[Skybird]

It is counter-intuitive to think Assad ordered the use of chemical weapons now that weapon inspectors already are underway in Syria, although being held on a very short line by the Syrians. But does this really mean anything? He could as well just think that he nevertheless could get away with it if doing this publicity stunt right under the nose of the inspectors and the UN. And who would accuse him for assuming that? Obama and the EU and the UN all have so far given extremely weak reactions to the whole Syrian bloodshed, and Assad knows he has the Russians behind him. Probably also the Chinese. Even the Israelis have an interest to see him staying, instead of having to deal with a chaotic breed of several rivalling factions and ultra-fundamentalists who in case of victory will have access to those weapons.

I don't bet a cent on who committed that chemical strike. That the rebels did it, is as possible as that Assad ordered it. It even is possible that there was a break in the chain of command, or that local military commanders overstepped their responsibility. Heck, it is even possible that the strike was ordered from somebody in Assad's camp who wanted to struck the beloved Fuhrer from behind to improve his own cards when weakening or removing Assad, or to settle an open bill.

I still recommend to do the same as we did in reaction to the genocide committed by the Janjaweed, or the genocide committed in Rwanda, and so many other massacres that we witnessed: let's do nothing. We do that often, so what makes Syria so precious that now we should change it? Syria is not worth our tax money and the defense budget it finances, nor the health and life of our soldiers. In the thread on Egypt I recently linked an article "Nobody needs a democratic Egypt". What was written in that, in principle is true for Syria as well. Especially the part about the nature of mentality and ideological basis of those on whose behalf some now want to intervene.

And btw, in reality we do not have money anyway. What our nations have, is debts. Plenty of them. Implicit debts that are several, many times as high as our nations' yearly GDPs.