US Would Own the War in Syria

Parisians are used to a certain amount of inertia in August, when the locals vacate and leave their city to the tourists. There are no explanations needed on the closed storefronts with signs of 8/27 or 9/3 designating simply when they will reopen. August is for sleep; everything can wait till later. That sleepiness is being tested now, as the world looks aghast at the deteriorating violence in Syria and military hawks and humanitarian interventionists come together, once again, in a unified chorus to call for greater support and arms to the Syrian resistance. Indeed, it’s a bit of a family reunion for those ideological camps here and in the United States. But its familiarity threatens to hide key differences between Syria and the last call to intervention, Libya. This time, for example, France is steadfastly on vacation.