Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Yellow Red Line

The Washington Post: "The most morally crimped speech by a president in modern times." That description of President Obama's address to the United Nations this week came not from conservative critics but from the editorial page of The Washington Post.

Anybody remember The Obama Cairo speech where he claimed that Housni Mubarak, the Egyptian people and Islam in general have much in common with the American people. At the same time the Obama administration asserted that Assad was a natural US ally, because after all he was an educated man. A doctor who had done his post graduate studies in London, loves western music (especially Chris Brown...wonder why?) and married Asma, educated in the UK with degrees in computer science and French literature. Almost a copy of Obama himself. Well we all know how that turned out...."Mubarak must go!" and then..."Assad must go!"

Lets take a look at all US Allies when the great speechmaker took office. There was the UK, Europe including France and Germany, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, India, most of South America, Africa and so on. Remember how, just a few years ago former Russian Satellites Armenia, Georgia, Belarus and the Ukraine amongst others were all potential US Allies? Thats all gone now. So whats left? US weakness has never been more emphasized than the obscene speech by Obama at the UN.

The red line? What red line? Assad is now the only legitimate leader in Syria today. Anyone (including the UN) who wants to rid Syria of chemical weapons, must talk to Assad. Anyone who believes that it is technically possible to rid the world of Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons must be as naive as Obama.  As for the Middle east, the only influential leader left is Putin. Iran of course understands that there is no longer a military option with Obama in office. They can afford to chat up the Americans. It leaves them an open highway to Nuclear weapons. Imagine the shock experienced by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, Turkey, Egypt and the rest of the Sunni world. Israel has never trusted Obama, so less of a shock there. Putin, Assad, Hizbullah and Khameini must be laughing all the way to the bank.

We are witnessing the greatest collapse in US foreign policy in US History, led by a man who easily is the most isolated leader in modern times. To be remembered for legitimizing mass murder, genocide, rape in all its forms, WMD's in all its forms, terrorist organizations (Hizbullah and Al Qaeda) and a world where Gay folk are systematically and brutally eradicated. All it took was one telephone call.


Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Monday, September 9, 2013

A Rock and a Hard Place


Stratfor: "If the Russian diplomatic solution to the Syrian imbroglio sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The logistical complications alone far exceed Russia's diplomatic ambitions. Syria is believed to have 1,000 tons of chemical weapons stockpiles dispersed among 50 different sites across the country."

Watching CNN tonight one would almost believe that President Obama had won a victory over the Russians and Assad. Nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing could be louder than the sounds of the sighs of relief emanating from the White House. These sighs of relief will be temporary at best.

The bottom line is that there will be no military strike, regardless of the outcome of this mismanaged crisis. Possibly Obama might get a short-lived TV victory, but the real victors are Putin and Assad.

It is clear that Putin sees the European and US trepidation over a military strike and he must be chuckling to himself as he holds out an olive branch that bears no fruit.  The French and British governments have already responded positively to the Russian proposal, meeting Russia's objective of splitting the Europeans from the United States and reducing the potential for the United States to assemble a coalition. The US Senate has postponed a vote on the issue and now who knows when or if a vote will even take place.

The only certainty is that the civil war in Syria will continue unabated while the leaderless and divided free world watch with growing unease as the wild animals in Syria continue to feast on their innocent prey.

Stratfor: "Either way, Obama is cornered. He already created a potential exit for himself by seeking authorization from Congress for a strike, and Congress is so far not convinced by his appeals. The Russians have just provided him another exit, but pursuing an impractical diplomatic solution, which would only empower Russia and Iran in a moment of U.S. weakness, will be a difficult pill for the U.S. president to swallow. Obama and his administration will likely spend this week continuing their appeals to Congress to authorize a military response, but if the votes don't add up, he may have to find a creative retreat from this crisis, with or without the Russians."

The Hardest person to awaken is the one already awake - Tagalog Saying

You may send a message around the world in one seventh of a second, yet it may take years to force a simple idea through a quarter inch of a human skull - Charles Kettering