Why China Will Back Assad—Until It Won't

In vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria for the third time, China and Russia have tested Western diplomats’ capacity for creative contempt. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already described their veto as “despicable” back in February. This time, U.N. ambassador Susan Rice settled on “dangerous and deplorable.” Britain said it was “appalled,” and ambassador Mark Lyall Grant singled out Moscow and Beijing for having “chosen to put their national interests ahead of the lives of millions of Syrians.”