The ‘Red Line Express’ comes to G-20

Washington – Wow, the brilliance of Barack Obama has never shone as bright as when focused at this one question: How to make sure to get the worst of both worlds?

President Obama’s foreign policy has been a disaster from the start when had barely warmed his Oval Office chair yet famously “reset the button” with Russia 34 days after inauguration in January 2009. Fourteen days ago, Obama said he must “punish” Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria for killing innocent civilians with nerve gas. Obama himself emphasized that, whatever he sent by way of missiles, it would be a contained, limited, short action, a shot across the bow. He would do all that, the president said, but he left Secretary of State, John Kerry, to do all the talking. Friday before Labor Day, Kerry started talking. He pulled out all stops on the moral indignation organ. Again and again he brought up the 1925 International Convention that banned the use of poison gas in war.

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Breaking the ban as Assad has been, he said, is a crime against humanity. It was evil, he said. He compared Assad with Hitler. In ten-dollar words, to be sure, he told Assad: ‘Just you wait, you, bas…. -- pardon me, you Bashar’. We don’t say “poison gas,” any more. They said it when it was first used in World War One – 98 years ago, it was called Yellow Gas. We say chemical weapon. The common designation is nerve gas or Sarin, the trade name, the poison Assad reportedly last used it in mid-August. Sarin killed 1,429 Syrian civilians, among them 438 children. The victims choked to death where they were in the streets when the cursed cloud filled their lungs. Their corpses bore no physical injuries; those who survived contorted in agony. Doctors saw the dead, treated the survivors. The symptoms were consistent with Sarin. The evidence was there, before the eyes of those on the scene and the eyes of the world by instant image, voice and written word. But, if the aftermath unwinds as now seems likely, Assad will get away with it, for all of Obama’s sound and fury. Talks, investigations and international commissions will do the trick. They will be called to called to life to establish when dead is dead and what caused one and a half thousand people to perish, in one small area without a visible cause. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant how it all happened and why. There is more to it than war-weary America Obama and neo-isolationists keep invoking around the clock. Or, for that matter, gutless, ungrateful Europeans and Arabs not wanting to lift a finger. Fareed Zacharia, a respected American commentator on global affairs, offers not an answer but a clear pointer. Read on a little. He is a man worth knowing about. He has confirmed in March 2011 that he had “regular discussions” with Obama, initiated by Tom Donilon, deputy national security adviser at the time, to discuss foreign policy – though to advise on would be more accurate. Last Sunday, Sept. 1, Zacharia said Obama’s handling of Syria is “a case study of how not to do foreign policy.” Remember, on Friday, Obama had Secretary of State John Kerry go public with a speech loud with moral thunder, with a pretty obvious subtext that things would go boom! – Soonest. They did go, but not boom! President Obama went on screen next day and announced the decision he must have already had in his mind, or got a midnight call from Moscow. He would hold fire, he said until Congress authorizes him to strike. That it doesn’t need the authorization is beside the point. Obama wanted cover and he reached for it. I’d call the ploy Obama’s August Surprise. He punted the responsibility for his brilliance in Syria to Congress -- specifically to Republicans who control the House of Representatives. If they give him the authority to shoot and things go from bad to worse Republicans get the blame – they let him do it. If turn out right he and his Democrats will hog the credit. But what about the Russian reset button? Didn’t Obama as good as switch it off for good? He may have even believed he had. But hey, what about President Vladimir Putin’s finger? Russia is Assad’s backer and armory. It hosts Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean. What does it mean for Obama’s – and America’s standing to have the Russian telling Washington what shall be what in Syria. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant how this American president gets the worst of both worlds. Obama’s loose talk about a red line set him up for a fall. He drew it for Assad last year but looked away when Assad used Sarin in early summer. He spoke of his red line as a “game changer,” and new “calculus”, but Assad tested him. The much reviled Sen. John McCain said Assad would see Obama’s passivity as a green light to do as he pleased. And Assad did. As usual, Democrats, Right wingers, Left wingers, loose cannons of every bore and some fellow Republicans who call him RINO – Republican in Name Only, jumped McCain on cue. Well, who had it right? Silly question. But wait, at Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where Obama had no fear of failure, John Kerry dropped the line smacking of a midnight call. Obama and Putin, Kerry said, would have plenty of opportunity to tackle the Syria problem when they meet at the G-20--Groups of Twenty countries representing the world’s economic policy. What? Obama said not long ago he would not meet with Putin. He nixed a summit with the Russian leader. It must be the Obama brilliance that poses this question: Who is driving the Syria train now, Obama or Putin? Putin, I say. He offered additional talks about a Syria solution--in addition to or the talks Washington and Moscow have had for over a year and are still going on. Can Obama refuse? I don’t think so. What’s more, I don’t think he would want to. Talks and bang won’t play now. They did from President Nixon in Vietnam, but Obama is no Nixon. Obama didn’t and doesn’t want to get dragged into Syria or any other war. He may set red lines but will try anything not to make the transgressor pay. He is pegging down the United States since Day One in office. He said so to American voters and the world. Little America doesn’t get any respect, mind you. But Obama doesn’t see it that way. Losing credibility and influence? How can he lose what he already lost? What happens next? American destroyers--missile platforms plying off Syria sailing away? Tsar Vlad may be sending a signal before the day is done.