Syria as a Game-Changer: US Political Impotence in the Middle East | Ramzy Baroud

[Tace]

Ramzy Baroud -- World News Trust

May 22, 2013

In an article published May 15, 2013, American historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein wrote, “Nothing illustrates more the limitations of Western power than the internal controversy its elites are having in public about what the United States in particular and western European states should be doing about the civil war in Syria.”

Those limitations are palpable in both language and action. A political and military vacuum created by past U.S. failures and forced retreats after the Iraq war made it possible for countries like Russia to reemerge on the scene as an effective player.

It is most telling that over two years after the Syrian uprising-turned bloody civil war, the United States continues to curb its involvement by indirectly assisting anti-Bashar al-Assad regime opposition forces, through its Arab allies and Turkey. Even its political discourse is indecisive and often times inconsistent.

Concurrently, Russia’s position remains unswerving and constantly advancing while the United States is pushed into a corner, demonstrating incapacity to react except for condemnations and mere statements. This is to the displeasure of its Arab allies. Russia’s recent delivery of sophisticated anti-ship missiles and its own buildup of warships in the eastern Mediterranean is a case in point. The move was condemned by the Obama administration as one that is “ill-timed and very unfortunate,” according to a statement by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported in the LA Times on May 17.

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http://worldnewstrust.com/syria-as-a-game-changer-us-political-impotence-in-the-middle-east-ramzy-baroud

[John2]

1. There is one

huge flaw in this author's article. He left out the people of the United States. There is a tension in the United States between the Left and Right. The Left in this country is not seeking an Empire and never has. Why does he think everyone in the United States are seeking to control the World?