This is at a time when when Russia has become more aggressive, North Korea has tested a new nuclear device, and Iran may also do so soon.
It would be pusillanimous not to join France in Syria for fear of an ISIS attack here. But Tory backbenchers should go into any vote with their eyes wide open.
The Justice Secretary’s victory on the misguided prison deal shows that his opposition to tyranny persists.
The Russian scheme has a major, obvious flaw: the Syrian regime is mostly fighting not ISIS, but other armed groups.
Without this strategic step-change in our approach, the UK’s involvement in air strikes would achieve very little, and could be counter-productive.
It presents us with challenges, but also opportunities after the recent nuclear deal.
Which set of paramilitary groups has done more to damage western interests: those sponsored by Iran or those supported by rival regimes we describe as our ‘friends’?
There is now a strong case for widening the air strikes against ISIS in which we already take part.
Islamist fanatics could consolidate control of the border on the Golan – threatening the massacre of a people with close ties to their fellow religionists on its other side.
World order is valuable, and relatively cheap to maintain – but expensive and dangerous to re-establish once you sacrifice it.
Tehran’s approach of destabilisation and domination threatens a nuclear arms race and the destruction of Israel.
Iran’s regime has more values in common with America than Egypt’s or Saudi Arabia’s.
We must be careful to learn the lessons of our past experiences in the region.