\tIl est possible que le grand but d’enfin r\u00e9unir et faire des alli\u00e9s loyaux et coordonn\u00e9s du Royaume-Uni et de la France soit enfin \u00e0 port\u00e9e de voix sinon \u00e0 port\u00e9e de main. Ce qui cimenterait cette union tant attendue, c’est l’abyssale stupidit\u00e9 que les deux grandes diplomaties britannique et fran\u00e7aise semblent avoir atteint, de concert. Il y a donc une sorte d’unit\u00e9 proche d’\u00eatre parfaite dans la n\u00e9antisation et la m\u00e9diocrit\u00e9. Les Fran\u00e7ais s’exercent \u00e0 la chose surtout au Mali o\u00f9 les affaires commencent \u00e0 tourner comme on pouvait le craindre, mais sans oublier la Syrie. Pour cette derni\u00e8re crise, qui reste d’une constante actualit\u00e9, les Britanniques ont fait tr\u00e8s fort ces derniers jours. Ce n’est pas moins que The Independent<\/em>, journal lib\u00e9ral (progressiste) tr\u00e8s favorable initialement \u00e0 la politique anti-Assad du bloc BAO, qui souligne cet \u00e9chec exceptionnel dans un \u00e9ditorial qui ne montre gu\u00e8re de piti\u00e9 pour cette politique que ce m\u00eame journal applaudissait \u00e0 ses d\u00e9buts. (The Independent<\/em> va m\u00eame jusqu’\u00e0 observer, en passant, qu’apr\u00e8s tout Assad vaut mieux que le d\u00e9sordre des djihadistes et consort qui le suivrait si on r\u00e9ussissait \u00e0 le mettre \u00e0 bas \u00abNo one can doubt that President Assad’s Alawite clique has only clung to power through the ruthless use of force. But there can be no confidence that the fall of Mr Assad would be a prelude to peace. Far more likely, it would be only the first act in a civil war that could make the massacres of the past two years look modest<\/em>\u00bb)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tLa derni\u00e8re initiative diplomatique du Royaume-Uni a \u00e9t\u00e9 d’essayer d’obtenir, sans succ\u00e8s, l’aval de l’Union europ\u00e9enne pour s’autoriser \u00e0 livrer aux rebelles anti-Assad des armements cons\u00e9quents, lourds, aux missions sp\u00e9cifiques (anti-a\u00e9riennes, notamment), dont on attendrait des miracles d\u00e9cisifs. L’\u00e9chec est aussi complet que le projet est absurde, rel\u00e8ve The Independent<\/em> ce \t\u00abBritain’s inability to persuade its fellow EU countries to have weapons supplied to non-Islamist groups in the Syrian opposition was a diplomatic failure waiting to happen. The result is that Britain is left wringing its hands on the sidelines, while Russia’s efforts to guide future peace negotiations between the two sides seem increasingly assured and promising. To invert Douglas Hurd’s famous formulation, we are punching below our weight: pressing for aggressive solutions which we lack both the muscle to impose ourselves, and the powers of argument to convince our allies to support. Rewind 18 months and how different the picture looked. Then it was Russia that was in a corner, attacked on all sides for continuing to back Bashar al-Assad’s regime and for sabotaging UN efforts to force him either to resign or negotiate.<\/em> [] <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbIn this context, Britain’s urge to arm the secular rebel groups while keeping Jihadi ones at arm’s length looks naive for a once big power with long experience in the Middle East. Once the weapons are in the theatre, they will remain in play. And if they are in the hands of people we think of as the good guys today, there is no guarantee that they will remain so tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThen there is Russia. While Britain, tentatively supported by France, continues to try to hasten a military resolution to the conflict, Moscow has further undermined those efforts by forging ties of its own with some of the Syrian rebel groups, without sacrificing its support for Mr Assad. As a result it is not inconceivable that Moscow will emerge, sooner rather than later, as the only outside power sufficiently trusted by both sides to mediate between them.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n