The announcement this week that the U. S. is suspending talks with Russia over the failed cease fire in Syria is simply an acknowledgement that the feckless U. S. policy there has failed and that Russia and the Bashar Assad Syrian regime will now pursue a victory on the ground in the five-year old civil war. And this development comes only days after President Obama’s (hopefully) last lecture to the world at the United Nations General Assembly, in which he indirectly warned Vladimir Putin, “If Russia continues to interfere in the affairs of its neighbors, it may be popular at home, it may fuel nationalist fervor for a time, but over time it is also going to diminish its stature and make its borders less secure.” Strong memo to follow. More of his often-expressed progressive faith that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”.
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton said it best: “Obama lives in the world of words and Putin and Assad live in the world of power”. We’re about to create a power vacuum in the Middle East that will be filled by Russia and a nuclear-armed Iran for at least a generation. What a sad and dangerous legacy for Obama.
When one is weak and the leader of the free world 320 million Americans will suffer for a long, long time.