TWO CHEERS FOR ED MILIBAND

Ed Miliband may have stopped World War 3.

The amendment to the Government motion is very carefully and skillfully worded, in particular the wording of the six points:

1. The UN weapons inspectors, upon the conclusion of their mission in the eastern Ghutah, being given the necessary opportunity to make a report to the security council on the evidence and their findings, and confirmation by them that chemical weapons have been used in Syria;

2. The production of compelling evidence that the Syrian regime was responsible for the use of these weapons;

3. The UN security council having considered and voted on this matter in the light of the reports of the weapons inspectors and the evidence submitted;

4. There being a clear legal basis in international law for taking collective military action to protect the Syrian people on humanitarian grounds;

5. That such action must have regard to the potential consequences in the region, and must therefore be legal, proportionate, time-limited and have precise and achievable objectives designed to deter the future use of prohibited chemical weapons in Syria; and

6. That the prime minister reports further to the House on the achievement of these conditions so that the House can vote on UK participation in such action.

[source : Syria motion: what the House of Commons will debate, The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/29/syria-debate-house-commons-motion, 29th August 2013]

There has definitely been a rush to war by Jihadis Cameron and Hague, with Hague lying (again) in The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

The amendments will take the momentum out of this insane rush to war, by demanding a second vote, and there is very little probability that compelling evidence will be found to prove that Assad used chemical weapons.

A third cheer will be credited if these amendments can be passed and an attack on Syria stopped. But UK media is still pushing the R2P-no-need-for-UN thesis.