Oh my dear God. Those children in Allepo!

Without donations the White Helmets would not exist. Who do you think buys those helmets, buys the food, buys the medical equipment after the hospitals have been bombed yet again?

I tell you what, why not just do what everyone else wants and bomb them to bits.
We can sslook at lots more photos of kids and say how awful and continue allowing Assad to barrelbomb Aleppo to bits.

A brilliant idea, don't you all think.
He'll kill all the White Helmets as well while he's about it.
Bomb all the hospitals, destroy what houses there are left.

www.iamsyria.org/

Good post POGS.

We are where we are with Syria and the truth is nobody knows how different the situation would be had Parliament voted in favour of taking action against Assad in 2013. Cameron passionately told us what was happening but the Libya/Iraq/Afghanistan wars have made the UK naturally cautious. None the less we stood back and did nothing.

Not my favourite politician but Paddy Ashdown amongst the voices of many others said this after the vote against Cameron in 2013.

"50 years trying to serve my country I have never felt so depressed [or] ashamed".

He later told the BBC that by doing nothing President Assad will use chemical weapons more "those weapons will become more commonplace in the Middle East battlefield" and "we will feel the effects of that as well".

How right those voices have proven to be.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23892783

Assad was always going to be a much more difficult nut to crack and was completely underestimated by the dithering west! Russia has large Naval,and Airbase inside Syria which they will never willingly give up,so the regime has always had Russian backing one way or another. Yes Russia has been banned from the Paralympics but not completely from the Olympics! Public opinion may mutter in Russia but as has been said, draconian methods are used to quell any opposition so it's never going to go anywhere. No problem for Russia with refugees, understandably, so no pressure for them in that respect. Putin is laughing at us while we wallow in one crisis on top of another and is probably waiting for us to finally crawl to him for some sort of peace deal! Heaven only knows where it will all end!

I know that doesn't help now.

Still ranting.

Left it too late didn't we nigglynellie? Is it four or five years too late?

The UN is United Nations and Da'esh is not a nation.

No, we've barely touched economic sanctions against Russia, and yes they can bite. If it is going to have an impact then it has to be planned and full on. Sadly that won't happen as too many are not prepared to face Russia cutting off fuel to the west. But Putin is not universally popular in Russia and he is having to impose more and more draconian measures on the populace to squash uprising and dissent. So far it's only the ideologists and radicals and politically aware who try to oppose him. But if the general populace are squeezed, and there's a return to the food shortages and deprivation of the 1990s then it would be a different story. Then watch them squeal.

Banning their athletes at the Olympics at least shows there is some things Putin cannot control.

I agree with much of what you say niggly but still hope that Putin can be emasculated in some way, and soon.

drama no-one's 'having a go' ....one person stepped out of line and was politely reminded that this wasn't applicable on this thread. And the same, politely, applies again, now.

Realistically, there is nothing the West can do about Syria in the short term, while Assaad has the 100% backing of Russia! Even if this were possible, what about IS? Do we invite them round to the UN a la Owen Smith and have a little chat with them to persuade them that their behaviour isn't very nice and could they please stop it? We're dealing with people who are monsters, on a par with Nazi Germany, and look what it took to overcome them?!! There is so much suffering in the world caused by vicious regimes, we can't oust them all, and put in place modern benign democracy's! How?!!! Sending in troops? Africa has its own peacekeepers who do their best, but are, if we're honest, pretty ineffective.
Economic sanctions against Russia?! We've tried that over Crimea and it blatantly doesn't work. Putin doesn't care about human suffering, his countrymen blame the west for any economic woes, well they would wouldn't they?!!!! Putin knows we're weak and quarrelsome, he got away with Crimea, and he'll get away with this because, bottom line, we including the Americans fear him.

At least we're talking about it. It's been pushed to the back of minds too long.

FGS, are you really having a go at each other over this?

we. not ww

Perhaps you can remind me why the West celebrated the capture and killings of those other tyrants out there. Did we just run out of steam when ww got round to Syria?

(that to dj)

jendurham consider my OP a rant. Or a wail.

Thanks Anya.

Good post obi.

Assad would be gone by now if he didn't have the backing of Russia.

There are more ways to stand up to Putin than by starting a war.

People die while others think it is best to write to Assad.
Next time someone needs to ring 999, write to them instead

petition to stop Assad!
Yeah right.

We all feel appalled by it, all down to that swine Assad.However, a petition to stop the barrel bombs won't change anything.
It can only be resolved by regime change.

What and start WW111?!! I think you'll find Russia is up for that, and would overrun the weak Europeans without a seconds thought in less time than a UN debate!!. How on earth do you MAKE Assaad go without a murmur, FGS, do try and be realistic!

Please don't speak to jingl like that.

Like most of us she's appalled by this war and the effects it's having on ordinary people and the children in particular. We all feel so helpless.

Yes, we can and do support charities that work in the ground, but that's like putting a sticking plaster on a serious wound.

We want a political solution to this, preferably Assad stopped immediately, got rid off and tried for war crimes. It's about time the world, the UN, stood up to him and stopped being intimidated by Putin.

Putting troops on the ground imo would be compete madness particularly with Russia's involvement. Stopping these waring factions from tearing each other apart would seem to be impossible. All we can do is support white helmets the best way we can.

whitehelmets.org/

You can't just say that, jingl.
What do you think should be done?

Support the White Helmets. They are in Aleppo on the ground.

time.com/4481259/netflix-trailer-the-white-helmets/

They have asked us all to petition to stop Assad dropping barrel bombs.
So far they have twice as many signatures as the number of lives they have saved.
Donate to them so they have more money to save lives.
Donate to the Jo Cox appeal as they are one of her charities.

I think you can do more to let people know how you feel by doing that than just writing about how upset you feel on here.
This is how you can do something.