Admittedly the language being used by EU leaders toward Russia is getting stronger. Frederica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, has directly demanded that Russia cease bombing Aleppo. In London, Paris and Berlin, there is open talk of war crimes being committed by Russia’s forces. But, despite the outrage, there has been no action taken so far. At any rate, there is no agreement among European foreign ministers about what is to be done – apart from general hand wringing.
Last weekend, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson temporarily played the tough guy and hinted at a military option when he mentioned the idea of a no-fly zone over Aleppo. He did this under the influence of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who, at a recent meeting in London, had told of his frustration at yet another wasted round of talks with their Russian counterpart, the archcynic Sergey Lavrov.
