Now, we shouldn’t have aimed for troops on the ground necessarily, but whatever window we had, is likely gone. Now we sit back, biting our nails:
‘What are our security interests? The key issue is the safety of the regime’s chemical weapons. Our military contingencies should focus solely on preventing the dissemination of weapons of mass destruction to fanatics.
Syria’s complexity is daunting: A major regional struggle for hegemony waged as a proxy war; a showdown between Sunni and Shia, with minorities trapped in the middle; a parallel contest between modernizers and fundamentalists; and the bloody dissolution of the artificial borders imposed by Europeans at the Versailles peace conference nine decades ago.’
Thanks to a reader for the link.
Joshua Landis’ blog here.
Al Jazeera live blog on Syria here.
Adam Garfinkle: Map humor.
Addition: Via the NY Times: John Kerry announced $60 million in U.S. aid to the Syrian opposition, food rations for the military front, and is trying to bet on the political horses, so that the worst elements, if and when Assad falls, aren’t holding the guns.
Related On This Site:Via Youtube-Uncommon Knowledge With Fouad Ajami And Charles Hill