Ghouta should be a sobering moment for EU governments, too. European politicians responded tardily, after the NGO and media clamour became impossible to ignore. On Friday, Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron, Europe's supposed inspiration, personally appealed to Putin. The subsequent silence emanating from Moscow was crushing. Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, declared: ``The massacre must stop now!'' But who is listening?
Macron's ambitious ideas about Europe as a powerful military and security force in the world should be measured against this reality.
Other actors in Syria's tragedy not directly involved in last week's UN shambles also share the burden of shame. Iran's responsibility is too often underestimated, as its militia forces and Hizbollah allies ride the slipstream of Assad's ignominy. Trump's attempts to tear up the 2015 nuclear deal with the West should be resisted. But Teheran can be in no doubt that its actions in Syria, and its growing face-off with Israel across the Syrian border, weaken the hand of those in the West who seek normalised relations. Likewise, Turkey's latest Syrian incursion, into Afrin, has made matters worse.
The failures and misbehaviour of individual states aside, the biggest crisis surrounds the UN itself. Like Ghouta, it is under siege. Its already battered credibility is on the line. The entire Security Council system, and its standing as the pre-eminent international forum, is under threat. There will be more wars and more Ghoutas.
The future of collective global governance is looking bleak. - The Observer
