There is no doubt the Russian president is a hypocrite, supporting a brutal regime in Syria for his his own ends. But it is fallacy (the “tu quoque” fallacy, to be precise) to deduce from this that everything he says is false. Putin’s motives for opposing a unilateral military strike on Syria are not honourable, but there are other legitimate reasons for doing so, the many lessons of Iraq amongst them.

For all it faults, the U.N. is still the best vehicle for ensuring that the international response is legal, measured, based on evidence and most importantly, does not kill the very people it is intended to protect