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| Africa North |
| Another Top Priority Slips Away |
| 2011-06-25 |
| WaPo house editorial Saturday Another week has passed since President Obama delivered the May 19 address in which he pledged to use "all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal" to oppose repression and support democratic transitions across the Middle East. In that time, the uprising in Syria has passed its 100th day with no end in sight -- and no letup in the regime's murderous violence. The Syrian opposition now says that more than 1,400 people have been killed by the regime's forces, which have used tanks, helicopter gunships, machine guns and snipers to assault crowds of unarmed civilians. Thank heaven it's not risen to the level of the Libyan genocide! Hey! What was that level, anyways? The European Union responded to these outrages on Friday by expanding its sanctions: Seven more individuals and organizations were cited, including three commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian Guard? How are they involved in Syria? [giggle] A tough declaration said that "the regime is calling its legitimacy into question." Britain and France have been leading efforts to pass a resolution on Syria through the U.N. Security Council. If only we were not quagmired in Libya! And Mr. Obama? His administration again failed to take significant action in pursuit of what he said would be "a top priority." Well, I suppose it's in the top 100, maybe 80-90 down from "getting re-elected, at #1. Instead, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have been calling their counterparts in Turkey. Turkish President Erdogan has condemned the Syrian repression, but he That, in effect, is the Obama administration's position as well: The president, who has spoken in public on Syria only twice, has declined to say that Mr. Assad is an illegitimate ruler or that he should leave office. Mr. Obama's reticence reinforces the equivocating policies of countries such as Turkey, to which the United States has ceded leadership on the issue. No doubt it gives Mr. Assad hope that if he can kill his way to stability, the Obama administration will again seek to "engage" him. Most of all, Mr. Obama's silence and his administration's passivity sends a message to the people of Syria and to the larger Middle East: His pledge to use all of America's resources to support the cause of freedom in the Arab world was an empty one. Hope 'n' change, Baby! Gotta make us some more union jobs in South Carolina. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #2 The Commies-Socialists + aligned in the West think they hold the cards vee Radical Islam because they are already established in well-developed, "First World" NUCLEAR-INDUSTRIAL OR POST-INDUSTRIAL STATES. THE CARDS, "...THEY ARE A'CHANGIN" [Bob Dylan], ALREADY AS RADICAL ISLAM [Govts. + MilTerr groups] SLOWLY BUT STEADILY DEV + ACQUIRE NUCWEAPS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-06-25 23:49 |
| #1 Now that the Bammer has made his troops withdrawal announcement, the UK + France + Germany are about to make theirs. Meanwhile ... * IIRC FREEREPUBLIC > MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CALL ON ARAB YOUTH TO SUPPORT [set up] A "GLOBAL ISLAMIC STATE". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-06-25 23:43 |