Friday, September 27, 2013

Syrian War Won't End There

Jihad is the War that Won’t End, Newsday, September 27, 2013. "When that conflict ends, the forces opposing Assad will move elsewhere, including to Europe. We may not want to intervene in Syria, but Syria is likely to intervene in us."

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Initial Congressional Response to US ATT Signature

As Kerry Signs “Less than Useless” U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Congress Responds, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 25, 2013. "Today, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on behalf of the United States. The reaction from Congress has been immediate, and rightfully so."

Options Remain for ATT Opposition

U.N. Arms Treaty Will Be Menace to U.S. For Years to Come, FoxNews.com, September 25, 2013. "Secretary of State John Kerry’s signature of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty today was a serious error, one that will have far-reaching consequences for American foreign policy and American sovereignty. Those consequences will be even worse because the Senate, which has signaled many times that it is opposed to the treaty, will likely have no real opportunity to reject it."

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Leading From Behind

After Syrian Confusion, the Obama Doctrine Lies in Ruins, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 21, 2013. "The President has never had a coherent approach to foreign policy. Instead, he entered office with a string of liberal platitudes about the world and a deep desire to focus on domestic policy. Today, the Administration’s central goal on Syria is the same as it was two years ago: to get the problem off the front pages."

Monday, September 16, 2013

No Staying Power

Dictators and Despots Call Obama’s Bluff Over His War of Empty Words, Yorkshire Post, September 16, 2013. "The Russian role in the Syrian crisis is thus not the really dangerous part of the affair. The true danger lies in the fact that, once again, President Obama has shown that he has no staying power at all. He quit in Iraq, because that was supposedly the wrong war. Afghanistan was, he said, the right one. Well, we are quitting there too."

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Coming Slaughters

What About All the Other Massacres?, Newsday, September 15, 2013. "The Taliban will return, and they will take vengeance. Today, you can easily find savage videos of Taliban atrocities online. When they are back in power, they will be worse. And when they execute people for the crime of being friendly to the United States, we should remember that — as across the Middle East — we had the power to make a difference. We just chose not to use it."

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Norms for Me, But Not for Thee

The Connections Between Syria and the Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, September 11, 2013. "Whether or not it is wise to arm rebels in Syria today, it is clearly not sensible for the U.S. to decide in advance that it will never arm a rebel group again. That would mean a rejection of the Reagan Doctrine that the U.S. will seek, guided by its national interests, to arm opponents of dictatorial regimes."

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Neither the Will Nor the Way

Where the Syria Vote and Obama’s EU Advocacy Meet, Centre for Policy Studies, September 10, 2013. "As that Blairite wave has receded, the British left has moved back closer in line to the tendencies of Europe. The U.S. pressure on Britain to stay in the E.U. is only going to give ideological and practical encouragement to those tendencies, and make it even harder for the government of the day to win the vote on the next crisis – when the case for action in alliance with the U.S. may be much better than it is in Syria today. And if Britain lacks both the way and the will to act, the Special Relationship will indeed be much diminished."

Sunday, September 1, 2013

The End of a Mission

Tony Blair’s Vision for the Middle East and Britain’s Role in It Has Collapsed, Sunday Express (UK), September 1, 2013. "While Britain may not want to contribute to it, there’s fighting aplenty in the Middle East. In the midst of it stands Tony Blair, honored with the title of Representative of the Quartet on the Middle East, charged with bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. That mission has been a failure."