A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Mother of Parliaments Says "No."

David Cameron has been handed a defeat in the House of Commons, which voted against military action in Syria by 285 to 272. Right now my primary comment is, "Wow."  Efforts to find a multilateral front just got harder.

UPDATE: This would also, I presume, remove the British Sovereign Air Bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia on Cyprus from the Allied playing board.

2 comments:

David Mack said...

If Turkey does not put skin in this game, as I still hope they will, we should not proceed. Even a "limited and discrete" cruise missile strike, along with some role for France, looks like a replay of the Crusades. The position of the Syrian Christians already looked terrible if the rebels were to overthrow the Alawites, but now they would also be scapegoats for the government.

Anonymous said...

http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/

For those not familiar with democracy--a rather rare occurrence.