Just yesterday at least another 80 people were massacred in the Syrian village of Qubair by Assad regime-supported militia. Women and babies were executed at a low angle, crouching; another turn at Houla. Upon threat of even more brutality the bodies of the victims were buried before U.N and other international outfits could lay witness to the day’s horror.
And what is the international response to all that? Well, ostensibly, a lot of diplomacy. Though when it comes to action, no country with near-monopoly firepower has any appetite for any muscular intervention against the Assad regime. Indeed, as Kofi Annan, the diplomat attending to this crisis–badly, at that– said today standing pat next to Hilary Clinton, his 6-point peace plan is not being implemented. Or it’s just not plain working. (Is not the plan too feeble now to be implemented?)
Now, as a matter of realpolitik, no bargain between the Assad regime and the international community will move without Russia’s say-so. Are we to await the Kremlin’s move to entice the Assad regime to step away from power? Is it not too late for that? And what of Russia’s credibility on human rights?