Is Barack Obama going to be saved by a man he despises (and who has no respect for him), an ex-KGB agent who is probably amused by the whole sordid, almost hilarious, Syrian scenario? For some peculiar reason that I really can't put a finger on, I like Vladimir Putin. He's a Russian, a communist, he can't be trusted as far as you could throw him. But he does seem to have a gravitas and intelligence that is wholly lacking in the American President. Peggy Noonan has this interesting quote in her recent article, "Making Sense of Syria":
"A serious foreign-policy intellectual said recently that Putin’s problem is that
he’s a Russian leader in search of a Nixon, a U.S. president he can really
negotiate with, a stone player who can talk grand strategy and the needs of his
nation, someone with whom he can thrash it through and work it out. Instead he
has Obama, a self-besotted charismatic who can’t tell the difference between
showbiz and strategy, and who enjoys unburdening himself of moral insights to
his peers."
Obama is grasping at straws with his consideration of the idea that Assad will give up his chemical weapons for international oversight. Even Obama should be intelligent enough to realize Assad is never going to do that in the middle of a life-or-death civil war struggle. But Assad can say that he gave up his weapons to the Russians, or whoever, and then he can use them again (if he actually did use them the first time) and blame the U.S.-supported rebels! "Hey, I gave up my chemical weapons! It's not me that is using them, it must be the rebels!" This is farce gone to seed, all thanks to Obama.
And, now, Assad has started bombing the rebels again with "conventional" weapons. Killing people with bombs and bullets is ok; killing them with "chemical weapons" invites an Obama attack. Even most American voters are scratching their heads trying to figure that one out.
And guess what the American "mainstream media" is saying? "Just a fantastic end result for the president!" "If this works, it is genius!" "Diplomatic, national security win for the US, right? The president would have to deserve a lot of credit." An admitted gaffe by Secretary of State John Kerry becomes American policy, and to the Obama sycophants, it's genius.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.