Britain's feeble response to the Syrian crisis has left us irrelevant on the world stage

David Cameron’s announcement that he is sending 300 non-combatant British troops to South Sudan and Somalia is a timely reminder of just how irrelevant Britain has become as a player on the world stage.

On a day when the leaders of Russia and America are holding a summit at the UN in New York to discuss the Syria crisis, Britain has little more to offer than making a few token nation-building gestures in countries that, while problematic, hardly constitute a major threat to our security.

Downing Street will argue, of course, that by helping to restore stability and security in places like Somalia and South Sudan you prevent them from becoming failed or failing states that become a safe haven for Islamist terror cells and people-smuggling gangs. And this argument undoubtedly has merit, for anything that can be done to arrest the troubling spread of Islamist-inspired extremism and the appalling people-smuggling networks is to be welcomed.

But in terms of dealing with the far more challenging issues posed by countries such as Libya and Syria, this modest contribution to resolving the governmental issues of South Sudan and Somalia lies very much at the margins of global diplomacy.

The most pressing issue, and one that will take centre stage at this week’s UN General Assembly, is how to resolve the Syria crisis, and here Mr Cameron and the British Government are lagging well behind other world powers when it comes to addressing the reality of the situation on the ground.

Over the weekend a series of senior ministers started to back away from the Government’s long-held position that Downing Street was still demanding the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Mr Cameron now says that Mr Assad can remain in power while the world sorts out Isil, but that he should face war crimes charges once the fighting is over.

Yet, given the Government’s utterly feeble response to the Syrian crisis, the reality is that Britain has little influence to achieve any of these outcomes. At the very least Mr Cameron should simply accept the argument advanced by Russian President Vladimir Putin that, rather than worrying about Assad’s fate, the major powers should concentrate their resources on tackling the real enemy – Isil.

As I have written countless times in the past, Isil, not Assad, poses the greater threat to our security. And until Mr Cameron and his senior ministers accept this simple fact, they will continue to be confined to the margins of global diplomacy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11895738/Britains-feeble-response-to-the-Syrian-crisis-has-left-us-irrelevant-on-the-world-stage.html