And while it is true that periods of brutality can condition the time that follows, it is not something that should be tolerated.

In Syria, a similar process is visibly occurring. It is not, as some have claimed, that human rights abuses by the Free Syrian Army are not being reported – they are including by this paper‘s correspondents in the field – it is that in a wider political context, those atrocities have not attracted the same levels of opprobrium as those committed by Bashar al-Assad‘s regime.