What with Turkey being a member of NATO and us having a president in dire need of appearing studly on the foreign policy front between now and November, the ongoing contretemps in Syria are worth keeping an eye on. I don't doubt for a moment that the administration would jump on anything they thought would be a quick and easy win with minimal casualties and a good human rights-esque "No More Rwandas" spin.
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What, prepping the release of 55 bad guys from Gitmo isn't "studly"???
How 'bout the new TV ad playing in Pakistan apologizing AGAIN for the nasty movie - that's pretty damn studly too.
Uh. one problem with the "No More Rwandas!" idea. Little Known Fact. The current Ambassador to the U.N is Susan Rice. During the Clinton Admin, she was Under Secretary of State for Africa (or whatever Foggy Bottom puts on their Titles). And she was saying "Hell No!" to Billary back then. Something about a BlackHawk being Down and the Bad Press, "American Imperialism", etc. So the Clinton Admin let 700,000 people get slaughtered. If fact, Bill Clinton has been quoted as saying he never should have listened to the people who told him not to go into Rwanda.
Now, if the Anointed One was down 15-20 points in the Polls today, he might go for it. Or if he was 15-20 points up and he was going to Coast home. But with the Election being so Tight, Barry is thinking he doesn't want to lose anymore Votes from the AntiWar Crowd if at all possible. So unless something "Major Happens" like an Embassy is Overrun AND Hostages are taken, a la Iran, I doubt Barry will stick his head any farther into the Middle East prior to November.
If Obama wins, though, anything can happen. But even if Tel Aviv get Nuked before November, I think our Military won't be used anymore in the Middle East unless forced, Afghanistan excepted, of course.
They are all quick and easy wins. Then we forget to pack up our crap and go home.
The problem for the Dauphin in dealing with foreign countries is that quite a few of them are ruled by men. The field is strewn with mines for such a creature.
Mike James
Les -- didn't stop The Annointed One from unilaterally launching a war in Libya.
Air power makes for riviting TV spots in this ADD society, and low US casualties.
"Carpet bombing for the children! The CHIIIIIIILD-REN I tell you!!!!!"
This Admin. is Wag the Dog, all the way, all the time.
So we're looking for a Short Victorious War? Huh.
I half remember some old saying about plans and their surviving contact.
Meh, can't mean anything.
I don't wanna be a Havenite!
Not Clauswitz is correct...
.-)
Assuming "The One" wins, the Isrealis have to launch REAL SOON, and pull us in to finish the job. Preferably while the naval manuvers are going on in the Straights of Hormuz, providing all those yummy targets for the speedboat bombers.
The GBU-28's the Israelis have aren't big enough to finish off Fordow, which was built with them in mind, and only the U.S. has the MOP, needed for an assured kill.
And this ain't Osirak, which was built with borrowed help. They also have to kill as many Irani civilian scientists and engineers as possible to lenghten the time before the next iteration in the cycle requires the new jumbo (650mm) air breathing Popeye loaded with neutron warheads.
Old Russian proverb: "If you want to kill a bear, you don't cut off his tail".
Wuss In Charge has no capital left as a leader, and nobody in the Middle East respects, trusts, or fears him.
The Israelis are left with a single determination, which is nothing more than "The Americans aren't coming in unless we drag them in, so how long can we wait until the Iranians are too dug in or dispersed for us to give them a serious hurting?"
With all due respects Tam, I suspect Syria is too close to Iran, geographically and politically, for WIC to tackle voluntarily, especially with tens of thousands of chemical and biological weapons likely to end up in play or on the international market after a Syrian collapse. Even the Israelis have avoided annoying Assad for just that reason.
Interesting times indeed. Picture a Cessna Titan six or eight months from now, passing over Rome with a half dozen 180mm shells in the back, loaded with Sarin.
Thirty seconds of pushing, and every Bead Rattler in the world is an instant Episcopalian.
"Thirty seconds of pushing, and every Bead Rattler in the world is an instant Episcopalian."
Bead Rattler--Catholic? You mean Catholics, right?
And why Episcopalian after an attack on Vatican City with nerve agent? Why not every Protestant or Evangelical deciding that the time had come for a little ecumenical Crusading? I assure you, the urge for something along those lines is a tad elevated over the last decade.
Something must have gone right over my head. Hep me, hep me.
Mike James
I've said it before, but one of these days, unless things change, every aircraft inbound to Israeli airspace is going to be given 30 seconds to alter course to a vector away from Israel, because air defense systems are going weapons-free in 60 seconds, and that will be the only warning, if they're lucky.
You gas the Vatican, and I assure you, Jihadageddon is fully underway.
I suspect after the Spanish speaking forces finish scrubbing the North African, NE African coast, and Near-Eastern region of any mammalian life that isn't defended by Israelis or Ethiopeans, Cairo and Tabriz will be nice Mexican-flavor towns, under His Most Christian Spanish Emperor.
Mike: As a survivor of an Irish-Scottish clan comprised of Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians (and you wonder why I'm an agnostic), I learned early that fundamentalist Presbyterians despise Epsicopalians as high church Catholics who could have been real Protestants but chose to stay "Latin Spouters", differing from the original only in swapping the Pope for the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Grandpa Russell-MacGregor referred to the Episcopalian service as "Bells and Smells", and included Lutherans and Orthodox Catholics as fellow devil worshipping Papisches in Protestant clothing.
Me, I sleep late on Sunday morning, and wait for 1:00 p.m. so I can use the rifle range down back of the Congregational Church.
I eat meat on Friday, make offkey remarks about the Royal family, and hope they bring back real Druidism.
Lots of fertility rituals, a huge party with plenty of booze and hanky-panky every three months, and the year's supply of criminals roasting slowly over the halloween bonfire.
Miller time.
Ed Foster:
". . . the year's supply of criminals roasting slowly over the halloween bonfire. "
Scumbags roasting on an open fire,
Whicker Man just makes me smile.
Although it's been tried many times, many ways,
Recidivism just ain't our style.
:-)
Heh. My Archbishop, until recently, is a Tutsi from Rwanda. He had to leave the country to avoid being chopped to death. There are ethnic animosities, even deadly ones, even among Christians.
I also wonder how many people have gotten killed over disputation about the filioque clause.
I'll take Obama's "studly" over G.W.'s stupid any day of the week.
I see that four years of treatment with Ointment isn't enough to clear up a bad case of BDS...
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