At the Russia-EU summit, the talk turned again to Syria and the prospects for a settlement, but it made little sense to have a dialogue at this particular meeting.

The European Union, by deciding to let each country decide for itself what to do about providing arms to insurgents, has demonstrated that it does not have a unified foreign policy. Consequentially, the statements by Herman Van Rompuy have no practical effect. Europe has a strange role in the Syrian conflict in general. Russia and the United States are trying to do something, and Syria’s neighbors are waiting quietly, holding the real leverage over the opposing sides. Europe as a whole is on the sidelines, while France and Britain are acting as if they have influence in the world.

Still, the meeting provided an occasion for Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk about Syria, which he does not do very often. Putin explained that Moscow has every right to provide weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and no one can stop it. But Russia, considering the balance of power, has not yet done so. Basically, Putin left his words open to any interpretation, which is entirely consistent with the Russian president’s style.

Syria is an ideal historical case study for scholars of international relations. Especially now, when everyone is talking about a peace conference, an idea more befitting of the classical diplomacy of the 19th and early 20th centuries than the current era. It’s a banal principle: If you want peace, prepare for war. And now, in advance of this hypothetical roundtable at which all of the parties involved are supposed to get together and figure out how to get along, everyone has started rattling their sabres.