Russia's objections to UN intervention in Syria have prevented an end to the fighting. No matter what the excuses put forward by Russia's spokespeople, the end result is the killing has continued. As the protests escalated into murder and then retaliation and now civil war, Russia and China have hidden behind the idea of state sovereignty no matter what the cost. The result will be not a continuation of the al-Assad control of Syria, but a massacre of the Alawites. The Russians have encouraged Assad in every way. The blood of thousands will be on their hands when intervention could have stopped the conflict from reaching civil war. But then Russia is an old hand when it comes to bloodshed in repressing civil unrest in Chechnya and they have convinced al-Assad that he will triumph as his father did. The balance cannot be restored now, and the sheer numbers of Sunni will tip the status quo into ruin. At that point the military will collapse and the hatred the al-Assad family has caused to be directed against their co-religionists will swamp Syria in a sea of violence and revenge that will be unstoppable. Shame on Russia, shame on China.