Russian Roulette

Let’s be clear about one thing. Russia doesn’t do anybody any favors. But sometimes, self-interest is the best motivator. By proposing a plan under which the chemical weapons Syria now has would be secured and destroyed under the auspices of the U.N., the Russians have persuaded President Obama to take his finger off the trigger for the time being. Hey, and didn’t the Syrian regime admit that it has chemical weapons? All-in-all, not as bad a day as it seems.

Syria – and in particular, the Assad regime — are very important to Moscow. Russia has a huge naval base in Syria. Under an unfriendly post-Assad government, they could lose it. Second, if the chemical weapons possessed by Syria fall into unfriendly hands, they could be used by Islamic activists in Russian republics. Finally, Syria is the tail and Russia is the dog. Assad will do what Moscow tells him to do.

All of this points to the chemical weapons being secured, or at least not used, which is sort of what we’re after, correct?

The only problem is, we have to listen to a useless debate in the U.N. about all this. We often hear it said that the United States is not the policeman of the world. That would be a great principle if the world had a police department – which theoretically is the U.N. We can see how well that’s working for us.

I wish the Obama administration would stop saying we will have no boots on the ground in Syria. The fact is, the boots are already there. They’re being worn by CIA operatives advising the rebels; can overt military advisors be far behind?

I also wish the President would stop talking about children, and asking us to watch the videos of children suffering and dying from Sarin gas poisoning. Like none of the 100,000-plus previous Syrian fatalities were children, and like they didn’t die equally horrible deaths. The current “crisis” is a concocted one, laid on top of the real one that’s been going on for more than two years, around which the world has danced.

But put me down for this: If Assad takes advantage of this muddled period to use chemical weapons again, I’d be very pleased if we re-aimed our missiles and blew him to the next dimension.