As the U.S. Congress prepares to debate military action against the Syrian regime, rebel commanders and fighters on the ground say that it would take a decisive strike to aid them in their fight.
Seven million Syrians have been displaced and more than 100,000 killed in the ongoing civil war, nearly one third of the country’s population, with the international community still divided on how to reduce the bloodshed.
The UK is to propose a UN Security Council resolution today which would authorise “necessary measures to protect civilians” in Syria.
The West has been united in its condemnation of the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, laying the blame squarely on Assad’s forces, but Russia has downplayed the importance of the attack and the need for international military intervention in the ongoing civil war.
It was a danger as soon as Edward Snowden stepped foot on Russian soil: becoming trapped in the clutches of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is now enjoying a rare position of moral high ground over both the whistleblower and the US forces seeking to capture him. Now, looking woefully in over his head in his airport prison, Snowden’s attempts at both upholding moral integrity and avoiding US jail time seem to have become two mutually exclusive paths.