Cameron To March On Russia?

There are very many experts in both the military and diplomatic world saying that going into Syria without either a strategic purpose or an exit plan is little short of insane in the present world.

Given the state of the army, the limited capability of both the navy and the air force as well as the inexperience and lack of understanding in 10 Downing Street if the intervention is anything other than a hit and run raid then we are in deep trouble.

Even if it is such a "raid" it could be more like the Dieppe Raid of August 1942 than any other of recent memory.  Unluckily, such "raids" of this kind can turn into commitments that are ruinous by any standard.

Yet we are told, and haven't we heard this one before so often, that there is a Moral Imperative.  It is baffling that in a conflict that has had so many hideous incidents that suddenly the use of chemicals is "different".

Coming from nations that in the past have never been shy of flinging the horrors of war on others, notably in chemicals, this is a little rich. It looks more like a nasty way of putting a spin on a political cum military caper that is fraught with danger.

There is every chance of making things worse in Syria, so much for the Moral Issue.  There is at least a chance of  inflicting serious damage on our own capability and standing in the world.  As well as this we could badly disrupt relations with other states whose tolerance we need, notably Russia.

GK Chesterton wrote a fascinating book once, called "The Napoleon of Notting Hill".  Cameron, pictured above, at least it looks like him, would do well to read it.  While he is at it perhaps he should swot up on The Crimean War of 1853-1856.

Possibly, he may think that he is going to do a repeat of the Battle of Omdurman where the Brit's overcame the locals with Winston Churchill present.  Such a feat is now wholly beyond our abilities.

Those of us who know a bit will be aware that only a few months before Omdurman, in April 1898, there was a fiasco at Kismayu that we all seem to have forgotten.  As for Obama it may be more like a trip to the Kasserine Pass in 1942.

And Cameron ought to leave Russia to President Hollande.