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I’m on the same page as Robert Dreyfuss on the issue of Syria. Hoping for a more levelheaded approach by our Hawk running State.
(The Nation) – The Obama administration’s policy all along has served to escalate the crisis. It has exerted no effort at all to bring about any sort of de-escalation in the crisis, to support talks, and it has given the kiss of death to Kofi Annan’s well-intentioned, and Russian-backed, diplomatic initiative. By championing the cause of the rebels since last year while demonizing Assad, the United States has done everything it can to make the crisis in Syria worse, not better. (Clinton is now accusing Russia of pushing Syria toward “catastropic” civil war.)
Why? Because the best and brightest in the Obama administration, backed by outside hawks, seem to believe that toppling Assad will strike a mortal blow to Iran. It’s not really about Syria. Ten thousand dead in Syria? Twenty times that many, if civil war erupts? Why, it’s worth it if it annoys Ayatollah Khamenei! say the Obama folks.
If real civil wars breaks out in Syria, sympathetic civil wars are likely in Lebanon and Iraq. Iraqi Sunnis will support Sunni fighters in Syria. Iran will tighten its grip on the government in Baghdad, and Iraq might split. Saudi Arabia, in its anti-Iran frenzy, will massively support Sunni fighters and tribes in Syria and Iraq. The entire region could go up in flames. In Lebanon, there are already signs of spillover, and Hezbollah there could react by either seizing power in Beirut or provoking Israel.
It’s not enough for Obama and NATO to resist the Post’s hawkish advice. The White House needs to seek a way out of the crisis in Syria, and that starts with a halt to the demonization of Assad and the pursuit of real diplomacy.
Clinton doesn’t favor go-it-alone actions, a la Cheney. She does, however, often see human rights as a handy way to create a rationale for war. (Obama’s ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, agrees. Not long ago, before taking office, Rice called for air strikes of or a naval blockade of Sudan over the ongoing civil strife in the western region of Darfur.)
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
I listened with total amazement to Hillary Clinton’s press conference while on visit to NATO ally Turkey. She praised her counterpart into far reaches of outerspace as an ally and moderator for de disunited opposition group on Syria. A lot of poppycock as the Aussies would say, there was no clear or coherent policy on Syria. If you are not with us, you are with the enemy she threatened Russia and China. She very distinctly stated Assad has to go or there is no way forward in the UN Security Council. I understand the US and its allies will invoke the Chapter 7 option for intervention in Syria. The facts are already clear, intervention has already started by funding and supplying arms to all sorts of militants, insurgents or foreign Jihad fighters. Hillary has not learned anything from the failed political interventen and ugly civil war on the Balkans. Very fitting how she was portrayed as special envoy to the Balkans for President Bill Clinton.
I was so amazed, I figured to look for her special advisor on Middle-East policy, in particular for Syria. Quickly I came across the name “Fred Hoff”, it didn’t lead anywhere until I found out it was probably Frederic C. Hof, as special envoy to Lebaon and Syria. He was involved in pre-talks with Israel and Syria to resolve the Golan Heights issue in 2010. Later I learned he is/was part of USIP, the United States Institute for Peace. These experts are involved with foreign policy and can be found on the Hill speaking with the Congressional Committees on Foreign Policy. They also are deeply involved in policy making for the US State Department. See USIP report by Frederic D. Hof – Mapping Peace Between Syria and Israel [pdf].
The one person that shouldn’t be absent for US Foriegn Policy under Obama/Clinton is Stephan S. Hadley. Right, the circle is complete and I do now understand the press conference of Hillary Clinton in Turkey today.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
Part of the West’s hypocrisy, it has created another diplomatic row with the Ukraine during the nation’s start of hosting the European Football (Soccer) Championship. The West’s favorite corrupt Ukrainian leader is in prison and this has annoyed Western powers. The citizens of the Ukraine can care less for the fate of Timoshenko. When interviewed they shrug their shoulders and mention only that’s the place for most political and corporate leaders. Corruption is manifest, Timoshenko’s rule wasn’t in any way better.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."