A number of television networks in USA are upset that diplomacy appears to have averted the airstrikes that USA was planning on Syria. They are suggesting Obama of selling out to the Russians and their bare-chested President Putin. Some are calling it a Syrian debacle of Obama’s own making. Others have referred averting war as a diplomacy of epic incompetence.What a disaster? A war makes much more interesting television than peace.
Diplomacy was accidentally started when speaking in London, John Kerry appeared to issue a long-shot ultimatum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, suggesting that if he turned over his complete stockpile of chemical weapons within the next week he could avoid an attack from the United States. It appears that it was not a serious peace proposal but only a rhetorical argument. Syria immediately grabbed the idea and responded that Kerry’s ad-libbed solution was actually workable.
The comment was also taken seriously by the Russians. In fact John Kerry has now traveled to Geneva to test the seriousness of Russia and Syria. Kerry and a team of experts had two days of meetings with their Russian counterparts. They have emerged with an outline of how some 1,000 tons of chemical weapons stocks and potential delivery systems can be safely inventoried and isolated under international control in an active war zone and then destroyed.
Before long, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had added his support to the proposal, telling reporters that he is currently drawing up plans for Syria’s chemical weapons to be moved to a secure location where they could then be destroyed under the watchful eyes of U.N.
The television networks continue to be unhappy and are encouraging Obama to proceed with the airstrikes. A number of leading commentators continue to call it diplomacy of epic incompetence even if more than 75% of Americans support it. Peace can be so difficult to justify.
