The more likely conclusion is that dropouts in the low sugar group returned to old beverage consumption habits in the interim, thereby muddling the intervention effect on the 18-month results.

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While the UK was not "sitting on the sidelines", there were more constraints over Syria than in Libya - there was no authority for military intervention from the UN, the effect on surrounding countries such as the Lebanon, Israel and Saudi Arabia had to be taken into account and military intervention would have to be "on a vastly greater scale" than in Libya.

BBC: Hague: 'Deeply frustrating' situation in Syria

Sterilised intervention rarely has more than a transitory effect, since it leaves the money supply unchanged.

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But it is a document, a big, fat document, that means you, I, charities, other governments, opponents, supporters, patients, teachers, parents, anyone with an axe to grind or a point to make can check whether what the government is doing is helping solve Wales' problems, or whether their intervention is having little or no, effect.

BBC: My big, fat Welsh annual report.

Mr. Lindsay suggested that, going forward, monetary policy and intervention by the Federal Reserve would likely have little effect.

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The intervention of the British and Swedish authorities underscores the effect that a full-blown collapse of Iceland's financial system would have on the rest of Europe, given the heavy investment by Icelandic banks and companies across the continent.

NPR: Iceland Shivers From Financial Crisis

Not surprisingly, the effect lost statistical significance at two years since active intervention lasted only 12 months.

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Most market experts believe that the lasting effect of that move without global coordination is questionable since sustainable intervention requires a co-ordinated effort.

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