He writes:
Ignoring the sound of gunfire encapsulates the world’s reaction to the atrocities in Syria to date. As so often, leaders who have said “never again” after the last genocide do nothing to prevent the next. But perhaps their indifference won’t last. The ferocity of the regime’s violence has pushed the Syrian National Council, an umbrella group for much of the opposition, from calling for civil disobedience and passive resistance to begging for outside help. As Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian dissident, put it to me: “In the fight of tanks against bare chests, the odds are not exactly even and bravery can only get you so far.” The Syrian incarnation of the “Arab Street” we used to hear so much about now wants Nato planes in the skies.
I’m not sure the word “genocide” (as opposed to indiscriminate mass killing on an appalling scale) is appropriate here. But I’m finding it harder and harder to argue convincingly against what Nick advocates.
