Geneva Two: Disaster in the Making
Unsure of an untested, untrustworthy, unreliable crew, with lots of enemies and no allies, Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov must be laughing their asses off knowing Barack Obama and company are scrambling to manage a motley crew of discontents an zealots.
Unsure of an untested, untrustworthy, unreliable crew, with lots of enemies and no allies, Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov must be laughing their asses off knowing Barack Obama and company are scrambling to manage a motley crew of discontents an zealots.
As of late, when Russia rocks, the West gets rolled. In fact over the last year, maybe two, the Obama administration has been consistently out maneuvered for inexplicably failing to understand and anticipate the mood of the world. Desperately clinging to the antiquity of imperialistic self aggrandizement, Washington and Western partners are simply in denial of their dwindling respect, influence and perceived exceptionalism.
Hanging its hope on any knuckleheads dumb enough to grab a gun and die for a cause yet to be solidified, Western powers have doubled-down on a group of dangerously disorganized and increasing disrespected (armed) dissidents. Hardly a winning strategy for toppling the entrenched Bashar al-Assad while he currently enjoys strong support from Russia, China and Iran. Couple that with a world still reeling from globe of Western inspired conflicts, any actual intervention will likely be limited to light weapons, blankets and bandages, with regularly scheduled official State Department statements condemning the violence.
Perhaps taking an ass whipping in Afghanistan and witnessing the collapse of the Soviet Union gave Putin the wisdom of knowing when to resist the urge to pop-off without a plan B. To date, the Russians have approached this Syrian conflict with cold hard logic. In civil wars, people are killed, maimed and displaced. Civil wars happen all the time.
External military intervention is rarely a solution, since more often than not, outsiders exacerbate the crises. Russia has proposed only political, diplomatic and humanitarian responses to the conflict. No taking side, threats of air strikes, no fly zones or arming the opposition. Why the Obama administration thinks it can sell its aggressive foreign policies to the world when said policies won't even be accepted at home is a mystery. I hate mysteries!
On the other hand, for more than two years now, President Obama has been promising Bashar al-Assad's days were numbered, the regeime has lost all legitimacy and al-Assad must go and must go now. Unfortunately, much to the West's chargrin demands for Bashar al-Assad's departure via some transitional government scheme is being met with serious push back and once again the West will be viewed as walking their demands back.
Since no one is expecting much to be gained from these Geneva 2 talks, perhaps few will notice how much face the Obama administration and ihs allies losing in the process.
The Podcast:Since no one is expecting much to be gained from these Geneva 2 talks, perhaps few will notice how much face the Obama administration and ihs allies losing in the process.
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