Barackface

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Syria, Iran: Major Military Action Needed

English: SOCHI. With President of Syria Bashar al-Assad. Русский: СОЧИ, БОЧАРОВ РУЧЕЙ. С Президентом Сирии Башаром Асадом. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the president to ever have talked in terms of the "red line" itself was a mistake. That was like saying Assad could do everything upto using chemical weapons - like kill over 100,000 people, which he has - and there would be no consequences. That talk encouraged Assad. And the killings have gone on. And we have had Rwanda in slow motion on our hands.

John Maynard Keynes said, in the long run we are all dead. I am saying, in the long run every single country is a democracy. If you don't buy that, then my line of thinking will not make sense to you. Not only is every country a democracy in the long run, America as the oldest democracy plays an active, pivotal role to getting the world to that point. There is an obligation.

Iran's talk on Syria is a good thing. Russia's talk on Syria is a good thing. Iran pretty much did in 2009 what Syria is doing today. That country was utmost brutal to its own people. That is not a legitimate regime in Iran that you see.

An Israel that is capable of proactively attacking Iran is not an Israel America needs to worry about.

Both Iran and Russia are non democracies that do hold elections. Regime change in Syria, Iran and Russia has to be on the cards. For Russia it will be an after effect.

For now the call to be made is just enough aerial strikes to take down Assad's air capacities so as to tilt the balance of power in the rebels' favor. Assad gone is a weakened Iranian regime. It's time too will come.

Active regime changes in Syria and Iran might just be the thing the still sluggish US economy needs. After all, it was not the New Deal but World War II that finally got America out of the Great Depression. Muscular moves in the Middle East to birth democracies is what is good for the American economy. The stimulus of 2009 did not do the trick.

It is time for Barack Obama to show some leadership. History is on his side. We remember Abraham Lincoln for liberating people. Liberations are the best things a president can do to achieve greatness. Too bad wars are needed. But a just war - like the American Civil War - is all too justified. There is a clear case to be made. There is no abdicating responsibility.

Conduct a billion dollars worth of air strikes to weaken Assad. Let Iran throw a few missiles at Israel. Then rinse and repeat for Iran. Regime change in two countries for the price of one. Call Russias' bluff.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Osama Also Asked For "Proof"

English: Muammar al-Gaddafi at the 12th AU summit, February 2, 2009, in Addis Abeba. Français : Mouammar Kadhafi au 12e sommet de l'UA, le 2 février 2009 à Addis-Abeba Русский: Муамар Каддафи на 12-м саммите Африканского Союза в Аддис-Абебе. 2 февраля 2009 года. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden also asked for "proof." Assad is asking for "proof." When the facts glare in our faces for the entire world to see, Assad wants "proof."

Syria is not a case of sectarian violence. This is a case of a brutal regime slaughtering its own innocent citizens. Some Islamist radicals with Al Qaeda ties might have picked up the gun, but the Syrian rebel forces by and large are native lovers of regime change and ultimate democracy.

This is a liberation struggle being violently suppressed, with over 100,000 innocents killed and counting, the last thousand or so with chemical weapons. It does not getting any more black and white than this.

America should do now what it should have done a year ago. The red line is when a dictator starts slaughtering innocents. I can understand why sending in American troops can get messy and costly and open ended. But no ground troops are necessary. They were not necessary in Libya. A few billion dollars worth of air strikes is all it took to get rid of Gaddafi. Assad has to go. This would be the first serious step America takes against the brutal regime in Iran. That is another regime that mercilessly slaughtered its own people at massive scales in 2009.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Syria: The Wait Has Been Too Long

English: President Bashar al-Assad of Syria . Original background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Granted the politics in the region is the most complicated on earth, but I never understood the logic behind the wait. But I am glad the White House finally is about to make the move. The tragedy has been horrendous. The magnitude of it all has been mind boggling. The death figures are huge. This has been a slow motion Rwanda, if you ask me. If America does not take military action now, it is not going to take military action when Iran finally acquires nuclear weapons.

I am for building an international coalition. The effort will weaken undemocratic forces in countries like Russia.

But the response can not be a slap on the hand. It has to have regime change as its goal. The rebels are eager and able to be the ground forces. The world just needs to secure the air space and strike from the air to take down the regime's strength locations.

A Shift in Tone on Syria From the White House

there was “very little doubt” that President Bashar al-Assad’s military forces had used chemical weapons against civilians last week.... The president, who warned a year ago that the use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces would be a “red line,” has faced criticism from Congressional Republicans and others for failing to respond more forcefully to evidence of earlier, smaller-scale chemical attacks. Mr. Obama, who inherited two costly wars — in Iraq and Afghanistan — has been extremely reluctant to commit American military forces, even in the form of missile strikes, to another tangled conflict in the Middle East. ..... a strike on Syrian targets would come soon, perhaps using cruise missiles fired from ships off shore ..... Early Sunday, the White House said Syrian officials had refused to let the inspectors see the site of the attack. .... “The evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime’s persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days” ...... Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, accused the rebels of using the weapons, but few analysts believe they have the supplies or ability to do so. ..... Syria warned that any American military action would “create a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East” ........ Iranian state news media quoted the Tehran government as saying that any intervention by Washington would have severe consequences. .... Syria is now a test of how the world might respond to Iran as it approaches the capability of making a nuclear weapon ..... “Assad’s regime has become a full Iranian client, and Syria has become Iran’s testing ground,” Mr. Netanyahu added. “Now the whole world is watching. Iran is watching, and it wants to see what would be the reaction on the use of chemical weapons.” ..... Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a member of the Armed Services Committee, said any military option should be carefully circumscribed. “We can’t let ourselves get into a situation where this becomes a springboard for general military operations in Syria to try to change the dynamic” of the hostilities there ..... the Navy had increased its presence in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to four destroyers, each carrying long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles similar to those launched in past American attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Analysis: Western intervention in Syria would be a decisive attempt to mould the future of the Middle East

Different reasons have been suggested to explain why the Assad regime might have launched a major chemical weapons attack, risking Western intervention, just as conventional wisdom had it he was starting to win the war. ...... sees the attack as retaliation for a close-run assassination attempt on the Syrian leader on August 8 ..... The war is now a running sore imperilling Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and more. ...... Already, reports talk of hundreds of tons of arms pouring into northern Syria, to be distributed among "favourable" – in other words, non-jihadist – rebel groups. The US navy is moving in and Britain is readying its forces.