Steve Chapman on Empty Moralism on Syria
There is a vast gulf between the atrocities cited by supporters of the war in Syria and the steps they are willing to take in response. On one side of the scale is Assad's mass killing and his use of forbidden instruments of war. On the other is a brief flurry of cruise missiles, and possibly some aerial bombing, "to degrade and deter Bashar Assad's capacity to use chemical weapons," as John Kerry put it. The strike, writes Steve Chapman, would amount to a firm rap on the knuckles.