Just this morning, I speculated that the Russians might use their air force in Syria to attack the Free Syrian Army, the Sunni Arab non-terrorist opposition to the Assad regime which the USA supports. Hours later, the Russians bombed that group. As I predicted, president Obama has done nothing about it.
Think of what this means. The entire Middle East understands that in Syria, the Free Syrian Army group was as close to being an American ally as any group could be. The so called "vetted Syrian rebel force" that Obama tried to establish was to have come from the Free Syrian Army. Russia is now bombing out ally. Russia is in an alliance with the Assad regime, Iran and Hezbollah. Russia is sticking it to the USA and Obama and were are just sitting still; there's no reaction other than some mentions about how we need to talk more to the Russians. This is an image which the Jordanians, the Turks, the Saudis and the Israelis cannot miss. It tells them that status as an ally and friend of the USA means nothing if they get attacked. Obama will not do anything to help them. With this one move, Putin has proved to the Middle East that, to use the old Chinese expression, America under Obama is a paper tiger.
This is an extremely dangerous situation. The mischief that can happen in the next sixteen months is huge. We will need a leader who will be able to extricate us from this mess. At the moment, despite all the men and women running, there are few good choices. We can cross off Hillary Clinton; she was the one responsible for the "reset" with Russia that proved to be a naïve, misguided and almost delusional policy. Biden is also part of the group responsible for the failed policy we already have. Sanders plan for dealing with Russia is to pull all American troops home and to abandon involvement around the world even more than Obama has already done. Sanders policy is the failed Obama policy on steroids. On the GOP side, Trump is similarly delusional in his thinking on Syria. Ben Carson has said little or nothing on the subject; there is no reason to expect that he understands the situation. In fact, the only one who has indicated any understanding of Russia and Syria and the rest of the foreign policy problems we face is Marco Rubio.
Think of what this means. The entire Middle East understands that in Syria, the Free Syrian Army group was as close to being an American ally as any group could be. The so called "vetted Syrian rebel force" that Obama tried to establish was to have come from the Free Syrian Army. Russia is now bombing out ally. Russia is in an alliance with the Assad regime, Iran and Hezbollah. Russia is sticking it to the USA and Obama and were are just sitting still; there's no reaction other than some mentions about how we need to talk more to the Russians. This is an image which the Jordanians, the Turks, the Saudis and the Israelis cannot miss. It tells them that status as an ally and friend of the USA means nothing if they get attacked. Obama will not do anything to help them. With this one move, Putin has proved to the Middle East that, to use the old Chinese expression, America under Obama is a paper tiger.
This is an extremely dangerous situation. The mischief that can happen in the next sixteen months is huge. We will need a leader who will be able to extricate us from this mess. At the moment, despite all the men and women running, there are few good choices. We can cross off Hillary Clinton; she was the one responsible for the "reset" with Russia that proved to be a naïve, misguided and almost delusional policy. Biden is also part of the group responsible for the failed policy we already have. Sanders plan for dealing with Russia is to pull all American troops home and to abandon involvement around the world even more than Obama has already done. Sanders policy is the failed Obama policy on steroids. On the GOP side, Trump is similarly delusional in his thinking on Syria. Ben Carson has said little or nothing on the subject; there is no reason to expect that he understands the situation. In fact, the only one who has indicated any understanding of Russia and Syria and the rest of the foreign policy problems we face is Marco Rubio.
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