WORLD_ Syria: Don't complain about Vladimir Putin's gloating. Our craven behaviour has left him in charge

Syria: Don't complain about Vladimir Putin's gloating. Our craven behaviour has left him in charge

By Peter Foster - World -  Last updated: September 12th, 2013
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___ Peter Foster is the Telegraph's US Editor based in Washington DC. He moved to America in January 2012 after three years based in Beijing, where he covered the rise of China. Before that, he was based in New Delhi as South Asia correspondent. He has reported for The Telegraph for more than a decade, covering two Olympic Games, 9/11 in New York, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the post-conflict phases in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
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Vladimir Putin, calling the shots. (Photo: Reuters)


The top dogs in Congress have been howling with indignation today over Vladimir Putin's gloating New York Times op-ed, in which he lectures the US on its true place in the world (behind Mother Russia).

John McCain says the article is "an insult to the intelligence of every American"; Robert Menendez, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he "almost wanted to vomit" after reading it. Kelly Ayotte, the Maine republican, said it was the "height of hypocrisy"; Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin dismissed it as a "lot of bluster".

This is the (risible, hypocritical) sound of the US Congress starting to confront the mess of their own making. A mess that Mr Putin, as if house-training puppies, has certainly enjoyed rubbing their noses in.

Because while Barack Obama's handling of the Syrian crisis has been startlingly inept, the fact is that Congress, by making clear it would not support him and cutting the President's legs off when he asked for backing, has created a world in which Vladimir Putin gets to run the show.

Mr Obama miscalculated. As he said on Tuesday night, the liberals on the Left in his own party talk lots about dignity and universal values, but aren't prepared to back that up with more than statements.

Equally, national-defence Republicans talk about America's "peace through strength" and America's place on the world stage, but when it comes to it, prefer to stitch up a Democrat president than act in the national interest.

The British and American peoples, for their shameful, myopic part, want nothing to do with Syria – whether or not Assad gassed 426 children – and have made that clear.

That's all fine. It's the (craven) will of the people and their elected representatives, but no one should kid themselves that those decisions – or non-decisions - are without cost or consequence.

They voted for a world in which Vladimir Putin gets to call the shots. The "diplomatic track" now being stitched up in Geneva can really only go one way because, thanks to Congress, the American president no longer carries the credible threat of force.

Mr Obama and Mr Kerry can bluster all they want, but the "stick" component of any UN resolution on Syria is impossible.

"Disarm, or else," say the US, Britain or France. "Oh really," Russia and Syria will reply. "And what are you going to do about it? Take military action? I think we both know that isn't going to happen."

So as Richard Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, correctly observed this morning, Russia and Syria now control this process. The risk is they "do just enough cooperation not to resolve the problem but to make it politically impossible for the United States to bring this to a head and to use military force". There is no incentive to do more.

This is the world we now live in. It's a world that the British Parliament, the US Congress and the two nations' respective publics have created for us. So when Mr Putin revels, rejoices and rams his victory down our throats, it's frankly a bit late for complaining.

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Read more: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/100235772/syria-dont-complain-about-vladimir-putins-gloating-our-craven-behaviour-has-left-him-in-charge/

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Quote:

Syria: Don't complain about Vladimir Putin's gloating. Our craven behaviour has left him in charge"
End quote

Until now, many people still do not accept that "our craven behaviour" has left hooligans, dictators, criminals ... in charge, not just putin !

What do you think?




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