Diplomacy is not doing well in the latest swirl of international crisis. The shells and rockets fall on Gaza, despite pleas for a “humanitarian pause” to let aid in for stricken families. In Moscow, Vladimir Putin this week officially ditches the nuclear test ban and conventional forces treaties.
Antony Blinken has wound up his third round of shuttling round the Middle East with the less-than-confident verdict that the bid to get a temporary pause in hostilities to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza is “still a work in progress”.
