America's Emerging Luca Brasi Strategy In Syria -- Michael Weiss, Real Clear World/NOW
Barack Obama made the biggest gamble of his presidency on Saturday. By saying that he'd seek Congressional authorization to wage air strikes on the Syrian regime in response to its use of chemical weapons, he quite literally put the geopolitical standing of the United States to a vote. If he loses, then Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un will have discovered that America's fatal flaw is a commander-in-chief who wants to line up behind legislators before taking what he himself acknowledges is necessary military action. This will not be that wondrous paradox of "leading from behind," it will be a you-first deferral of leadership altogether, and to a body notoriously riven between and amongst war-weary centrists, a handful of ardent hawks, and not a few Tea Party ignoramuses and libertarian isolationists. (Public opinion has a greater collective taste for sending cruise missiles into Syria than it does for congratulating the national legislature on anything.)
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Striking Syria: Fight this war, not the last one -- The Economist
Obama shadowboxes with Putin at summit -- Lesley Clark, McClatchy News
Syria and the myth that Americans are ‘war weary’ -- Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post
Syrian intervention invokes Europe’s history -- Anatole Kaletsky, Reuters
Egypt's Sinai Emerges As New Arena for Jihad -- Maggie Michael, Real Clear World/AP
Why should Britain have the right to attack Syria? -- Bernard Trafford, The Journal
Applying the 8 Questions of the Powell Doctrine to Syria -- Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy
As Obama hesitates, Israel worries -- Benny Morris, L.A. Times
North Korea Changes Its Tune (Again) -- Ulv Hanssen, The Diplomat
Australian Voters Face a Choice: America or China? -- Hugh White, Bloomberg
As relations with Europe and America freeze over, Vladimir Putin looks to China -- The Economist
Moscow Mayor Race: Navalny Strengthens Opposition Chops -- Christian Neef and Matthias Schepp, Spiegel Online
The G-20 Summit: A Juvenile Parlour Game -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph
G20 and Syria: Putin's show -- The Guardian editorial
The Guns of September? -- Rosslyn Smith, American Thinker
