Everything you read about Syria, and everything you try and make sense of, one can summarize in few sentences. This is the idiot guide to the Syrian revolution as it stands today.
- Russian gains: Russia considers the terrorist regime of Assad a commodity too precious to relinquish to fight the West with.
- American Losses: Obama is unwilling to confront Putin because it diverts his attention from his primary goal of domestic social justice. So, he commits just to words rather than unilaterally removing Assad early-on, which would have favored US interests and would have avoided Syria death, destruction, and Islamic extremism.
- Cold War Standoff: This Syrian standoff is forcing both the US and Russia to play the Cold War game of slowly fighting for a better hand (weapons and/or intelligence), which is not working to either one’s advantages, over the long run, because Islamic extremists are themselves playing both sides to strengthen their fighting ranks (Show Russian support for Assad to recruit fighters and show Obama’s lack of help to raise funds to acquire weapons).
- Extremism Wins: Between the US hesitation, Russian stubbornness, and Qatari support of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic extremists, be it street fighters or fighters for Sharia, now control Syria.
- Arab League Wishing: The Arab League is exerting pressure to make sure another dictator (à la Egypt) takes over Syria. The social agenda of authoritarianism is what matters for the largest club of dictators in the world.
- Lost Moral Compass by All: Meanwhile, Syrians go hungry, get displaced, or die. Neither Putin nor Obama care much about this small detail.
AMERICA IS BUCKLING
When America’s leaders buckle, her enemies harness her weaknesses. The opportunities Obama missed to save Syria and its people is his shame. It will haunt him forever.
Authors who will write books about Obama’s Syrian policy will not be kind to his immeasurable failures.
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