As the world edges towards a peace conference on Syria, three ideas about the west’s role in the conflict are widely accepted. First, that the longer the conflict goes on, the greater the chances of direct or indirect western military intervention. Second, that there is a deep and bitter division between the US and Russia that is making progress much harder. Third, that the Syrian civil war is dominating western thinking on the Middle East. Few people publicly dispute these propositions. And yet they are all distinctly questionable.
在世界迎接敘利亞和平會(huì)議之際，三種關(guān)于西方在這場(chǎng)沖突中的角色的觀點(diǎn)被廣泛接受。首先，沖突持續(xù)時(shí)間越長(zhǎng)，西方直接或間接軍事干預(yù)的幾率就越大。其次，美國(guó)和俄羅斯之間存在既深又尖銳的分歧，這讓敘利亞局勢(shì)更難取得進(jìn)展。第三，敘利亞內(nèi)戰(zhàn)正在主導(dǎo)西方在中東問題上的思路。很少有人公開質(zhì)疑這些觀點(diǎn)。然而這些觀點(diǎn)都是明顯有問題的。