Let's Make a Deal--Suspense in Syria

Syria Suspense: Is the president a master chess player? Will Assad agree to the deal and give up the chemical weapons he said he did not have? Wait he must have them or he could not give them up, right? Will Putin be a broker too and look manly? Did the president just make the deal of the century to avert war? Will he make Republicans look like crud (I surely hope so)? Is watching him like watching a genius at work? Am I going to have to eat crow? I dunno. It will not be the first time. Maybe I should stay out of the foreign policy assessing business and take up knitting?

Before we judge NOW I say watch and wait. What an amazing turn of events. Stay tuned.

Ask the Right Questions--the Potential Repeat Blunder of US Middle East Policy

I urge everyone who cares about war and peace, everyone who cares about this nation, everyone who worries about the future of their children to question mightily this latest potential destructive turn into bombing Syria. The link below is one to "Democracy Now." I saw part of the program today that broadcast Amy Goodman interviewing a Syrian woman opposed to US intervention in Syria.

Finally, Amy Goodman asked the right questions and listened to a Syrian authority talking about a rationale for US intervention into Syria. She talked about how much of a fig leaf humanitarian intervention is and what the history of this nation's intervention into the Middle East has wrought. 

As I have said in other posts war is rarely about humanitarian policy especially in the Middle East. It is about hegemony, power and money often oil and gas reserves. It is insane, given the US track record in the Middle East and Iraq to bring up yet again another WMD rationale for war. Who made this dastardly chemical weapons attack? Is it Assad who would have nothing to gain by using chemical weapons OR is it the rebels composed of some of the worst, most prolific and cruel religious extremists on the planet?  
This time the intervention COULD have dire consequences. The rebel groups wait in hopes of American intervention. The US would play right into their hands, including Al Qaeda, trying to force regime change even though US leadership says otherwise. I supported this president wholeheartedly through two election cycles. I loved him but this latest policy venture, frankly, has me stumped.

"Democracy Now" asks the right questions since she is not tied to corporate apron strings. Listen to her broadcast below and force your representatives and anyone else who will listen to bring up the points that "Democracy Now" illuminates.

http://www.democracynow.org/