If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
I have expressed increased concerns about our continued "involvement" in Afghanistan. I have mourned our casualties and fretted about our huge financial costs. But -- perhaps insensitively so -- I have not mentioned much about the suffering of the Afghan people.
A military strike on Iranian facilities would not achieve the declared Israeli goal of ending Iran's alleged nuclear military program and the expected costs in terms of Israeli casualties could be very high. It could likely sway the regional balance of power towards Iran.
If the Obama administration continues on its present course and does not confront the Russian-Syrian arms transfers with tougher resolve, it won't be merely "leading from behind"; it will be turning its back on the growing humanitarian catastrophe.
Even as Russia and China face growing criticism, there is no consensus among analysts on the question of intervention in Syria.
The Kremlin's support of the bloodthirsty Assad dictatorship is not wise and may harm Moscow's most vital interests irreparably.
The reasons behind the Chinese and Russia veto are clear. Alas, what's also clear is that it will worsen the violence in Syria, which, in turn, will increase the opposition's vengefulness when the regime falls.
"How many more dead and maimed will it take to finally force this Council into action?"
Today, Russia finds itself in a state of calculated siege, emerging through the new semi-alliance between the Americans -- and the West in general -- and the Islamists. The Barack Obama administration seems to be at the forefront of this new alliance.
Diplomacy is a shadowy and unpredictable business, but one thing is certain. If Russia uses its veto this week to block a second UN Security Council resolution on Syria, innocent people will die.
Whoever agrees that the preferred solution to the conflict are two-states-for-two-peoples needs to realize that this possibility to implement is gradually slipping away while no progress, however small or incremental, is being made.
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It's high time to toss aside diplomatic niceties and place Russia in the diplomatic stockade for its sheltering of the illegitimate Bashar al-Assad from global wrath.
The Security Council is only going to move as far as its most cautious major member can go. At this stage, that means an endorsement of the Arab League's initiative in facilitating the Syrian political groupings' agreement on the country's political reconstruction.
Western nations in the U.N. Security Council have two choices on Syria: soften the wording on their resolution that asks the Syrian president to delegate his "full authority" to his deputy or face a Russian-Chinese veto.
The only places capable of pushing for change, they believe, are Cairo, Riyadh, New York and Moscow. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wants to keep it that way, making sure that neither the Turks nor the Americans get a real say in how Syria develops in the months ahead.
