They stood together at a press conference at the beginning of the week talking about the Syria situation. President Obama announcing in his commonly cool demeanor that the United States and won agreement for a peace conference. Prime Minister Cameron had arrived in America from Russia, having met with and received assurances from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, assurances to work together on the situation. Ho, ho, ho!
Putin is a skilled, cynical international diplomat. What he cares about is maintaining his client state - the Assad regime in Syria. As a former KGB officer he will go to whatever lengths necessary to accomplish that, up to the point that the price of maintenance is higher than the benefits yield. At that time he will sell Assad for political capital, if that time is ever reached.
Barack Obama may get this. He rose up in the rough & tumble heavily corrupt world of Chicago politics. Indeed when wife Michelle was once asked about her experience on the political stage she sarcastically replied “Illinois politics baby”. So Mr. President is probably not Mr. Naïve as far as understanding Putin is a top liar, but he’s probably not that interested in Syria anyway, other than he’s supposed to look like he’s trying to fix the situation.
Cameron, on the other hand, is an Old Etonian, a product of the British elite. Once busted at school for smoking cannabis he would seem to be quite at home with Harry Potter playing Quidditch at Hogwarts. Cameron’s battles have been marketing the Conservative party and he has risen due to his ability to promote them, and himself, in a similar way to Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour.’
So how taken is Cameron with Vladimir Putin? Clearly he’s become very chummy with Barack Obama, a man who doesn’t have the same world view. Yet the relationship seems to be overriding with Cameron! Does he put false hope in people with differing views because of his perceived ability to relate in a transcending way?
So far he’s been ‘had’ by Putin. Just days after securing a promise of closer co-operation to end the crisis, Russia sends sophisticated anti-ship missiles to Syria.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, no doubt trying to keep a straight face, pointed out that the shipment did not violate any international laws saying the action was made “without violating any international agreements, or our own legislation.” But this particular weapon has one contextual application, to eliminate western involvement.
Only the United States, since Cameron performed dentistry on his own Navy, has the strength to engage the situation and that would mean putting a carrier fleet in the Mediterranean. Obama will not do that, with a very real possibility of losing a ship, to address a conflict that is at low political altitude in the minds of the American public.
Part of the reluctance of American involvement is the political reality that Assad’s alleged chemical weapons may originally have been obtained from Saddam Hussein. The American Left has long sought to quash any evidence that there were weapons facilities in Iraq, but it’s been suspected from the outset that WMD’s may have been moved by Russia to Syria in 2003.
This is a political reality that neither Obama nor Cameron wish to face. The idea that Bush-Blair may have been right all along, that there were WMD’s in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, is too much for too many to contemplate because so many ideological lies have been built on an alternate version of events. But a White House Regime that will cover-up the reasons for an assassination for perceived political gain is certainly capable of avoiding conflict to save face.
Which leaves Mr. Cameron where in all this? It’s legitimate to ask if he’s too much of a lightweight in foreign affair conflict. Does he really understand how sinister some of these characters are, given his upbringing and life experiences? At the end of the day does he envision solving matters over a good meal and some fine wine? “Peace for our time” proclaimed Neville Chamberlain, and Hitler agreed, sent him home with a piece of paper and invaded the Sudetenland the next day.
