dagblog - Comments for "Obama's current thoughts about the Mideast region"

Earlier this year, I asked

artappraiser — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 11:25:00 +0000

In reply to Obama's current thoughts about the Mideast region

Earlier this year, I asked Obama the following question: “What is more dangerous: Sunni extremism or Shia extremism?”

His answer was revealing, suggestive of an important change in the way he has come to view the Iranian regime. He started by saying, as would be expected, “I’m not big on extremism generally.” And then he argued—in part by omission—that he finds the principal proponent of Shiite extremism, the regime in Tehran, more rational, and more malleable, than the main promoters of Sunni radicalism.

“I don’t think you’ll get me to choose on those two issues,” he said. “What I’ll say is that if you look at Iranian behavior, they are strategic, and they’re not impulsive. They have a worldview, and they see their interests, and they respond to costs and benefits. And that isn’t to say that they aren’t a theocracy that embraces all kinds of ideas that I find abhorrent, but they’re not North Korea. They are a large, powerful country that sees itself as an important player on the world stage, and I do not think has a suicide wish, and can respond to incentives. And that’s the reason why they came to the table on sanctions.” [....]

Obama seems to believe that a nuclear deal is, in a way, like Casaubon's key to all mythologies: Many good things, he believes, could flow from a nuclear compromise. In an interview last week with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, the president suggested that a nuclear agreement would help Iran become “a very successful regional power that was also abiding by international norms and international rules.” This, he said, “would be good for everybody. That would be good for the United States, that would be good for the region, and most of all, it would be good for the Iranian people.” [....]

excerpts from Jeffrey Goldberg, Iran is Getting Away with Murder, theatlantic.com, Dec. 30, 2014

Chess might the wrong

Peter Schwartz — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:59:44 +0000

In reply to I do too... And . . . I

Chess might the wrong analogy.

Basketball is better, and not just because he plays it.

You start with a plan and a goal, but you remain flexible as the situation evolves... often quickly and you have to respond quickly.

My bold: On Syria, a

artappraiser — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 18:39:56 +0000

In reply to In Beijing, Secretary of

My bold:

On Syria, a spymasters’ conclave
By David Ignatius, Washington Post, Feb. 18, 2014

Western and Arab intelligence services that support Syria’s struggling opposition gathered for a two-day strategy meeting in Washington last week that appears to signal a stronger effort to back the rebels.

The spymasters’ conclave featured Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s minister of the interior, who will now supervise the kingdom’s leading role in the covert-action program. He replaces Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief, who has been suffering from a back ailment and whose leadership of the program was seen as uneven.

Susan Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, met with Prince Mohammed to discuss strategy. But sources caution that President Obama is still wary of any major escalation in Syria that might involve U.S. forces directly. The U.S. opposes no-fly zones, for example, although the administration’s call for secure corridors to provide humanitarian assistance may lead it to embrace de facto safe zones if the U.N. can’t agree on a formal plan.

Prince Mohammed’s new oversight role reflects the increasing concern in Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries about al-Qaeda’s growing power within the Syrian opposition. As interior minister, he coordinates the kingdom’s counterterrorism policy, which gives him close ties with the CIA and other Western intelligence services.

The Washington gathering was also attended by spy chiefs from Turkey, Qatar, Jordan and other key regional powers that have been supporting the rebels. Sources said these countries agreed to coordinate their aid so that it goes directly to moderate fighters rather than leeching away to extremists of [....]

U.S. Steps Up Criticism of

artappraiser — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 03:01:03 +0000

In reply to In Beijing, Secretary of

U.S. Steps Up Criticism of Russian Role in Syrian War
By Michael R. Gordon, David E. Sanger. and Eric Schmitt, New York Times, Feb. 17/18, 2013

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday sharpened the Obama administration’s mounting criticism of Russia’s role in the escalating violence in Syria, asserting that the Kremlin was undermining the prospects of a negotiated solution by “contributing so many more weapons” and political support to President Bashar al-Assad.

“They’re, in fact, enabling Assad to double down, which is creating an enormous problem,” Mr. Kerry said in Jakarta, Indonesia, before he flew here to confer with top officials of the United Arab Emirates, a gulf state that has been a strong supporter of the Syrian opposition.

Mr. Kerry’s tough criticism underscored the erosion of the Russian-American partnership in Syria, and raised questions about the viability of the United States’ diplomatic strategy to help resolve the escalating crisis [....]

In Beijing, Secretary of

artappraiser — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 05:50:11 +0000

In reply to Obama's current thoughts about the Mideast region

In Beijing, Secretary of State John Kerry said President Obama had asked aides to develop new policy options on Syria, but he did not say what options were under consideration or whether the president had established a deadline for delivering them. Diplomats here said the administration might consider stepping up an existing covert program to train and arm the moderate Syrian opposition or even weigh the threat of military force to compel the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The senior official declined to say whether a policy shift was underway, saying options were always being reviewed. But in impassioned language, Mr. Kerry noted that since October, when the Security Council issued a nonbinding request for all sides to facilitate aid delivery, the crisis has worsened sharply. The number of Syrians in need of assistance has risen by one-third to 9.3 million. The number displaced outside the country increased by nearly 20 percent to 2.5 million, and inside the country by 50 percent to 6.5 million.

“This is grotesque,” he said, “and the world needs to take note and figure out what the appropriate response is.”

From

Deadlock Remains and Aid Crisis Mounts as 2nd Round of Syria Talks Nears End
By Anne Barnard, New York Times, Feb. 14, 2014

The meddling by foreign

Aaron Carine — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:14:17 +0000

In reply to Syria: some reasons why it's

The meddling by foreign powers isn't making things any better.

Syria: some reasons why it's

artappraiser — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 03:38:29 +0000

In reply to Obama's current thoughts about the Mideast region

Syria: some reasons why it's not a "best left alone to sort itself out" situation:

Syria’s Polio Epidemic: The Suppressed Truth
Annie Sparrow, New York Review of Books, Feb. 20 issue and online now:

One way to measure the horrific suffering of Syria’s increasingly violent war is through the experience of Syrian children. More than one million children are now refugees. At least 11,500 have been killed because of the armed conflict,¹ well over half of these because of the direct bombing of schools, homes, and health centers, and roughly 1,500 have been executed, shot by snipers or tortured to death. At least 128 were killed in the chemical massacre in August.

In the midst of all this violence, it is easy to miss the health catastrophe that has also struck Syrian children, who must cope with war trauma, malnutrition, and stunted growth alongside collapsing sanitation and living conditions. Syria has become a cauldron of once-rare infectious diseases, with hundreds of cases of measles each month and outbreaks of typhoid, hepatitis, and dysentery. Tuberculosis, diphtheria, and whooping cough are all on the rise. Upward of 100,000 children are stigmatized by leishmaniasis, a hideous parasitic skin disease that flourishes in war. Many of these diseases have already traveled beyond Syria’s borders, carried by millions of refugees. Five million more children have been forced out of their homes but are still living within Syria, increasingly vulnerable to early marriage, trafficking, and recruitment as child soldiers.

And now polio is back [....]

Isn't there some glurge you

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:05:02 +0000

In reply to Yawn . . . I like

Isn't there some glurge you should be tweeting instead of resurrecting 2-day old comments? Somewhere on the intertubez a cat feels neglected.

Do you like Nasi Goreng?

Yawn . . . I like

oldenGoldenDecoy — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:12:38 +0000

In reply to I'll take it - it seemed

Yawn . . . I like pie...

Isn't there a more stimulating ongoing meta thread here at Dag about "apes" to keep you busy?

Do you like pie?

~OGD~

Sharks circling? No quote

oldenGoldenDecoy — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 10:58:43 +0000

In reply to (No subject)

Sharks circling?

No quote from the Big Book? You're losing your touch.

~OGD~