10 reasons why it’s now worse By
Jennifer Rubin,
Published: September 12 at 8:45 am
President Obama had gotten himself into quite a bind going into his Tuesday night speech on Syria. But he made things much worse because of an incoherent speech, which even
former officials are blasting. Here are at least 10 reasons why things are now worse:
1. His Russia gambit lost whatever conservative support he had built up for a strike on Syria.
2. We are now at
Vladimir Putin’s mercy, which he is already exploiting skillfully. The Russian despot took to the pages of the
New York Times to deplore American exceptionalism and to denounce potential U.S. action. (He used the same “the rebels are all jihadists” claptrap that American isolationists use.) He accused the rebels of using the chemical weapons, an ominous sign for a chemical weapons exchange. Even worse was
the pathetic U.S. response: “That’s all irrelevant. He put this proposal forward and he’s now invested in it. That’s good. That’s the best possible reaction. He’s fully invested in Syria’s CW disarmament and that’s potentially better than a military strike — which would deter and degrade but would’t get rid of all the chemical weapons. He now owns this. He has fully asserted ownership of it and he needs to deliver.” This is delusional and frightening, to be blunt. Obama’s international humiliation will continue.
3. The media figured out quickly the Russia gambit is ridiculous and therefore is unlikely to treat the morass to follow as anything other than Obama’s fault.
4. There is no pro-Russia or pro-United Nations constituency to speak of in this country; putting our national security interests in these peoples’ hands isn’t likely to endear him to the public, Congress or foreign policy professionals.
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A Plea for Caution From Russia
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