"The point is that even far more extensive air strikes would not have changed the outcome of the Syrian war, though they would certainly have escalated it and killed a lot more people. There is a myth, lately adopted by President Trump, that President Obama lost a real opportunity to weaken or get rid of Assad in 2013, but the factors that restrained Obama then apply today with equal force to Trump: it is not possible to get rid of Assad without a wider war and, even if he went, the outcome would be a collapse of the state, as in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq, producing chaos in which Daesh and al-Qaeda will flourish."
Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, April 15 2018
Monsignor Alfred Gilbey
I started reading the piece about railways before seeing who the author was. As I read, I thought Peter Hitchens would like this :).
ReplyDeleteI don't often use the railway because the places I most tend to travel to are either not served by them or the railway timetable does not suit my needs.
But I always prefer to use the railway to travel to and from Cardiff for example. With my rail-pass it is much cheaper, much less stressful than driving and parking and just as quick.
"Patrick Cockburn, The Independent, April 15 2011" - some mistake surely? But sound argument.
"The duty of the Christian is not to leave the world a better place. His duty is to leave this world a better man.”
Powerful, strikes a chord with me.
I corrected my mistake - Patrick Cockburn wrote that last month. I cannot understand why intelligent people do not see this obvious truth.
ReplyDeleteI loved Monsignor Gilbey, who had a great influence on me but whom I regret that I rarely met. I recommend you read this interview with him by Sir John Mortimer.
http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/6th-july-1991/19/the-monsignor-at-ninety
I read the interview.
ReplyDeleteI liked the joke:
"You know the excellent joke about the man who was asked by a woman what the difference between the sexes is, and he answered, "I can't conceive.""
John Mortimer, the interviewer, sounds like a self-righteous prig.
He was a very good interviewer. I miss Monsignor Gilbey.
ReplyDeleteYounger people -- millennials -- are not drawn to cars or hot rod culture. They prefer to use public transportation or bicycles for reasonable distances. More reason to like them.
ReplyDelete