Veterans of intervention recognise the signs: a ghastly atrocity against civilians tips reluctant politicians and public opinion into action. The chemical attacks last week in the Damascus suburbs of Ghouta have echoes of the massacres in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica or more recently the imminent killing of civilians in Libya by the forces of the late dictator Muammar Qaddafi. In each case, caution is put aside as the moral and geopolitical costs of inaction appear greater than the costs of action.
熟悉国际干预的人士看到了信号：在一场针对平民的可怕暴行后，促使不情愿的政治人物和舆论倾向于采取行动。上周发生在大马士革郊区古塔(Ghouta)的化学武器袭击，令人想起波黑小镇斯雷布雷尼察(Srebrenica)的屠杀，以及之后利比亚前独裁者穆阿迈尔•卡扎菲(Muammar Gaddafi)的部队对平民的杀戮。在这两个案例中，国际社会均将疑虑抛在一旁，因为不作为的道德和地缘政治代价，似乎超出采取行动的代价。
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