This is from Asia Times.
MK Bhadrakumar’s report on
Putin and Obama’s meeting at the UN nicely complements your observations on
Putin and the Middle East. Again, Asia Times is presenting a perspective not
seen in the American mainstream, which is sad because the American public needs
to be better informed.
To any objective observer,
Putin made a lot more sense than Obama did in their contrasting speech about
Syria. IS is a metastasizing cancer that will only get worse unless treated and
treatment will take a broad coalition of countries with vested interests in
eradicating the tumor. As you indicated such a coalition will include awkward
bedfellows, in particular the U.S. along with Russia and China.
Obama seems to be insisting that
Assad has to be removed concurrently, maybe even before surgical removal of IS.
Perhaps he has to maintain this public posture for the sake of home audience
but this position is increasingly not tenable. To continue the metaphor, Assad
is a boil that can be lanced, orders of magnitude easier than getting rid of
fast spreading tumor cells.
We should have learned from
very recent experience in Iraq and Libya that taking out the bad guy we don’t
like is relatively easy. Dealing with the aftermath is not easy; IS is just
such a direct aftermath.
We apparently did learn a
lesson from Iraq but the result in how we dealt with Syria can’t be
reassuring. The Obama Administration spent some $500 million to train a
fighting force out of Assad’s moderate opposition. We have a platoon of 9 fighters
to show for the effort and most the American weapons were “donated” by trained
but defecting moderates to IS.
Yes, realism and pragmatism
need to trump idealism. So far not enough is happening.
Yes, realism and pragmatism
need to trump idealism. So far not enough is happening.
