And even when all non-military means have failed, armed intervention may still not be the right answer.
Moscow and Beijing are strongly opposed to armed intervention, saying the outcome in Syria should be decided by its people.
Russia and China are strongly opposed to armed intervention, saying the outcome in Syria should be decided by its people.
It showed that an armed intervention, even if its declared aims are benign, can set off a whole chain of terrible consequences.
Some diplomats see China's support for the American-led military campaign in Afghanistan as a departure from its policy of opposing armed intervention.
And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.
The Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council should understand that avoiding foreign armed intervention will be conducive to the overall interests of the Arab world.
However, French President Francois Hollande, speaking in Paris, said an "armed intervention" was not being ruled out, provided it followed deliberation by the UN Security Council.
Depending on the egregiousness of the offence and the other interests at stake, supporting human rights may mean anything from armed intervention to a statement in parliament.
The arguments against armed intervention are far from trivial.
IMF, but may find it withheld because of the war: the United States, which has been pressing for peace talks between Congo's government and its rebels, has made known its disapproval of Zimbabwe's armed intervention.
The fact that Russians themselves want nothing to do with an armed intervention in Syria might be inconvenient or objectionable, but this is something that advocates of a more activist policy need to at least acknowledge.
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But he goes further, arguing that there are enough precedents to justify the claim that armed humanitarian intervention is now accepted by most states as legal.
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That would tempt intervention by another simmering group, the armed forces.
Widespread recognition that the situation has risen to the level of armed conflict is no talisman: It will not result in immediate intervention, nor is it likely the regime will immediately change its tactics.
Israeli restraint, and swift intervention by the Palestinian police, averted what could have become armed battles akin to those that erupted in September 1996, when 80 Palestinians and 15 Israelis were killed.
Mr Blair has grand ambitions for more intervention abroad, especially in Africa, but Britain's regular armed forces are overstretched.
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And the question is would any violent interaction between Libyan forces and armed civilians or armed rebel forces -- however you want to call them -- necessitate the intervention of the coalition force?
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