NATO led by the USA attacked Serbia to protect muslim Kosovars from conventional genocide.
NATO acted for humanitarian reasons and to protect Europe which could have become destabilized as a result of the Serbian conflict and the chance it could reignite conflict between the states of former Yugoslavia - an then spread to southern Europe.
The internecine civil war/jihadist war/Persian-Arab war within Syria has no such potential for Europe; it does have the potential to spread into a regional war and this is primarily a problem for the local countries and the Arab League.
If the Arab League sees the threat and wants it stopped, then the Arab League should take action. NOT THE USA OR NATO.
The security of Jordan and of Israel is threatened and they can ask for help from the USA and NATO.
But aside from them, we have no dog in this fight; in fact, is in our national interest and the interest of the Free World to keep the antagonists inside Syria killing each other as long as possible; the more militants - of either Assad's Iranian sponsored tyranny or of al Qaeda affiliated entities - who die there the better.
The only direct action we should take now is to help innocent refugees and to establish an independent state of Kurdistan.
The Kurds have a legitimate case for statehood - unlike the so-called Palestinian Arabs. They would become a stable and dependable muslim ally in the region. The late Chris Hitchens made this one of his most passionate issues. In this case he was right. An independent state of Kurdistan re-claiming stolen territory now occupied by Iran and Syria and Turkey, and under the aegis of the so-called government of Iraq, would give the USA a military base of operations, too - an urgently needed one due to the fact that Obama failed to get us a troop agreement with Iraq and because Pakistan is such an awful untrustworthy ally.
This is a bold course of action - one beyond the ability or courage of many. It would take the political shrewdness and boldness of a Nixon.
As his desire to play a game of spades with Reggie Love over watching our heroic SEALS take out Bin Laden proved beyond a reasonable doubt, Obama has no such courage - or his heart is not into any action which hurts America's enemies.
Between Obama's dithering and his outright idiotic policies of appeasement, there is no hope that the USA will take any bold and effective measures against either Syria or Iran or North Korea Putin or China.
No good shall come our way until we have a new president.
Sigh.
DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
In my view, we need to stay the hell out of Syria -- unless Syria were to attack Israel, of course.
ReplyDeleteAssad is a terrible man, but replacing him without someone else would likely result in a situation much worse.