Obama Blinked

Faced with looming defeat in Congress and threatened by the possibility that truth about the gas disaster might emerge, President Obama chose the better part of valor and backed away from personal disaster.

The interventionist party is enraged.  His wife is evidently pleased  and Fox News seems unhappy that World War III has not begun.

The speech was so boringly predictable that as someone here suggested I fell asleep immediately after listening and woke up around midnight for the purpose of finding my actual bed as opposed to my "couch potato" bed in front of the idiot box.

Russia saved our collective ass.  We ought to be grateful for that.  Saying that is not easy for me.  I have a lot of celtic blood and am quick to anger and slow to forget.  Nevertheless, they saved our asses this time.

Kerry is going to meet with Lavrov in Geneva to work out the details.  Kerry will try his smarmy best to have a deal that is impossible for the Syrians or anyone else to execute.  That would make it easier for the interventionists to claim that the Syrians are in non-compliance so that they can start this all over again.   That is what the interventionists did before Iraq.  It worked then and so they will try it again.

I trust that Lavrov will be on guard against this inevitable behavior on the part of the Winter Soldier.

We will see.  pl

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/syria?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email238-text1&utm_campaign=syria

Comments

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang ,
I am still hoping that the Realist such JSC Chairman Dempsey & Secretary of Defense Hagel will carry the day against the Interventionist . And yes we all are indebted to Leader Putin . Regarding the Interventionist I am not schooled enough in using the 'internet tubes " to send video but if any SST correspondent can pull up the Jon Stewart bit ' Uncle Jonny's Syria Stew " - it is both edifying and entertaining .
It hardly seems like twelve years ago today the UBL attacked These United States.

[turcopolier]

AE

I posted it a while back. pl

[r whitman]

A lot depends on BHO's instructions to Kerry prior to Geneva. If his instructions are "don't come back without a deal" then we are OK. If there are no instructions or they are typical wishy-washy BHO the interventionists might prevail.

[Matthew]

Col: And, now, send in the clowns: http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/09/10/the-president-makes-the-case/

I doubt if Anastas Mikoyan ever gave Smiling Joe such an encomium. Look, I voted for Obama twice because the alternative was dreadful, but his recent judgment has been dangerous and naive.

BTW, I sent Sullivan an email yesterday pointing out that we all don't "know" that Assad used chemical weapons. I also asked why he supposedly had more facts than Rep. Alan Grayson--who despite being very pro-Israel--has been to a classified briefing and finds the President's case unconvincing.

Predictably, I got no response. In the past Mr. Sullivan has responded when I have challenged his facts.

[steve g]

It appears Oba(o)mber cobbled together
this speech with the MoTown Four Tops
song playing in the back of his head.
"Its the same old song, with a different
meaning... He added nothing. Insead of
clarifying events he muddled them pur-
posefully no doubt. Once again, so much
for the sloganeering "Hope and Change"

[robt willmann]

Here is a transcript of president Obama's speech on Syria of last night, 10 September 2013.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/10/remarks-president-address-nation-syria

[NF]

Matthew-

I'm glad you mentioned Andrew Sullivan's fawning post. To use a British term, he is a wanker. I had to quit reading his drivel long ago for my own sanity.Unfortunately, unlike Col. Lang, Sullivan is not brave nor honest enough to allow comments on his site. He prefers to cherry pick e-mails which he then selectively edits and publishes...hmmm...perhaps there in a future career for him on Obama's national security team.

[JohnH]

After ten years of a concerted campaign by beltway elites to establish via Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya that public opinion doesn't matter when America goes to war, suddenly the beltway is forced to acknowledge that the public's opinion does matter. Hurray!

However, something tells me that the only lesson learned so far is that the interventionists must communicate better. And they learned that BHO is not a great communicator, occasional oratory excepted.

[Rd.]

Col,

regardless of how we got to this point, would you say a peaceful closure to Syrian crises, we are now back to multilaterarism? and that should be a good thing, except for iziz and their buddies the saud wahabi terrorist.

Incidentally, once the Syrian sign the CW convention, the world should bring iziz to sign the CW convention as well.. it may be somewhat arbitrary (in lieu of NW) but as the first step, a good one.

[Anon1]

It's not the first time the Russians saved our asses. The Red Army saved many American lives in WWII by doing the heavy lifting against the Nazis.

[Matthew]

Putin 1, Obama 0.

See http://www.timesofisrael.com/putin-shipping-assad-more-weapons-to-crush-rebels/

Get rid of the weapons you can't use and get lots of new weapons you can.

[The beaver]

We have to watch out for the two amazones: Susan Rice and Samantha Powers

[turcopolier]

NF

I do not allow everyone to comment here. If you are simply argumentative or personally insulting I will ban you. There are currently 12 people in the penalty box. I un-ban them from time to time to learn if they are reformed. pl

[confusedponderer]

"That would make it easier for the interventionists to claim that the Syrians are in non-compliance so that they can start this all over again."

Of course they will try, and if it doesn't work this time they'll try again next time.

[NF]

Sir,

I understand that commenting here is a privilege, not a right, and fully respect your right as proprietor to decide whom is welcome and whom is not.

However, I fear my comment above may have been misconstrued. My ire was directed at Mr. Sullivan, and his habit of policing the boundaries of debate by simply not allowing comments on his site. My criticism was not directed towards you nor towards fellow commenter Matthew.

If, on the other hand, you are saying that I should refrain from expressing my contempt even for the likes of Andrew Sullivan by using colorful expressions such as the one I employed above, I beg your pardon and will refrain from doing so in the future.

Thank you for your blog and your advocacy on behalf of a non-messianic United States.

[turcopolier]

NF

I meant nothing of the kind. I was simply stating the way I operate so that I not be mistaken for someone more kindly than I am. pl

[confusedponderer]

Yes, of course.

They don't see that bombing and regime changing Syria is foolhardy. The remain convinced that that is a brilliant idea and a great plan. To them this is about Obama's weakness, and indeed, their still imperfect propaganda. They'll work on that, just like they'll be working on the next, better false flag.

It sent of all my alarms when I heard US talking heads say over and over: "Sarin gas was used, and that is why Assad must be punished!"

Causality matters.

If it is about the use of CW, then punishment makes only sense if it is diected at the perpetrator.

As I said before: The US is not going bomb the rebels when it turns out they staged the chemical incident, killed a bunch of civilians to be 'martyrs for the cause', and staged and the videos.

This was probably from the onset conceived as a pretext to enable a US intervention in the war to bring forth regime change. The architects of this are not going to be punished.

Bringing down Assad is to the enthusiasts about rolling back Iran. That justifies everything, whatever the cost.

That it is also about rolling out Al Qaeda doesn't bother in the slightest - after all the Syrian opposition is 'largely secular', and as Badar told the Russians - he can switch on and off extremists at will.

Idiots. Idiots. Idiots.

Indeed, Putin did the US a favour. I don't expect that by and large the US will appreciate that.

Will the US reciprocate and, say, do somthing against Chechen Islamist terrorists currently enjoying US support? Hardly.

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/04/19/chechen-terrorists-and-the-neocons/

[kao_hsien_chih]

In 1938, Benes' brilliant diplomatic move (which was, let's face it, probably fraudulent anyways) didn't exactly save Czechoslovakia...

[NF]

Understood.

[Alba Etie]

Excellent commentary ..

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang
You are tough but fair ..

[elkern]

Maybe OT, maybe not:

Guradian, linked from HuffPo:
NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents

I'm shocked, shocked.

[DC]

I'm not sure which narrative interpretation of the President's behavior is more correct: i.e., that he has negligently stumbled and bumbled his way into the current day's events; or if he intentionally planted seeds to encourage the desired (or a favorable) outcome. The external optics certainly suggest the former narrative. However, when you look at the back story, one might infer otherwise: Obama has interventionist enemies of the same stripe both foreign and domestic; what better way to bait their action than to create a "red line." Similarly, Kerry seemingly gaffed the other day; but subsequently the news says that the prospect of a negotiated solution with the Russians had been going on for some time, and Kerry was a part of that. Also observe that a reporter asked him the question, which is how they like to arrange for answers. I am not convinced either way; but speculation concerning the President's mental health vis-a-vis these events is very premature, to say the least.

[jonst]

Three...two on the inside, one on the outside. Ann Marie Slaughter.

[oofda]

And Sullivan was on CNN last night with Anderson Cooper and Christaine Amanpour. He actually made sense next to Amanpour, who was heatedly demanding that the "United States do something." The woman hasn't met a crisis yet that she doesn't want to turn into a war.

They all were absolutely certain that Assad had ordered the chem weapons to be used. No mention of possible Saudi or other Sunni intervention. And for that matter, the Suuni-Shi'a split was unmentioned as well.