The Soviets always used to say “if you say A, you must do B,” meaning that words had to have consequences. Yes, it’s a commonplace banality, one of those things that’s so obvious, it hardly bears mention. Except if you’re a politician or a pundit (hard to tell the difference sometimes, to be sure). For that small class, words don’t have to have any consequences at all. They think they can just say things, and when the subjects come up again, they can say other things. And just move on.
It’s hard to adjust to this, for those of us who were raised to believe that words not only matter, but actually tell you something about future actions. We take public statements very seriously, especially when they come from government leaders, and it’s hard to break the habit. Alas, with the current administration, we’ve got to admit that the words are often just words.
Even experienced journalists still fall for the Obama rhetoric, believing — and their belief is evidently reinforced by “inside sources” trying to make themselves and their president look good — that real action is minutes away. Take David Ignatius, for example. He’s been around for quite a while, both in Washington and overseas, and he’s got plenty of sources. Yet, two weeks ago he wrote that Obama and Hillary had (finally!) given up on any “reform” from Bashar Assad in Damascus, and they were stepping up support “for regime change in Syria.”
But there is no such support, so far as anyone can tell. Indeed, there is such a lack of support that some Arab writers are deriding the president for his wimpery, while also desperately looking for some deep strategy to “explain” our inaction, and warning that he is making things even worse:
…the lack of consistency in the US position against the Assad regime is creating a perception in the region that the US hopes that Assad would survive these crises bloodied and weakened — where the US really wants him to be.
The US, therefore, is risking placing itself as the one that is encouraging Assad through its silence and inconsistency and thus giving him the impression that the US would not oppose him directly and personally if he used more force against civilians’ protesters.
Ignatius knows that Obama and crew aren’t doing much of anything — hell, he hasn’t said “Assad must go,” as he did with Mubarak and Qadaffi — and he relays their excuses for inaction: “The puzzle is how to help the Syrian opposition gain power without foreign military intervention — and without triggering sectarian massacres inside the country.”
As if there are a shortage of sectarian massacres in Syria. Try that one on the citizens of Hama or Hom or Aleppo.
Ignatius quotes various speeches from Hillary to bolster his case that America now supports regime change in Damascus, and if those words actually meant something, he would have been right. But they don’t mean anything except that the secretary of State could not remain silent in the face of the slaughter of the Syrian people. So she posed as a tough guy, perhaps reflecting a similar pose from the president.
Within days, however, Obama pulled the tapestry from beneath Hillary’s feet. As Lee Smith wrote in the Weekly Standard,
…Obama took Washington out of the equation by saying that it was in the eyes of Assad’s own people that the dictator’s legitimacy had come into question. And even more bizarrely, a White House spokesman told reporters that the administration is still looking to pressure Assad to “meet the aspirations of the Syrian people”—a statement not merely tone deaf, but morally obtuse
There is no reason to believe that this administration grasps the dimensions of the world war in which we are engaged, like it or not. To look at Syria alone is a failure of strategic vision, because the battle of Syria is part of the larger conflict, involving our current major enemy Iran. Indeed, the Syrian slaughterhouse is a repeat performance of the earlier (and still ongoing) massacre in Iran, and is assisted (perhaps even instructed) from Tehran. From an Israeli analyst:
Reports have emerged about elements of the Iranian IRGC’s Al-Quds Force (responsible for subversion and special operations outside of Iran), advisers from Iran’s domestic Law Enforcement Services, as well as Hizbullah men working throughout Syria to help Assad repress the popular protests. Iran also apparently provided Syria with advanced eavesdropping equipment which enables the identification of activists who converse by phone or use social networks on the Internet.
There are also stories of Iranian snipers on the rooftops of Syrian cities gunning down protesters in the streets, and Iranian intelligence operatives working side by side with their Syrian counterparts to round up potential centers of rebellion.
Right on!
It is obvious that Iran is a more reliable ally for Syria than Obama is for any of our friends.
One could even go so far as to say that Obama, through his seemingly-mandatory dithering, consistently wrong decisions, and conflictingly inconsistent policies, is a better ally particularly to our Iranian and Syrian enemies than he is for any of our forgotten and unappreciated friends.
The only thing Obama does consistently is make inconsistent policies.
If you feel so strongly that Assad and the minority Alawites have to go…then go to Syria and “protest” alongside your good buddies, the Sunnis…and help them overthrow Assad and the minority Alawites.
The Sunnis are 74% of Syria’s population, and the Alawites (who are an offshoot of Shi’a Islam) are only 12% of Syria’s population.
The “protests” have NOTHING to do with “democracy”, or anything like that… It is pure Islamic tribalism and religious fundamentalism. The minority Alawites are brutally suppressing the majority Sunnis. If Syria was a “democracy” with “free elections” they would vote along sectarian lines, and the Sunnis (74% of the population) would win in a landslide. The Sunnis consider the Alawites heretics, unqualified to govern a Muslim country like Syria. If the Sunnis weren’t being kept in check and suppressed by Assad and his military, they would rise up and slaughter the Alawite heretics and drive them out of the country (ethnic cleansing).
If/When the Sunnis overthrow Assad/Alawites, they will slaughter the Alawite heretics and drive them out of the country (ethnic cleansing).
Let them fight it out amongst themselves. Uncle Sam is tired and bankrupt. America is sick and tired of these interventions in the Arab and Islamic world (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya etc.) that drag on forever, with no purpose whatsoever. Let them fight it out amongst themselves. It is none of our business. Who gives a damn if the Alawites suppress the Sunnis, or if the Sunnis destroy the Alawites? The best case scenario is that the civil war should drag on for as long as possible, and there should be lots of casualties on both sides. Eventually the Sunnis will win because they outnumber the Alawites. Perhaps Syria will get broken up into a few pieces.
Michael Ledeen wrote, “A failure of strategic vision, combined with a failure of will, producing a disaster that invites new and greater horrors.”
That depends upon from which riverbank you are viewing the Syrian problem. From Mr. Obama’s position, taking no action, proposing no vision of the problem, is a strategic victory. Mr. Obama dithers as a strategy. As in the case of opposition to Israel or relieving his appointees of the burden of obeying the law or following the Constitution, when Mr. Obama wishes to take a stand, he knows fully well how to do so.
Perhaps this link to an article by Ann Bayefsky is also relevant.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/08/03/palestinian-head-state-at-un-get-ready-for-statehood-steamroller/
I appreciate Anne’s contributions because they zero in on the U.N. plans while exposing what Obama’s agenda really is; that is to say: “scary”. A little over a month away from the Durban 3 debacle; will Obama speak up and denounce anti-semitism and Islamic supremist ambitions at the the U.N. or will he be too busy campaigning?????
This sickens me more than the phony “debt crisis” debacle. Playing “king” with people’s lives has accountability of its own, and I just hope and pray that Obama will come to his senses – for the sake of the nation and the rest of the world. Otherwise…well…. …. …I’m not looking forward to the consequences.
Obama, for someone who supposedly believes in “collective” salvation and “liberation” theology, doesn’t seem to care a hill of beans about all the individuals dying in these so-called “collectives.” He actually seems to believe that throwing money at the oppressed will change lives. He has no moral compass and has surrounded himself with like-minded people with no moral compass. May God help us to sweep them all out of Washington and out of our educational system and out of the media so that we might again become a beacon of hope in this world.
“Ignatius knows that Obama and crew aren’t doing much of anything — hell, he hasn’t said “Assad must go,” as he did with Mubarak and Qadaffi — and he relays their excuses for inaction: “The puzzle is how to help the Syrian opposition gain power without foreign military intervention — and without triggering sectarian massacres inside the country.”
Here’s a thought. How about we let the Syrians work it out for themselves? That would be a refreshing change in terms of American foreign policy. After all, whatever replaces Assad can’t be much worse than Assad himself. Assad is a close ally of Iran and is arming Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. If Assad stays in power, we gain nothing. But if someone replaces Assad, he will probably keep on doing the same thing, or else have to deal with Iran. And if Syrians decide to slaughter each other, for once in our lives can’t we just let them? Do we have to get involved like we did in the Libyan Civil War? And we all saw how “well” that turned out for us and NATO. Libya is shaping up to be a complete disaster, like everything else Obama’s “foreign policy” touches.
So I think it’s about time we just leave this one alone. Who knows, if we’re lucky, Turkey will get involved and actually do some of the dirty work for us by invading part of Syria. For once somebody else can do the heavy lifting of fighting a Muslim country. Let them eat their own for once and we will simply deal with whoever is left standing. If the rest of the world is willing to do that, why can’t we?
Libertyship: for once, I agree with you. The good ol’ USA has no skin in this fight. Given how Osama bin Laden (now Osama bin Dedd) was dealt with, we’ve probably got operatives; and likely so does Mossad, the French, UK, etc.; well positioned within all these jihadi groups anyway.
If Obama is keeping us out of this one (Syria), he ought to get some credit for a change. Would Bush/Cheney have invaded Syria or started bombing? Probably not.
“…work it out for themselves…” Holding your breath on Russian or Iranian voluntary disentanglement? Or Chinese abandonment of future naval port chances or Ning Jiu Li plans?
The Sunni majority after a revolution is going to support Shi’a Iran, just like the Alawites?
Just like in Saudi Arabia?
After watching what the Iranians have done to the Sunni population in Iraq?
jojo, i removed your comment because it has nothing to do with the topic. there are plenty of places to rant against affirmative action and talk about other domestic issues.
Thanks for pulling me up. I sometimes do gallop on with my head down not seeing where I’m going.
‘new and greater horrors’, greater than we can imagine I might add.
These are the most dangerous of times.
Everyone is watching the Emperor with no clothes and no money.The British had the sense to get rid of Neville Chamberlain and dig up a stalwart war horse for their dire occasion but we in America are stuck with a court jester who has entranced much of the doomed population. The Iranian and the North Korean’s with their chief benefactors can see the handwriting on the wall and are greatly encouraged.The question is if Israel is still trusts her peace whores in Washington to deliver as they watch the clowns dawdle and twiddle their thumbs as Syria descends into civil war next door.
Israel ,severely weakened by the U.S. led Road map,a phony peace scam from day one will have to go to the nuclear option in this war now at the door.
Lets hope that Israel gets off the poisoned nipple and regains their sovereignty soon because there is no Churchill at this darkest hour to save anyone. Pray harder !
Something tells me that there is no oil in Syria.
Aleppo? What is happening in Aleppo that signifies it can be compared to Hama or Hom? I have searched long and hard and it seems that the Aleppo bourgeois is keeping it’s powder dry, to say the least. There were some reports of a few arrests and some small manifestations. Is something happening in Aleppo?
“Why Damascus, Aleppo are silent for now
The business elite in these Syrian cities have myriad overlapping interests with the political elite”
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/why-damascus-aleppo-are-silent-for-now-1.845867
Obama’s ignorance to the suffering protesters is not without purpose. It is just
another example of his choice to allow Iran to further progress it’s power around the world. I think this says where Obama’s ties lie.
Obama and Clinton probably assume that the “aspirations” of the Syrian people consist mainly of yet again trying to destroy Israel. Their universal answer to the problems of the Islamic world seems to be “if Israel didn’t exist, there wouldn’t BE any problems”.
The prospect of regimes’ not devoted to making war on Israel, or us, is the development which fills them with foreboding. After all, if we aren’t “the source of all evil on Earth”, then their entire worldview is indefensible, and their self-worth, in their own eyes, is nonexistent. And they insist on their privilege of thinking well of themselves for holding those opinions to be irrefutable facts.
The greatest danger to us, of course, (as opposed to the Obama/Clinton worldview), is that if Assad falls, the result will be a radical Islamist regime’ worse than his, due to the traditional Muslim principle of “whoever has the guns gets to rule”- the Muslim Brotherhood, etc., have most of the available ordnance. I predict that if this happens, The One and the Hill will hail it as a “triumph for ‘real’ democracy”.
When the massacres begin, and the moderates, etc., go to the wall, the entire subject will be taboo in the White House press briefing room.
On the principle of “if it isn’t in frame, it does not exist”. ( Friedrich W. Murnau [John Lithgow], in E. Elias Merhige’s “Shadow of the Vampire” [2000].)
clear ether
eon
“He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all.”
There is no reason to believe that Obama grasps the dimensions of the world war in which we are engaged.
Barack Obama had no demonstrated competence in any area of human endeavor prior to being handed the reins. There is such a thing as on the job training, but a capacity to grok the overall doesn’t appear to be in the mix for him, not to mention that he is totally controlled by the ideology with which he was relentlessly imbued prior to becoming president.
In his small potatoes mind, the “fairness” “justice” thing drives him and the international thing is a distraction.
Hillary and Barry both use words conveniently rather than truthfully, use words as a function of their perceptions of what the immediate situation or press conference calls for.
The difference between Q-Daffy and Assad is that Q is and has been known to be certifiably insane and sports gold and white robes and that funny looking hat, whereas A sports an impeccable suit and has a doctor’s training in ophthalmology.
In the world of pure perception and spin, the world that Hillary and Barack inhabit, the fact that Assad may be, technically, the more brutal assassin doesn’t register.
There is oil and natural gas in Syria. There are few parts of the world that don’t contain unconventional deposits of oil and natural gas.
“Geologists tell us there is more shale in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries than anywhere else in the world.
Saudi Arabia had ignored its natural gas until recently. Now, that kingdom is involved in an energetic pursuit of both freestanding gas and shale.
In addition to the Saudis, substantial shale gas is expected elsewhere in the Middle East – especially Syria, Iraq and Jordan.”
http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Agris_Reports_3D_Seismic_Significantly_Upgrades_Syrian_Resource_Potential/09cac2d55.aspx
http://naturalgasforasia.com/syria-offer-oil-shale-bids.htm
http://www.syria-oil.com/en/?p=486
The poor man doesn’t have a clue…about anything!
Are you talking about Victor or Obama, Bulgaricus
Words, words, words!
I’m so sick of words!
Do we still have our ambassador in Syria? President Obama is clearly afraid of Iran. Iran has their hands on many things, including helping the Syrian regime slaughter their own people. Once again we need to cut the head off the snake. We should have helped the Iranian people during their uprising, but President Obama, Rice, Powers and Clinton chose to dither.
The Ambassador was recently in D C “testifying to an almost empty Senate hearing before recess. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/03/only-1-senator-stays-to-question-us-envoy-to-syria-at-confirmation-hearing/ Committee members with their usual grasp of priorities allowed this opportunity to pass , setting up another potential “recess non-kinetic” decision.
# 15,He is NOT poor,and as far as being a man,I need to see some Beitzim (Kojones) first.
But he sure is clueless.
“…Having long entreated Middle Easterners to phrase their demands in this way, we then go all hesitant when they agree to do so…”
Were it that George Bush and the much reviled neocons were in power now. Unlike Obama and company, Bush and the neocons genuinely believed that Islam could co-exist with democratic government and a civil and humane code of justice. They would have supported the Persian demonstrators overtly and covertly from the beginning and actively supported and, to the extent possible, politically guided the Arab uprisings since.
Obama is a stumblebum lurching from crisis to crisis without a clue. He’s a quick study and after prolonged head-scratching and initial stumbling manages to get it somewhat right. Unfortunately, just as he does, another darned crisis pops up. It’s a steep learning curve and what with fundraising and speech-making and wasting other peoples money on radically socialist domestic policies, where’s a guy get the time for coherent foreign policy?
As for the Arabists in the State Department happily enabling Obama’s pathetic and nationally humiliating fumbling and stumbling, they haven’t got anything right since the Second World War. Our diplomatic corps (that’s pronounced “core”) should all be retired beginning with the oldest dinosaurs in the herd.
Please. Let the bastards kill themselves and leave us out of it.
It’s really very simple. If a country is becoming more islamicized, Obama lends support. The syrians are protesting against a brutal islamic regime; Obama supports the islamic regime. For our Muslim Marxist in chief, it’s a no-brainer (actually everything O-bozo does is a no-brainer) -support Islam at all costs.
When Barack is finally evacuated from the bowels of the US political system, and flushed into the cesspool of total irrevelence, he can move to Iran and become the twelth imam.
Greetings:
One of the many things that has struck me about the goings on in Syria is what occurred in the Ivory Coast where some followers of the newly elected muslim President (of a different tribal persuasion) killed 800 or so Christian followers of the new President’s predecessor. The massacre received a day or two of media mention and then fell of the media radar. Whatever criteria the Obama administration uses to assess these situations, they didn’t present themselves in Ivory Coast. A couple of days ago, Yahoo had a news item about the continuing dislocation of some of the local population, but, again, no big whoop.
Another thing that has struck me about Syria, is the media’s proclamation about it being an “important” country in the Middle East. Important how, one might ask; militarily? important products? critical location transport-wise? Mmmm., I’m seem to be unconvinced. Perhaps it’s important because President Obama (our First muslim President ???) has allowed his gaze to fall upon it.
Forgive me, if you will, but muslims killing muslims is no longer that upsetting to me. If they’re killing each other, they’re probably not killing more reasonable people. As Fouad Ajami has written, those are the lands of “I against my brother; my brother and I against our cousin; and, my cousin, my brother, and I against the stranger. If one looks at Islam as Mohammed’s globalization of his Arab tribal culture, one can easily conclude that until the millstone that is Islam is removed, there is little hope for civilizational improvement.
Recently, I went back through Samuel P. Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilization…” to see how well his thoughts were holding up 15 or so years after he sent them off to the printers. Toward the back of the book, the author recommended that America avoid becoming involved in internecine muslim conflicts, an idea that remains unrecognized or un-operationalized by our present administration.
When I think about our current foreign policies, the image that comes to my mind is that of a lion, the proverbial King of the Beasts, surrounded by a pack of hyenas that are trying to steal the his meat. The lion can easily kill any individual hyena, but the hyenas know distance, opportunity and how to inflict their level of pain.
The “new boss”, from Daltrey’s view, is protected. http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/01/covington-hired-to-represent-ivory-coasts-president-elect.html
The US has pretty much divested itself of nearly all financial interest in either country. Why should we care? Let other investors in these despotic regimes come to their aid.
We are not the world’s policemen.
The President is focused only on converting the country, of which he is a constitutional officer with specified powers and duties, into a Marxist state so that he may impose on the country rules which he and those he has appointed (with the aid of a compliant Senate, e.g. Attorney General Holder) rulw by fiat. Consider his statement that HE (emphasis added) would not enforce the Defense of Mariage Act. To President Obama, laws enacted by Congress and signed into law by a previous President, are not “laws of the land” but regulations that he may or may not enforce.
In the field of foreign ffairs what do you expect from a man who thinks Austrians speak “Austrian” and that there are fifty-seven (57) states in the United States of America and who bows profoundly before foreign leaders?
Now now, let’s be fair to President Obama. It’s his birthday week after all and he has to get through all the celebrations and parties (at $37,500 per) before he can actually pay attention to the matter at hand. And I’m pretty sure that when he does he’s going to find a way to blame President Bush.
…the odds favor a successor regime that would devote its energies and depleted resources to the care and feeding of its own people rather than to the support of terrorist proxies like Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and al-Qaeda.
Perhaps in the long run, but in this century, I think you underestimate the long reach of militant Islam.
Of course, you’re right about the Obama administration and his troika of diplomatic witches.
President Obama is far better than I expected. My worst-case scenario is he would have a public nervous breakdown. My next to worst case is he would go Juan Peron on us, and add “banana” to our republic. Mere incompetence and fecklessness … I’ll take it.
Yeah, I know this isn’t a good time for this, but we wasted the whole previous decade while Iran got stronger and stronger. Apparently, it was more important to a certain portion of the population to hate the previous president than, well, anything else. Now they have Bozo the Clown in the White House.
I’m all right with this. Imagine a lazy Jimmy Carter who isn’t as annoying to listen to. (Obama’s not — you’ve forgotten.) I mean, that’s two improvements.
The key is for the world not to be destroyed before mid 2013, and for the GOP to nominate someone electable and competent. We are not going to get away with another George W. Bush. Don’t even think about it. We need someone who can think on their feet, with command presence, who can articulate with confidence the conservative and libertarian worldviews, and generates optimism.
Where’s Syria’s business community?
Mass protests, similar to the ones we have seen in Hama, have not taken place yet in Syria’s two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. Without these two cities joining the uprisings en masse, the Assad family and their cronies will remain confident that they can withstand the crisis. But the Syrian business community is not a monolith, and has a variety of perspectives on the value of the current regime. What could change their course?
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/05/wheres_syrias_business_community
Damascus, and the second city Aleppo, are islands of relative peace in a country at war with itself.
“Whether demonstrators can convince Damascus and Aleppo to buy into this revolution will have a profound impact on whether the regime can cling on to power. As long as the city-based business classes and the minorities – the government’s core constituencies – stand by the regime, it is unlikely to fall.”
http://www.channel4.com/news/denial-in-damascus-as-syria-revolts
City of Aleppo seems in own world amid revolt elsewhere in Syria
“Many religious leaders in the city are followers of the country’s Sunni Muslim grand mufti, Ahmed Hassoun, who has toed the government line on the uprising, calling protests “mischief.”
The government views Aleppo and Damascus — though the capital has seen a certain amount of protest — as the two cities it cannot lose to the revolution and has implemented safeguards to ensure that, said Ala Sassila, a native of Aleppo and a board member of the Syrian American Council, which advocates for democratic change in Syria. The measures include an overwhelming presence of security forces, police and government enforcers, but also less overt tactics.
Construction code enforcement has all but disappeared as the city witnesses an illegal construction boom; electricians, plumbers and tile workers who have been unemployed for years are now barely able to keep up with the work. Roads in need of repair for years have been repaved. Traffic laws, which had become more strict, are no longer implemented. People steal electricity with no repercussions.
Similar relaxation of laws is occurring in Damascus as well.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/07/world/la-fg-syria-aleppo-20110807/2
The coming sanctions and possible border closing by Turkey will bite Aleppo hard. They may begin to sing a different tune.