After all the high drama that has distracted us from such important crap as the debt ceiling and where Hillary ate lunch, Herr Assad Hitler is, according to reports, giving up his CW stash in exchange for not getting blown to bits (not that the presidential palace or the royal presidential person itself was ever on Obama's hit list, or anything untoward like that.)
So, there is reason to be optimistic today that through no fault of our own dear leaders, there will be Not-War for the time being.
By the way, my suspicion is that Obama had again desperately tried to engage Putin over staging a CW intervention and sending Assad to Sarin rehab at last week's G-20, and Putin probably just played him like a cat toys with a mouse. Then, after enjoying the American political spectacle for several more days, Putin finally pounced on Kerry's "off-the-cuff" offer, and put them all out of their misery.
It looks like Barack Obama is joining Edward Snowden in that new club called Russian Asylum.
Oh, and Michelle is against war on Syria. After all, she does send her kids to a Quaker school. No wonder Obama looked so testy in St. Petersburg and so downright ebullient in his TV interviews last night. He'd just made both a political and domestic escape from his surgical, tiny, pinprick of a Tomahawk missile bunker ball buster of a war.
Unless, of course, bombing Syria was never about chemical weapons and children and human misery at all, and they're now scrambling to find another excuse/locale for their Mideast power/land grab.
Oh well. It's always something. But, as he is likely droning in the ear of his National Security
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7 comments:
Karen: Thank you for a wonderful column once more.
The plus side to this science fiction plan for war about which no-one had
any specifics to impart, was enough to alarm the public. The resulting
surprisingly strong reactions from people from all different political walks of life speaking out loudly, especially to their representatives who are concerned about the Congressional voting coming up next year, was a strong warning to present and future leaders that they will no longer tolerate misbegotten wars.
It is also an excellent demonstration of what can be changed if there is a
united front not afraid to speak their minds. I think this may work well for future problems that are not being addressed, so we have to reluctantly thank President Obama for wandering into uncharted territory, scaring us to death and inadvertently discovering more decent possibilities with Russia's interference. Maybe they can work together in future. Yes, this could have all been
accomplished by working with the various organizations prepared to deal with chemical warfare issues over the years and hope this will be a pattern for the future. They can't back away from the procedures suggested by Russia (which evidently several Congress people had written similar plans about to
submit to Obama) with the world watching so closely.
.It is also obvious that Michelle has more common sense than her husband.
Our work is cut out for us and maybe something like the OWS on a broader
basis will be revived as a result. Let's fasten our seat belts.
I wonder why France is writing and bringing this proposal to the UN, tout suite, instead of the Russians. Is it actually being dictated by the USG and written to fail? Is the Pope Catholic?
Btw, I appreciated and respected Pope Francis' activism in calling on the world's Christians to oppose this war in Syria.
"Even today we raise our hand against our brother... We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves as if it were normal to continue to sow destruction, pain, death. Violence and war lead only to death."
Hundreds of thousands around the world protested. That's the kind of moral leadership we should expect from all our religions.
A good news day. There have been so few in recent years. Putin and the UN, jointly, to share the Nobel Peace Prize next time around.
It appears we may have avoided what was building up as (in the worst case scenario) another August 1914: Obama shoots at Assad; Assad takes revenge by lobbing missiles at Israel; Israel strikes back; Egypt mobilizes; NATO mobilizes; Iran strikes Israel; the US and Israel strike back at Iran; Putin steps in with a few of his neighbors.... Now, it looks like that ball of yarn won't unwind.
Yogi keeps whispering in my ear that "It ain't over till it's over." But still, at least on this front, there may be a lesson. If the US and its war-weary generals would step back once in a while and cede the initiative to others, we might enjoy more of these good news days.
@Jay--
I'd listen to Yogi at least a little longer and not break out any champagne just yet.
There's still plenty of time for Team Obama to screw this up by trying too strenuously to spin the notion that this was really Obama's idea/objective all along.
I'm already reading suggestions from the administration that this "deal" came about--if it really does come about-- ONLY because Obama threatened the use of force.
As if John Kerry's telegraphed, "unbelievably small" strike was really scaring anyone into submission.
Still, I like your joint nomination of Vladimir Putin and the United Nations for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Such an award might actually go a long way toward restoring some actual honor and dignity to it!
I had a dream last night where Obama fought this hard to close Gitmo, prosecute the bankers, ...
I still think Obama is going to start this risky, reckless war. Obama, McCain, and the rest of their ilk actually believe it's not risky to attack anyone. They've both used the same exact words within days of each other when asked about possible retaliation. Casually dismissing the possibility, they both stated "No one dares attack us because we have the most powerful military the world has ever known".
If they actually believe that, then we're all in a world of trouble. That is dangerously delusional. Obama even made that statement in direct response to a question framed with a reference to the 9/11 attacks, and it didn't even seem to register in his consciousness. Everyone knows that retaliation doesn't have to be in the same form as our own choice of methods. Their denial and hubris has no bounds.
If Obama truly believes that, then what WON'T he do?
Anyway, how else can they topple Assad so they can put their handpicked guy in control? How else to get that Qatar gas pipeline across Syria which will screw Russia? How else to get those oil and gas contracts awarded to multinationals in October when they come up for bid? They'll need to act fast. Their window of opportunity may close at any time.
I do believe them when they say strikes will be limited, only because Syria isn't their real target, which is Iran. It's the old Bait and Switch, Obomba style with lots of lies and deception. Military action will be limited IN Syria but not TO Syria.
Well, on the positive side, we won't for now be having mission creep. On the other hand, the mission creeps themselves are still in charge.
Interview with Noam Chomsky:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/10/an-interview-with-noam-chomsky-3/#.UjAR-SfKi_I.twitter
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