Britain is reported to be making contingency plans to station troops on Syria's borders. When will they learn to keep out of the Middle East? They've been at it since the 1850s and little good has come of it. The disaster of Syria is that no outsiders can take sides without making things worse - worse for Syrians because it prolongs the agony, worse for the region because getting rid of Asad has been Israel's aim since at least the 1980s. Meanwhile Netanyahu, frustrated by the return of Obama, is ratcheting up tension with Gaza at the same time as approving yet more settlements on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. Now we have a vote coming up in the UN on whether to recognize a Palestinian State. That would just mean prolonging the fiction of a 'two-state solution', which Israel's settlements has made impossible; there is now no way the frontier of a viable state can be drawn. There was a two-state situation from 1948 to 1967 and Israel destroyed it; how can they pretend now to want it after spending 45 years making its return impossible? The only viable solution is a single, decentralized and democratic state, with equality for all its citizens regardless of 'race', language or religion. Such a solution can only be achieved with help from the international community, and that means America must be included.