Chris Navin

Adam Garfinkle At The American Interest on John Kerry as Secretary Of State: ‘Overselling And (So Far) Underdelivering‘

‘So, back to the point, Secretary Kerry thinks he can depend on the Russians, who are cheating on one arms control agreement, to get the Syrians to stop cheating on another one, and also make life-threatening concessions to the rebel opposition at the same time. And the Russians are going to do this for us even as Kerry is fecklessly berating them over an issue (Ukraine) against which we have close to zero leverage, but they have, in their own view, vital national interests’

For some of the Left-liberal base I’ve talked to (I live in Seattle, mind you), Hillary Clinton is a bit of a sellout. Kerry has street-cred because of his alignment with the Vietnam protest movement, but there can never be enough peace. Amongst such a crowd, Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney’s warmongering shall never be forgiven.

On that note, the peace crowd can exhibit some quite un-peaceful behaviors, naturally. Many true-believers can turn out to be the last to know. As more of a skeptic, I mainly see a rather naive Left-Of-Center idealism at work, often just as sure of what it is against (the reality of conflict, the U.S. military, the establishment, the Right etc).

Let’s not forget that base in the abstractions of foreign policy discussions.

David Rohde At The Atlantic: ‘Is Syria Now A Direct Threat To The United States?’

How’s that Syria policy coming along?:

‘Over the last two weeks, Obama administration officials have signaled—sometimes intentionally, sometimes not—that a worst-case scenario is emerging in Syria.’

I suppose we’ll see. What’s our strategy to best protect and secure our interests and freedoms?

Even some folks at NPR may be pining for the days of Clintonesque humanitarian intervention, as they bring in some analysts to compare the mess in Syria to the former Yugoslavia.

***A pretty damned good overview of Syria for the non-initiated, including what’s been going on since 2011 and the backstory at the thehowardbealeshow. Recommended. Really.

Michael Totten At World Affairs: ‘Syria’s Regime Not Worth Preserving’…A Few More Syria Links-’Unmitigated Clusterf**k?’…

-Dexter Filkins on Iran here.

-Scowcroft and Brzezinski may be offering plans: ‘George Shultz & Henry Kissinger At The Hoover Institution: ‘What A Final Iran Deal Must Do’ What About Foreign Policy (R)ealism?-From The Center For Islamic Pluralism: ‘Turkey Rises Against Islamist Rule’