A Rock and a Hard Place

Stratfor: "If the Russian diplomatic solution to the Syrian imbroglio sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The logistical complications alone far exceed Russia's diplomatic ambitions. Syria is believed to have 1,000 tons of chemical weapons stockpiles dispersed among 50 different sites across the country."

Watching CNN tonight one would almost believe that President Obama had won a victory over the Russians and Assad. Nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing could be louder than the sounds of the sighs of relief emanating from the White House. These sighs of relief will be temporary at best.

The bottom line is that there will be no military strike, regardless of the outcome of this mismanaged crisis. Possibly Obama might get a short-lived TV victory, but the real victors are Putin and Assad.

It is clear that Putin sees the European and US trepidation over a military strike and he must be chuckling to himself as he holds out an olive branch that bears no fruit.  The French and British governments have already responded positively to the Russian proposal, meeting Russia's objective of splitting the Europeans from the United States and reducing the potential for the United States to assemble a coalition. The US Senate has postponed a vote on the issue and now who knows when or if a vote will even take place.

The only certainty is that the civil war in Syria will continue unabated while the leaderless and divided free world watch with growing unease as the wild animals in Syria continue to feast on their innocent prey.

Stratfor: "Either way, Obama is cornered. He already created a potential exit for himself by seeking authorization from Congress for a strike, and Congress is so far not convinced by his appeals. The Russians have just provided him another exit, but pursuing an impractical diplomatic solution, which would only empower Russia and Iran in a moment of U.S. weakness, will be a difficult pill for the U.S. president to swallow. Obama and his administration will likely spend this week continuing their appeals to Congress to authorize a military response, but if the votes don't add up, he may have to find a creative retreat from this crisis, with or without the Russians."

The Hardest person to awaken is the one already awake - Tagalog Saying

You may send a message around the world in one seventh of a second, yet it may take years to force a simple idea through a quarter inch of a human skull - Charles Kettering