We need level heads to prevent a disaster

ONLY one crumb of comfort can be drawn from the supremely dangerous crisis unfolding in Syria: Civilised countries have at last come together to signal that no rogue state can violate the ban on chemical warfare with impunity.

True, there may be little moral difference between blowing up children with high explosives and killing them with toxic gas. But the reality is that chemical weapons are so cheap to produce, vicious and indiscriminate that it is imperative to prevent their proliferation.

So, yes, the Mail applauds Western leaders’ determination to save more children from being poisoned by president Assad and his Russian accomplices.

But the terrifying question remains: How can they achieve this without risking a global catastrophe? For make no mistake, as the world awaits America’s move, geopolitics looks as volatile as at any time since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

A preening maverick in the White House... A lying thug in the Kremlin, who even blames Britain for his ally’s attack on Douma... A posturing French president, cosying up to one side then the other – anxious to make his name, just as Tony Blair hoped to boost his image by courting George Bush before the Iraq War.

This, of course, is the same Mr Blair – responsible for so much bloodshed in the Middle East – who this week unashamedly urged Theresa May to take military action without Parliament’s support.

As for the Prime Minister, yes, she deserves praise for taking a stand against chemical warfare. But this paper believes she would do well to heed the advice of Ken Clarke – one of our few politicians of real stature – and seek MPs’ approval before joining a conflict in which Britain’s interests are not obviously at stake.

As we say again, this paper and the country are desperate to know what the long-term strategy is.

Why does it make sense to intervene now in a bloody civil war we have ignored for seven years – on the very sensible grounds that many of Assad’s opponents hate this country as much as they do him?

What will be the consequences if one of our missiles hits a hospital? Above all, how will we react if Russia bombs our base in Cyprus, as it threatened yesterday?

Yes, the West must continue to work together against chemical warfare – while doing everything possible to bring aid to the victims of this terrible war. We must also devise a strategy to deal with the growing threat from the gangster Vladimir Putin.

To this end, we would again cite the moral absurdity of threatening a Kremlin-backed regime with missiles – while sending our footballers to play in Russia’s World Cup.