Theater of the Absurd: Obama and the Debate over Syria

PJ Media ^ | September 8th, 2013 - 11:16 am | Ron Radosh

[caww]

Too bad all this effort wasn’t pointing directly at Iran....but then the political theatre wouldn’t be playing out as we see now concerning Syria.

But there’s more coming...

Putins meeting Monday with Syrian Leaders and Iranian leaders to finalize a diplomatic solution...which would not include Assad remaining as President. Could be why Obama is moving til Wednesday for his big speech.

I tend to doubt Obama’s NOT going to let Putin take the front end of this and walk away as the Hero......but Putin may let Obama take the credit ...

[The Duke]

You must not be living in a nation that's having to print money constantly to keep its head above water???

I have often described myself as a "rabid conservative", but the very thought of this particular war nauseates me. Ever thought of joining the Klingon Empire?

[RKBA Democrat]

Your scenario implicitly assumes a few of things:

1. That we have the leadership with the wisdom, skill, morals and decency to competently prosecute the war effort.

2. That we would be able to suddenly finance both our accumulated national debt and said war effort if Russia and/or China decide to use economic action in retaliation. A very predictable response of theirs would be to simply dump the US debt that they hold on the market all at once.

3. That starting a hot WWIII would not end up on our shores in short order.

[Southack]

Nuts to that nonsense.

[nikos1121]

No doubt our military could succeed at what you propose, but Obama is president. It wont happen. He’s a coward, and behind the scenes Putin told him that if he bombs Syria he will intercede and attack our ships. Obama promptly backed off, and has put this to Congress and he’s back peddling with the notion that he never had a red line to begin with.

The time to do this would have been a year ago maybe before. It’s too late now.

[krogers58]

Your scenario implicitly assumes a few of things:

1. That we have the leadership with the wisdom, skill, morals and decency to competently prosecute the war effort.

We do possess such leadership within the armed forces, but I agree, Obama is unlikely to be able to pull off anything more than a SEAL raid here, or there.

2. That we would be able to suddenly finance both our accumulated national debt and said war effort if Russia and/or China decide to use economic action in retaliation. A very predictable response of theirs would be to simply dump the US debt that they hold on the market all at once.

Russia is of very little threat to us, however, China is the one that could pull off what you describe. I have seen Bond traders discussing "What if" scenarios if China should ever do something like this, and the consensus is that China would be hurt just as bad, economically as the US. Any country that thinks they can lurch the US into a depression, doesn't realize that they would drag themselves there as well. Moreover, though China is against US action, they are not as vehemently opposed as is Russia.

3. That starting a hot WWIII would not end up on our shores in short order.

If you don't think war is coming to our shores, once Iran gets a number of nukes, you are deluded. The only question is whether we want to avoid having Iran to be armed with nukes or not. Iran's stated intention is to take down the great Satan, and they are building the means to do it. If Russia wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with Iran while they continue to build their nukes, they need to understand that we consider Iran with nukes to be an existential threat and we will act accordingly to protect ourselves. I am not at all thrilled about having Obama as CINC, nor about the hand of cards we are currently holding, moreover, I'd much rather action have taken place right after we had conquered Iraq, but we are where we are.

[RKBA Democrat]

In response:

“We do possess such leadership within the armed forces, but I agree, Obama is unlikely to be able to pull off anything more than a SEAL raid here, or there.”

We agree on dear leader, but I think the problem is far deeper than you indicate. Would you trust say, joe biden to do the right thing? john boehner? I certainly would not. And the military is not in political control.

“Russia is of very little threat to us, however, China is the one that could pull off what you describe. I have seen Bond traders discussing “What if” scenarios if China should ever do something like this, and the consensus is that China would be hurt just as bad, economically as the US. Any country that thinks they can lurch the US into a depression, doesn’t realize that they would drag themselves there as well. Moreover, though China is against US action, they are not as vehemently opposed as is Russia.”

I respectfully disagree. Russia alone holds about $142 billion. Drop that on the market on some sunny Monday morning and you’ll see what is meant by the word “pucker.” And it wouldn’t even be necessary to dump it all; just dump a lot at once. China doesn’t need to lift a finger. Also, WRT China, in case you’re not aware they’re using dollars to buy gold like mad. They’re also buying US assets like crazy. They’re preparing for the day when the USD is no longer the reserve currency. While an economic meltdown here would certainly hurt, they’re in it for the long haul. Their politicians don’t have those pesky elections to worry about. If they think they’re already going to take a hit, they’re likely choose to take it when it would do us the most damage.

“If you don’t think war is coming to our shores, once Iran gets a number of nukes, you are deluded. The only question is whether we want to avoid having Iran to be armed with nukes or not.”

I agree with your premise that Iran is extremely dangerous, I simply disagree on the tense. You’re speaking in the future tense of Iran having nukes, I suspect it’s already past tense.

Indeed we are where we are with a kakistocratic political class, plenty of countries that hate us, in the midst of a mild depression, and with a populace that rarely agrees on anything but agrees that they are not interested in further foreign adventures. Under the circumstances you do what you can do with what you’ve got. We don’t have the economic resources, political leadership, or will to prosecute an extended war in the mideast. And our enemies know it.