"liberalism" should evolve.....if it must. Installing it at the point of a gun is a grave mistake"
You are joking, of course?
Syria is run by a despotic dynastic dictatorship which has been jailing, torturing and murdering its opponents for decades.
Amnesty reports have suggested athat, along with the sniper ammunition, armoured cars, riot control equipment and chemicals which have seen sold to Assad by Britain, some of the electrical equipment (for peaceful purposes, of course) has been used to torture prisoners of the regime.
The Arab Spring protests were just that - protests - they were met with armed police and military opposition; some evolved into open revolt - the only type of evolution that is likely to change anything in these countries.
Britain and the US (and the West in general) has had no compunction in intervening in any country that they conceive as a threat to their own well-being - this has taken the form of open military intervention and CIA et al, 'Black Ops'
Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatamala, Bolivia, Brazil, The Phillipines.... the list of countries where the West has been happy to intervene, is endless
As far back as the Russian Civil War 14 western countries sent troops to overthrow the government and following World War Two, British troops were sent to assist the fascist terrorists in Greece.
The U.S. was supporting extremist right-wing regime after regime in South Vietnam - notably that of Hitler admirer, Marshall Ky.
Britain and the U.S. welcomed the Military coup in Chile with open arms and following the arrest of Pinochet for murdering and torturing thousands of his opponents, that nice Mrs Thatcher fought tooth and nail to prevent him from being brought to trial, declaring him " a hero of democracy".
The West is not interested in assisting democracy anywhere in the world unless any changes brought about are to their political and economic advantage - on the contrary, it is happy to intervene in any way at their disposal if that particular brand of 'democracy' doesn't suit them.
What is certain is that change and modernisation in the Middle East is both desirable and, eventually inevitable.
The outcome of those changes depaend very much on what assistance they get - so far, the West has helped Isis to be the front runner.
Jim Carroll