Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Stop the Hand-Wringing About Aleppo

| December 19, 2016

What's happening in Syria is a tragedy — but nobody has ever been willing to do what's necessary to stop it.

Political leaders across the West piously lined up last week to identify the fall of Aleppo as a stain on our collective conscience. The West, they have said, should have done more to stop the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

At a purely humanitarian level, this is obviously true. States can always do more to deliver humanitarian aid to people on the ground. But in a military sense, the notion that the West should have "done more" is fantastical and learns exactly the wrong lesson from this carnival of carnage.

If there is a lesson for the West from the post-Cold War era of liberal interventionism, it is this: Either intervene decisively and be invested for the long term — or stay out....

Continue reading (log in may be required): http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/12/19/stop-the-hand-wringing-about-aleppo/

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Simpson, Emile.“Stop the Hand-Wringing About Aleppo.” Foreign Policy, December 19, 2016.

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