Because it gives him prestige as a peacemaker at a time when Russia has received lots of negative publicity over its attitude towards gays and if Obama accepts the deal and agrees that part of the conditions are not arming the rebels then not only does his ally stay in power, but his ally is even further in his debt.
My guess is that what Putin would like is to have Syria turned over to Russia to handle. He’d agree to eliminate Assad and the top leaders of his regime. That would placate public opinion - the people that used chemical weapons were punished. In return, Russia would get to install a new regime that would remain subservient to Russia.
No doubt you have a better plan, one vastly superior to my fuzzy idealism. Now would be a good time to astonish us.
There are two options:
- Go in and stop the fighting.
- Stay out of it.
A half-assed involvement is worse than no involvement.
Please have the modesty to accept that simply because you cannot see more than two options, then only two options exist.
The Putin-Bested-Obama mob here must not have yet grasped the new global realities of the New World Order that Putin apparently concerned himself with in 2000 and expressed solutions to the world during a visit to India.
In the following report you must consider that Clinton did not have Authorization from Congress when he bombed Yugoslavia.
But first John Mace confirms bombing Yugoslavia was not about a ‘threat’.
Putin must realize that Clinton didn’t need the Approval of Congress and Clinton was never impeached for bombing a country for three months without authorization from Congress or the UNSC. Why would anyone think that Putin trusts that Obama is any different just because some Republican Senator Schmuck from Kentucky who’s pappy is an isolationist nutjob and Congressman from Texas doesn’t want Obama to do it?
Have you ever seen such out of touch arguments presented by so many who think they got an air tight case sewn together just because Rush and Sean can mouth it loudly all day long… Putin spanked Obama. It’s crazy.
Of course there are other options. But you asked for better ones.
Not to change the subject too much, but does anyone remember when Putin did actually spank Bush and NATO when Georgia’s Sakashvilli began shelling Russian troops and South Ossetians during the Olympic games in Beijing. Sakashvilli eating his tie he was scared shitless…
Now that was when Putin really ‘bested a US President’ as the Russian tanks rolled down The GW Bush highway in Georgia.
Except that Libya is a functioning society and the Syrian people are out there currently fighting for their freedoms in the streets and the fields. If the US just wanted to bomb, they’d have done so by this point.
Somewhere between June and September something brought Putin to the table. What could it be?
A red line was crossed… Obama sent the ships to the region… Putin has a black eye for providing support for the dictator who gassed (or his top officers gassed) innocent men women and children… UN inspectors come out pointing blame on Assad to two previous gas attacks … Putin could suspect ‘unbelievably small’ is relative and for the US Public to hear not him… Putin knows Obama bombed Libya without Congress’ approval… Putin knows Obama tripled the number of US troops in Afghanistan against the will of many in his base… and Obama quadrupled Bush’s numbers on the use of drone strikes in several terrorist infested parts of the world… Putin can’t see Obama as weak and indecisive about using military force like the American right imagines he is…
You say none of this affects Putin… Could you please walk us down that illogical path, pointing out some features as we go.
After all I’ve provided all that to you, and on top of all that, could you make an argument that would explain how even the ‘bluff’ of threatening to use force if you wish to enjoy that thought, could have hurt the cause to bring Putin to the table to negotiate a UNSC resolution that might get all or most of Assad’s CW arsenal out of the midst of a civil war where they could otherwise get out of control on a large and lethal scale?
That is understandable.
The refugee situation isn’t getting anywhere near the press that this CW curflufle is getting. Fully 1/3 of the population is either displaced or living in refugee camps in surrounding countries. I agree we should do more to help them.
I think Putin is more afraid of accelerating US aid to the rebels than he is of the “unbelievably small” air strike. His motivation is primarily that he wants Assad, or a Russian-friendly government, running things in Syria.
I could be wrong about the first sentence, but is there anyone here who would doubt the second?
We and others have been aiding rebels for some time. The actual threat of military action is a recent development. I have to go with military action as the primary fear in Putin’s bare chested heart. Of course he doesn’t like the aid to the rebels but the Saudis are doing that too. Putin’s Soviet Union had a bad experience in the past when the Saudis financed an insurgency against it as you might recall.
And another argument against John Mace’s suggestion is that any air strike that degrades even a minor aspect of Assad’s military is aiding the rebels.
Remember what Kucinich said and the right wingers took it to their airwaves?
Obama will become Al Qaeda’s Air Force when bombing Assad’s military assets.
Is the Putin-Spanked-Obama mob coming around to the reslity that it is the other way around? Mace seems to be conceding that there was some kind of Obama induced fear that got to Putin last week.
Obama wanted air strikes on Syria, The only way he was going to get permission from Congress would be if he significantly stepped up military aid to the rebels. The senate resolution that seems like a distant memory now had that embedded in it.
The last thing Putin wants is an equation change on the battlefield that puts Assad in jeopardy.
Too bad Obama can’t peer into Putin’s soul like GeeDubya. Or perhaps he can but doesn’t want to, for reasons of mental hygiene.
Maybe if they went bare-shirted horseback riding together, they could solve this whole thing in an afternoon.
(If you haven’t watched this week’s Bill Maher show yet, you should.)
Can’t stand him. Frequently, the things his writers put in his mouth are pithy, acute and intelligent. But I can’t stand him.
If you’ll watch this week’s show, I’ll promise to sit through and entire hour of Rachel Maddow. I’ll be shocked if you don’t get well over your daily dose of laughs.
A swan’s neck, a girlish giggle, and a mind like a steel trap. What’s not to love? Granted, she lacks the raw sexual energy of Elizabeth Warren, but still…
Why do we foreclose all options so early? I understand and agree with the restraint. I don’t think we should do more than surgical strikes either (if that). But why tell Syria this? Take the public position that we are Pissed Off and hint that we may actually nuke Damascus if we aren’t listened to. (Okay maybe not that far). But don’t start out saying that we will hit with a flyswatter, and if provoked, hit with a flyswatter again!
It’s like playing poker and showing that you have a three of a kind and asking your opponent to beat it.