March 2, 2010
This is How It’s Going to Be
I've been busy trying to get through the most difficult chapter of my book, so I'm late in posting this, but take a look at the kind of bullshit the Obama Administration is going to have to put up with now that we've decided on "engagement" with Syria:
The U.S. administration has asked Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop transferring arms to Hezbollah. American officials made the request during a meeting Friday with the Syrian ambassador to Washington.
[…]
Haaretz has learned that Burns’ visit to Damascus ended unsatisfactorily for the U.S. administration. During Burns’ meeting with Assad, the Syrian leader denied all American claims that his regime was providing military aid to terrorists in Iraq, or to Hezbollah and Palestinian terror groups.
Assad essentially told Burns that he had no idea what the American was talking about.
Posted by Michael J. Totten at March 2, 2010 12:52 AM
Comments
Put up with? What makes you assume the Oministration won't take the statement at face value, and then turn around and blame both Lebanon and Israel for engaging in unwarranted hostilities with no outside influence?
Posted by: Akiva at March 2, 2010 1:28 am
The naivete of the Obama Administration is only equaled by its arrogance.
Ye gods. To think that they would ever get a straight answer out of Syria is mind-boggling.
And to put it in the press is an invitation for Syria to gather lovely brownie points with its masters. What? Us? No way...while laughing at the US at the same time.
This is an invitation to do more mischief and sow more confusion. There's no real political cost to be paid.
Posted by: John F. Opie at March 2, 2010 7:00 am
Ye gods. To think that they would ever get a straight answer out of Syria is mind-boggling.
And to put it in the press is an invitation for Syria to gather lovely brownie points with its masters. What? Us? No way...while laughing at the US at the same time.
This is an invitation to do more mischief and sow more confusion. There's no real political cost to be paid.
Color me unsurprised. Just wake me when this nightmare of an administration is over.
Posted by: crosspatch at March 2, 2010 8:59 am
The only way to get Syria to respond to this, is to have Israel send a clear shot accross the Assad bow! Send a few jets over the syrian presidential palace and have Barak warn Syria of grave repercussions if shipments to Hizbullah continue, then just for good measure bomb a few "known" shipping routes to the lebanese border, or a few ammunition depots that are used as storage for iranian shipments inside Syria that are slated for Hizbullah.
Posted by: Mason at March 2, 2010 11:02 am
I just hope the Obama Administration's policy is try to engage the rogue regimes in the region to see if
A) it works
B) to show the world and that American went the extra mile and that it's the rogue's who are the problem, not the US.
But sadly I think the Administration just really is this limp wristed and naive.
Posted by: semite5000 at March 2, 2010 12:13 pm
A) it works
B) to show the world and that American went the extra mile and that it's the rogue's who are the problem, not the US.
But sadly I think the Administration just really is this limp wristed and naive.
But sadly I think the Administration just really is this limp wristed and naive.
I don't think they are either one. Obama has many people on his staff that I'd characterize as downright vicious, and extremely clever politicians. However, most of Obama's inner circle learned their art in US domestic politics. They seem to be trying the same tactics in foreign policy. I think they will find dictators in foreign countries are a lot harder to manipulate with bad PR and leaked "scandals" than rival politicians here in the US. But I could be wrong.
Posted by: Craig at March 2, 2010 12:56 pm
I don't think they are either one. Obama has many people on his staff that I'd characterize as downright vicious, and extremely clever politicians. However, most of Obama's inner circle learned their art in US domestic politics. They seem to be trying the same tactics in foreign policy. I think they will find dictators in foreign countries are a lot harder to manipulate with bad PR and leaked "scandals" than rival politicians here in the US. But I could be wrong.
I think they will find dictators in foreign countries are a lot harder to manipulate with bad PR and leaked "scandals" than rival politicians here in the US.
...A different sort of naivete than one might think, but still naivete.
I agree with you though. Domestically, Obama and his pals play hardball, but in foreign policy they are naifs who, with little if any consideration, assume that the world is a global village, and everyone wants to be, no, is , just like us, underneath a little bit of colorful posturing.
It isn't so. There are differences between cultures more profound than clothing and favorite spices and the sound of their languages. Some words and concepts are untranslatable from or into other languages. Some cultures have ideologies which are profoundly undemocratic. Obama, and Bush previously, assume nevertheless that others will just understand and join and sing kumbaya, because, well, because they simply must, and all is just. An alternative is inconceivable to them.
Posted by: del at March 2, 2010 1:24 pm
...A different sort of naivete than one might think, but still naivete.
I agree with you though. Domestically, Obama and his pals play hardball, but in foreign policy they are naifs who, with little if any consideration, assume that the world is a global village, and everyone wants to be, no, is , just like us, underneath a little bit of colorful posturing.
It isn't so. There are differences between cultures more profound than clothing and favorite spices and the sound of their languages. Some words and concepts are untranslatable from or into other languages. Some cultures have ideologies which are profoundly undemocratic. Obama, and Bush previously, assume nevertheless that others will just understand and join and sing kumbaya, because, well, because they simply must, and all is just. An alternative is inconceivable to them.
The U.S. administration has asked Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop transferring arms to Hezbollah.
Right. After 50,000 of them have already been transferred.
At least some one in the Obama administration has a sense of humor....
Posted by: Barry Meislin at March 2, 2010 11:33 pm
Right. After 50,000 of them have already been transferred.
At least some one in the Obama administration has a sense of humor....
Syria is to Iran what North Carolina is to the US. North Carolina does not have an independent foreign policy and neither does Syria. To peel Syria from Iran would require Iranian permission, and to say the least, this is unlikely.
Posted by: Clement Fong at March 3, 2010 8:35 am
Post a comment
