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.
熟悉國(guó)際干預(yù)的人士看到了信號(hào)：在一場(chǎng)針對(duì)平民的可怕暴行后，促使不情愿的政治人物和輿論傾向于采取行動(dòng)。上周發(fā)生在大馬士革郊區(qū)古塔(Ghouta)的化學(xué)武器襲擊，令人想起波黑小鎮(zhèn)斯雷布雷尼察(Srebrenica)的屠殺，以及之后利比亞前獨(dú)裁者穆阿邁爾?卡扎菲(Muammar Gaddafi)的部隊(duì)對(duì)平民的殺戮。在這兩個(gè)案例中，國(guó)際社會(huì)均將疑慮拋在一旁，因?yàn)椴蛔鳛榈牡赖潞偷鼐壵未鷥r(jià)，似乎超出采取行動(dòng)的代價(jià)。