Yanked from the brink of blunder, the Obama administration has just been provided a paved exit from a rocky road to war by Russia's Valdimir Putin. The Russians, trapping Secretary of State John Kerry with his own words, use them to help reshape global policy on Syria.
In what is now accepted as an off the cuff, arbitrary, throw away line to a very specific query regarding "what could Bashar al-Assad do or say to avert US air strikes?", the loose lipped response turned out to be the answer to President Obama's prayers.
Bashar al-Assad could simply handover his entire stockpile of chemical weapons to international authorities for control and disposal. Not thinking the Syrians would ever entertain such a thought, Secretary Kerry appear satisfied he'd put the issue to rest. But it was "Not so fast Kemosabe", the Russians saw a plan, an option, another way to make the Americans stop and think for once.
The Russian jumped on the idea. Seemingly within minutes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was on camera laying out the possibilities while encouraging the Syrians to seriously consider the offer. Seemingly within minutes, the Syrian Foreign Minister was on camera agreeing at least in principal on the merits of the proposal. Seemingly within minutes, the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon had picked up on the story and was proposing a UN resolution for the Council to review ad act upon. Seemingly within minutes, the world was had shifted into another gear and the Obama administration was left on the side of the road spectating.
While the US may be embarrassed, the administration must admit, they may have been inadvertently saved from themselves. Whether the US President is wise enough to except this sensible proposal remains to be scene.
One must remain cognizant of the neigh-sayers the President will have to confront. Many will be quick to point out the flaws in the offer. How can they be sure Bashar al-Assad won't hook up his pals with a batch or two of "the nasty stuff" first before turning over whatever is left. How long will it take to collect, store and destroy the weapons? How do they know Bashar al- Assad isn't just playing for time? After-all, when all is said and done Assad will still be "the man" in Syria. He will still be left with enough conventional weapons to kill as many people as he sees fit to consolidate his reign on power.
Still, as his primary argument for attacking Syria came under serious scrutiny, even President Obama's number one boy, François Hollande started taking a step backward. Today, the French leader joined a growing "coalition of the sensible" by offering a UN resolution calling for a similar approach to resolve the alleged chemical weapons use issue.
With reasonable minds regaining control, it looks as though the international community will also await the inspection results from more trusted and independent sources before taking another ridiculous leap of faith.
After being abandoned by David Cameron and German intelligence leaking reports that could potentially vindicate the besieged Bashar of personally authorizing the use of WMD's, the US administration was caught with its pants down and its collective ass hanging out.
Finding itself relying solely on a do nothing, obstinate and obstructionist Congress, President Obama had left his administration exposed to having its collective ass kicked and kicked soundly.
Bottom line: We just saw brains trumping brawn.
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