At a summit on October 20, the European Union stepped back from the threat of sanctions against Russia for its role in bombing civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The EU’s inability to arrive at consensus in the face of a Russian-supported—and, in some cases, Russian-instigated—humanitarian catastrophe begs the question, how bad does it need to get in Aleppo for Europe to do something?
Apparently, not even growing evidence that Russian forces bombed a UN relief convoy is enough to solidify consensus. If arriving at a common European approach to Russia is impossible, electoral politics in Europe and the United States are likely to put a broader transatlantic strategy even farther out of reach, at least in the short run.
