There is little evidence to suggest that sending in our bombers or arming the rebels will ratchet down, rather than ratchet up, the violence. Remember: weapons are fungible. We have no way of preventing the al-Qaeda-affiliated members of the opposition from getting hold of bombs and bullets supplied by Britain and France. Nor does anyone have a credible plan of action for the day after Assad falls.

In August last year, I wrote an op-ed for the International Herald Tribune calling for Western powers to arm the Syrian insurgents. Over six months later, the case is even more compelling than before.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has suggested Western forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan because "they feel they were fighting in the wrong place" ...

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As the war in Libya drags on, the difficulty now is not that the international community is stuck for ideas, in fact, the opposite is true. The real problem is that there are too many strategies floating around with various players pulling in different directions.