EU/SOLANA ISSUES STERN WARMING TO SYRIA ABOUT LEBANON

REUTERS:

The European Union's foreign policy chief called on Sunday for greater pressure on Syria to allow the election of a president in Lebanon, warning of a "dramatic" crisis unless that happens this month.

In unusually blunt criticism, Javier Solana said Damascus was using proxies in Lebanon to prevent the election of armed forces chief Michel Suleiman, while the pro-Western majority in parliament was whittled away as lawmakers were killed.

The best chance to solve the issue was before a planned Arab summit in Damascus on March 29-30, because key leaders would not attend unless a new Lebanese head of state was present, he said.

"The pressure on Syria has to grow in order to solve the situation in Lebanon. I think the opportunity is there, before this summit which will take place in Damascus," Solana told the Brussels Forum on transatlantic relations.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not pretty sure that will be done. If that is not, then we get into a very serious crisis. This crisis is very dramatic," he said.

This is an improvement of EU policy - but is it meaningful? NOPE:

• STERN WARNINGS ARE FINE - ONLY IF THEY'RE BACKED UP BY JDAMS.
• IT'S TIME TO SEND ASSAD A KINETIC MESSAGE.
• BOOM.

CORRECTION: IT'S LONG PASSED TIME WE BOMBED DAMASCUS.

Solana's stern hollow warning reminds me of the Blix warning in TEAM AMERICA: