6 thoughts on “The Syrian Revolution”

  1. See also: Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The loss of American prestige and geopolitical influence over the last few years has been unprecedented and more than a little distressing.

  2. The deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi were a calamity — but those losses were mainly the result of poor security decisions by mid-level State Department officials, not policy choices by Obama.

    Yup.

    But it is Syria that is Obama’s greatest failure; it will haunt whomever occupies the Oval Office next year.

    Nothing in the piece suggests that a different U.S. handling of events in Syria would have had different results, much less better results. What exactly could Obama have done that would have kept Syria from becoming a nightmare?

    1. For starters, the President could have listened to the Saudis regarding the wisdom of “throwing Mr. Mubarak under the bus.”

      “Spengler” has this thing that what is driving the Arab Spring is the fear of starvation brought on by food-price inflation, perhaps the consequence of Asian prosperity that the wealthier Asian nations (China, included) buying up all the food so their people can enjoy more meat. That and the QE’s 1, 2, and 3.

      Do you think we could have stood by an ally early in the Egyptian crisis, perhaps promising food aid to help the people?

      The Saudis don’t have the last word on everything in the world let alone the region, but there is something about them that suggests that they are “the adults” in that region, and I would have at least given them a more serious hearing when they were begging us, pleading with us, not to abandon Mr. Mubarak, claiming that the demonstrations had an element of Iranian incitement and that not much good would come from the overthrow of Mubarak.

      So we stood by while the Egyptian and other Arab Spring revolutions took place, essentially taking a stand that we support such things, and we took a much more active role in the overthrow of Kadafi, essentially taking a strong policy position encouraging that people revolt. Then the people revolt in Syria, who is a strong Iran ally, and we sit on our hands, letting the revolutionaries “hang out to dry.”

      I don’t know the answer to any of this, and I don’t know if Rand has the right idea that we should support the Syrian revolutionaries. Were I President, however, there would be a long line at the Oval Office door. The Turkish ambassador, how do you do sir, you have an hour of my time to tell me what is happening, go! The Saudi ambassador, I am seeing you at 10 AM, and the Israeli ambassador at 11 AM, with the Russian and Chinese representatives penciled in for the afternoon.

      I certainly wouldn’t be blowing off the Israeli PM. The President can talk and talk and talk, but I am not sure he does much listening.

      And one more thing. I don’t have the answers, and I don’t think the hawks-on-Syria have the answers either. But Mr. Obama is paid more than I am and he has a small private army of well-paid advisors to come up with some form of answer. This excuse making for the President bothers me — if he can’t do the job, lets have someone else have a go of it.

  3. The deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens… not policy choices by Obama.

    Nope.

    These were directly the responsibility of CiC Obama. Another Commander in Chief knowing their responsibility would not have allowed it to happen. Even Carter got this right though 444 days after showed how feckless he was.

    The admin spin on this is laughable if it weren’t for American deaths.

    Nothing in the piece suggests…

    How illogical to assume nothing could have.

    1. How illogical to assume nothing could have.

      So Obama’s greatest failure is that he didn’t come up with a superior policy alternative that the writer believes exists, but himself can’t name?

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