Question as to whether Putin or Obama ‘won’ re: Syria

This has some deep implications, but my call would be the Putin came out on top in this issue. He can now posture as much more of a major player in area…by seeming as a ‘peacemaker’ he partially overcomes the stigma attached to him by virtue of being Chief of the KGB (a hard-core repressive Secret Service and Spy Agency of Russia), he is able to continue to prop up one of his satellite client states and exert ever more presence in the area–a client that buys weapons from Russia using Iranian supplied funding, and he maintains a border state as a continuing buffer for any potential aggressor towards Russia. Unless anyone hasn’t noticed, Russia is the prime supplier of the WMDs (nerve gas) that Syria apparently used. Syria certainly doesn’t have the means to produce those weapons or the delivery systems. Now, Russia says they will collect the weapons and ‘safeguard’ them. That’s a joke. As soon as the pressure is on another area, rest assured, those weapons will reappear in Syria’s arsenal.

On the other hand Obama has a mixed result. He loses face on the international scene by not responding to his so-called red line rhetoric. He comes across as waffling with allies who expected some results from his threats. The old saying goes, you don’t point an loaded weapon unless you intend to use it. On the other hand, he gains some supporters by not committing the US to another military action for which we are not prepared. However, his ignorance as to how to use the arsenal at his disposal is exposed again and he may never recover.

To be fair, he has achieved some limited success in the Middle Ease quagmire by encouraging reapproachment between Turkey and Israel. These are two allies we want to have to help stabilize the region. Turkey has achieved some peace with the Kurds and Israel apologized for a major goof they made in attacking a Turkish manned ship in international waters. That’s all important. The peace talks with the Palestinians is probably beyond his realm however. Nice try.