Effectively, their argument has now won the day. The balance of terror in this war – the use of chemicals, mass murder, the torture and killing of children, the totally indiscriminate use of force – remains overwhelmingly on the side of the regime; no one seriously doubts this, or argues otherwise. Most countries, including Syria's Arab neighbours, want to see him gone; and yet it is as if his ability to stay in place has become boring, and his very stickability a reason for the rest of the world to lose interest. There is nothing to be done, so why bother caring? The latest chemical attacks he has carried out have mustered a few paragraphs in the back pages of the world press.