SYRIAN CRISIS : WHO'S PULLING WHOSE STRINGS?

Few would deny that Vladimir Putin is an ambiguous figure, or that the sale of Russian weapons to Syria is helping to fuel the crisis there. However, those arming the Syrian opposition, including Saudi Arabia, cannot be regarded as any more progressive than Russia. The emerging consensus, reflected in the UK Parliament's vote of last week, that the crisis requires multi-lateral action led by the United Nations was finely articulated by the UN's former Chief Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix, this morning on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme. Blix called into question former British prime minister Tony Blair's role as a "protagonist for intervention" in Syria, presumably in his capacity as Middle East Peace Envoy. I say "presumably" because it is never very clear whose interests Blair represents, other than his own. What is quite remarkable is that one with a record on the international scene arguably even more ambiguous than that of Mr Putin should still be treated so uncritically by the BBC and many others.