Shirking Without Staving!

When President Obama tells us that choosing our leaders is up to us at a time when our leader is busy exterminating his opponents by all means under his disposal and with the help of Iran and Russia and with support of thousands of Shia recruits from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and even Afghanistan, and at a time when Saudi, Qatar and Turkey are engaged in a tug of war over who will get to decide the leaders of the opposition, while Al-Qaeda Jihadis are busy invading and carving up enclaves for themselves in different parts of Syria, does he know how moronic he sounds? It’s like telling a girl who is being gang raped that she should take responsibility for herself and should determine her own fate! No, no, no, no! Dealing with the situation in Syria is not the responsibility of a dysfunctional institution (UN) but of the world’s viable democracies. You can shirk the responsibility, but you will never stave off the blame, nor avoid for long the inevitable fallouts.

The U.S.-Russian chemical weapons deal is a win-win-win for everyone except the Syrians.

The U.S.-Russian chemical weapons deal is a win-win-win for everyone except the Syrians..

You can try to sugarcoat death and defeat, but that will not change what they are. This deal is a diplomatic and a strategic loss even to the US, because sometimes “how we got there” is far more important than what has been achieved. The how in this case informs the what and seals its fate. We are here, because Obama is apathetic, Kerry a bungler , and Putin and Assad megalomaniac butchers. No deal reached between this four can prove lasting or good. Today, the Syrians will lose, even the pro-Assad fools, but as tomorrow will soon reveal, the fate of many other peoples is at stake as well, and it won’t be pretty.

Small Window

President Obama should actually accept the Russian proposal calling for putting Assad’s chemical stockpiles under international monitoring as a prelude to disposing of them. The proposal has already been endorsed by the Assad regime. But it should be up to the Obama Administration to provide a plan and timetable regarding the specific steps that need to be taken in this regard. This should include the following points:

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