End timidity in Syria

Maybe there’s a limit to the nonsense that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will swallow when it comes to the multi-sided civil war in Syria. Yes, as he said, the Russians are living in a “parallel universe” with their proffered possible scenarios (a drone attack, an accidental fire and so forth) of what happened to a United Nations truck convoy carrying aid for civilians that was wiped out in a bombing attack Monday.

Kerry should’ve taken the opportunity then to announce to the U.N. Security Council a no-fly zone over Syria.

He proposed a weaker move, an agreed no-fly policy: “We must move forward to immediately ground all aircraft flying in those key areas,” which if done might give credibility “back to this process,” that is, the cease-fire he negotiated with the Russians.

By “we,” he meant the United States, Syria and Syria’s patron, Russia. Which would be putting faith in Russian promises proven meaningless again and again. Russia is fighting to support its Syrian client, and against rebel groups supported (weakly) by the United States, with any damage done to the Islamic State more or less an afterthought.

As for the convoy, the Pentagon says it has proof that two Russian planes carried out the attack.

Syria, Russia and others believe that the United States will talk and negotiate forever, but will do little to make its will prevail. It is time to change that assessment.

A no-fly zone would raise the possibility of a conflict with Russian aircraft, critics say. Possibly. It would be up to Russia whether to risk planes and pilots with a challenge to the U.S Air Force and the U.S. Navy. The Americans would prevail in a fight. Russia has called the tunes on Syria’s behalf for far too long.

The Obama administration cannot be expected to become resolute after years of timidity. But Hillary Clinton has proposed a no-fly zone, a rare and welcome sign of realism in the presidential campaign.