Somehow this has to be bad and Obama’s fault. But in the rest of the world, this is a Big Fucking Deal:
Guardian UK — The United States and Russia have agreed that Syrian chemical weapons will be placed under international control and destroyed in a process that will begin with a week.
International inspectors from the Organisation of the Prevention of Chemical weapons must be given “immediate and unfettered” access to Syrian chemical weapons, said the US secretary of state, John Kerry, while Syria must give a “comprehensive list” of its chemical weapons within one week.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on Saturday after three days of talks, Kerry outlined the details of the deal as Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov looked on.
The deal “would allow us to expedite the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons” which would protect the Syrian people, Syria’s neighbours and the world.
No doubt the usual suspects will whine and bitch. But getting a trigger-happy dictator to agree to hand over his WMD, sign the Chemical Weapons Ban treaty, and have that dictator’s most important ally onboard, is a major humungous foreign policy victory way more important to the world and our Middle East allies than getting bin Laden was. That it happened after a threat of military force makes it even manlier. And we know how important rugged manly men are to completely straight RWNJs.
I’ve never really bought the argument that this deal only went down because of threatening military force. I don’t understand how threatening an illegal use of force without congressional approval or public support with admittedly contradictory claims regarding it’s purpose comes off as manly either.
Takes a bigger man to admit wrongdoing and to take the right course of action. If anything, he’s manlier for working out a diplomatic solution to this.
Whether this was an opportune moment seized by the Russians from Kerry’s slip-of-the-tongue, or Obama planned it while talking to Putin, this entire thing has been a joke. A horribly bungled foreign policy situation or whatever you’d call it.
Was unfamiliar with the acronym RWNJ = right wing nut job
Trucreep @ 1
Then you might want to remove your head from your nether regions and look around. Was Assad just itching to be rid of his chemical weapons and just happened to decide to do so now? That puts my BS detector off scale.
A foreign policy success and a poke in the eye for the Republicans is what I would call it.
@3
I’m looking, and I see Obama about to go ahead with an illegal attack on a sovereign state. I see a miscalculation for the support of such a brazenly illegal and non-nonsensical strike. He only went to Congress after the outcry. And it was looking very much like Congress was going to deny authorization.
So no resolution from the UN, no resolution from Congress, overwhelming amount of American people saying no…I see an olive branch that he was wise to take.
You call this a foreign policy success?? What was the purpose of attacking Syria? Not regime change according to the official statement. Not a long term engagement with “boots on the ground,’ not a sustained campaign with clear goals in mind. What intelligence is this based off of?? We STILL are in the dark on whether this was a rogue officer, or if it was done by the rebels, or even what kind of weapons were used. (Reports were saying it may have been concentrated tear gas, but may confirm to be Sarin). But we’re told that it’s a “slam-dunk.” You call this a foreign policy success….
I don’t think you actually listen to what your leaders are saying. The amount of incompetence and contempt for our intelligence is striking. It’s amazing that these are the so-called leaders of the free world.
And regarding your poke in the eye for Republicans….get yourself out of the party line mentality. Some of the strongest opposition to this strike was spearheaded by Republicans (like Justin Amash), while so-called progressives and liberals were crying for war along with real stand-up guys like John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
I’d like to see the way in which the agreement defines the terms “Immediate and unfettered” and “comprehensive list”. I’ll bet there are loopholes galore.
I wonder also, if the agreement includes any criteria to evaluate success regarding the number of weapons discovered and the time taken to make those discoveries?
What about the innocent victims killed by the gas attacks? Will anybody have to face trial for their murder or are they just to be written off as collateral damage? How many politicians have been promised immunity from prosecution I wonder?
YES, it is a foreign policy success. Maybe not so much for Obama, we don’t know because intent is not magic. But it is for the American people. We have a big f*cking military and Obama threatened to use it. No one else threatened. And Assad gave in. This is a victory for international law and for the chemical weapons treaty. The more our presidents support and rely on these international institutions the better.
Clinton may not have intended for the world court to try the Serbs, but he did allow it to happen. Whereas Bush Jr. thumbed his nose at the law both American and International.
Obama got the republican leadership to agree with him for once when he threatened to strike. Now they are in a bind with this obviously successful diplomatic solution. I am glad that the trigger-happy Obama doesn’t get to pull the trigger this time. The situation is not over yet obviously but this is good. news.