The battle for Aleppo now seems all but ended, though it is by no means certain that the Syrian Civil War is drawing to a close. But this stage of it seems over, and the reaction of the world is one of horror, despair and frustration. Over all news outlets there is broad agreement: the destruction of eastern rebel-held Aleppo is a human catastrophe, and no one in Europe and America has been able to stop it happening.
Indeed the horrified reaction is easy to understand. Aleppo now looks like Stalingrad or one of the reduced to rubble German cities in 1945. All that was meant to be in the past. It seems that we have learned nothing from our history – certainly not how to prevent it repeating itself.
