2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumTop UN Advisor: Hillary Threat World Peace; Blocked Syrian Peace Accord; Compulsive Misrepresentatio
This is the kind of compulsive misrepresentation that makes Clinton unfit to be President. Clintons role in Syria has been to help instigate and prolong the Syrian bloodbath, not to bring it to a close.
In 2012, Clinton was the obstacle, not the solution, to a ceasefire being negotiated by UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan. It was US intransigence - Clintons intransigence - that led to the failure of Annans peace efforts in the spring of 2012, a point well known among diplomats. Despite Clintons insinuation in the Milwaukee debate, there was (of course) no 2012 ceasefire, only escalating carnage. Clinton bears heavy responsibility for that carnage, which has by now displaced more than 10 million Syrians and left more than 250,000 dead.
As every knowledgeable observer understands, the Syrian War is not mostly about Bashar al-Assad, or even about Syria itself. It is mostly a proxy war, about Iran. And the bloodbath is doubly tragic and misguided for that reason.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the leading Sunni powers in the Middle East, view Iran, the leading Shia power, as a regional rival for power and influence. Right-wing Israelis view Iran as an implacable foe that controls Hezbollah, a Shia militant group operating in Lebanon, a border state of Israel. Thus, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel have all clamored to remove Irans influence in Syria.
This idea is incredibly naïve. Iran has been around as a regional power for a long timein fact, for about 2,700 years. And Shia Islam is not going away. There is no way, and no reason, to defeat Iran. The regional powers need to forge a geopolitical equilibrium that recognizes the mutual and balancing roles of the Gulf Arabs, Turkey, and Iran. And Israeli right-wingers are naïve, and deeply ignorant of history, to regard Iran as their implacable foe, especially when that mistaken view pushes Israel to side with Sunni jihadists.
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Clinton herself has never shown the least reservation or scruples in deploying this instrument of U.S. foreign policy. Her record of avid support for US-led regime change includes (but is not limited to) the US bombing of Belgrade in 1999, the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Iraq War in 2003, the Honduran coup in 2009, the killing of Libyas Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, and the CIA-coordinated insurrection against Assad from 2011 until today.
It takes great presidential leadership to resist CIA misadventures. Presidents get along by going along with arms contractors, generals, and CIA operatives. They thereby also protect themselves from political attack by hardline right-wingers. They succeed by exulting in U.S. military might, not restraining it. Many historians believe that JFK was assassinated as a result of his peace overtures to the Soviet Union, overture he made against the objections of hardline rightwing opposition in the CIA and other parts of the U.S. government.
Hillary Clinton has never shown an iota of bravery, or even of comprehension, in facing down the CIA. She has been the CIAs relentless supporter, and has exulted in showing her toughness by supporting every one of its misguided operations. The failures, of course, are relentlessly hidden from view. Clinton is a danger to global peace. She has much to answer for regarding the disaster in Syria.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/hillary-clinton-and-the-s_b_9231190.html
inchhigh
(384 posts)We must unite behind stopping her.
bjo59
(1,166 posts)"the middle east," who the players are, how those players are aligned, what the agendas are, what the stakes are, etc. And that's exactly what is intended. It's a crying shame that we don't have a better education system in this country. Very hard to think the increasingly horrible education system in this country is not intentional.
inchhigh
(384 posts)From the middle east and can speak polite Arabic. Many of them are military or security people. I have not her political in my office (except some pictures of the first Somali Government and a Peace Corp poster). People i barely know tell me they are terrified of what will happen with her in office after watching her as SOS.
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)Her actions (described in the OP) speak more loudly than even her propensity to favor and be favored by the likes of Robert Kagan and Henry Kissinger.
JudyM
(29,294 posts)misguided operations. The failures, of course, are relentlessly hidden from view. Clinton is a danger to global peace. She has much to answer for regarding the disaster in Syria."
Why The MSM doesn't make more of a point of this is not understandable.
Partly for this reason, I am happy that Bernie attended the reporters' dinner last night. I hope he makes some better connections with the press.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)Tarc
(10,478 posts)I forget what Skinner's stance is atm.
Barack_America
(28,876 posts)Just as it is for your post and mine.
Holly_Hobby
(3,033 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)Her speeches on the board of Wal-Mart, her undying love for Wall-Street, her tough talk about incarcerating super-predators, her hawkish views on foreign policy... it all is self-consistent, and it is all starting to make sense to me.