If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Let's cleanse Washington of all those interventionists who can't wait until we get our hands bitten in Syria in another futile pursuit of nation-building. Enough voices are being heard these days, thank goodness, that are questioning Obama's decision to provide "soft" support for the Syrian rebels.
Thirty-year-old Manal's baby was born in Beirut two months ago. Manal says that she has never thought that her first baby would be born as a refugee; that he would not have a stable home, growing up surrounded by love and security. Manal and her baby are Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Under the new rules asylum seekers will have a medical and psychological assessment as soon as possible, will be provided with decent detention and living conditions and have the right to apply for work nine months after lodging an asylum application.
Only a few hours following Rouhani's victory, too many governments directly tackled the nuclear issue within the few lines of their communiqués. The Iranians just got out of an election, Rouhani won: congratulations!
In a bid to distract attention from his domestic woes, curry favor with the U.S. and Gulf countries and restore Egypt to a leadership position in the region, Morsi chose a Cairo stadium to announce to his supporters that he was cutting diplomatic ties with the Syrian regime.
Could John McCain or Mitt Romney have gotten away with what President Barack Obama is doing? Where Democrats once feverishly denounced the actions of George W. Bush, they are now eerily silent when their own candidate behaves in much the same way as his predecessor.
One can debate whether America should insert itself militarily into the Syrian conflict. It is far less debatable that by selling weapons to al-Assad, Russia has precipitated Obama's recent decision to arm the Syria rebels, initiating an American role in this military conflict.
More than one million Syrians have now been forced to leave their country because of conflict; with millions more displaced inside Syria. They need our help now, and they will need our help for years to come.
As the Syrian conflict rages on the European Union took the significant decision in recent weeks to lift the arms embargo on the beleaguered country, paving the way for the Governments of major European countries to send weapons to rebel forces (a.k.a. the Free Syrian Army) fighting against the Assad regime.
We should not close our eyes to genocide and injustice, just as we shouldn't ignore world hunger or disease. But we do need to understand what works and what doesn't.
If the Obama administration wants to engage a new Rohani administration effectively, and to put U.S.-Iranian relations on a more positive trajectory, it will need to overhaul U.S. policy in four fundamental ways.
Recent developments and atmospherics may presage closer cooperation between Russia and Turkey, and probably with some intent.
We're Americans, aren't we? We're the good guys. Our traditional role is to rein in the bad guys, like Iran, isn't it?
Since the conflict began in 2011, the growing influence of jihadist groups in Syria has been attributed to a lack of support from Western and moderate powers in the region.
Recent history and the current intelligence on the ground supports the conclusion that the risks are just too great. After over a decade of war overseas, now is not the time to arm an unorganized, unfamiliar, and unpredictable group of rebels.
With what we know (and of course, from American actions in the past), it seems that the American government is OK with supporting terrorists. How much of a stretch is it to believe they may support groups who use chemical weapons?
