They Met, Shook Hands, Conferred, Demurred
The host was genial and effusive. Taking time to welcome each of the G20 presidents, prime ministers to his humble abode. Humble it might be, but he was busy putting on the Ritz. And he has the imperial palaces to do so within in grand style. Perhaps it was just the man himself who presented himself humbly, at the service of his peers, delighted to welcome them to Russia, his Russia.
"Terrorists are always a threat to someone. If we're scared of them, it means they have won. But that doesn't mean we can have a devil-may-care attitude toward this threat. We must do everything to stop these threats and not give the terrorists a single chance to demonstrate their brutality and hatred of mankind", said the great but humble man in a pre-summit interview with the Associated Press.
Speaking knowledgeably of terrorists, for doesn't Russia have its own problems with Chechnyan jihadists? So Russia, the great good friend of Syria's Bashar al Assad knows of what they both speak when they decry the threat that terrorists represent to humanity and good rule. The international community has leapt to a hasty conclusion in assuming that President Assad would countenance such an unspeakable atrocity as to permit his military to use chemical agents on his own people.
"We have a contract for the delivery of the S-300s We have supplied some of the components, but the delivery hasn't been completed. We have suspended it for now. But if we see that steps are taken that violate the existing international norms, we shall think how we should act in the future, in particular regarding supplies of such sensitive weapons to certain regions of the world." A quiet threat? Perish the very thought!
"As for that footage, video footage showing the dead children allegedly killed in the chemical attack, it is horrible. The question is only who did it and what they did, and who is responsible for this. These pictures do not answer the questions I have just posed. There is an opinion that it's a compilation by these very rebels, who are connected with al-Qaeda and who were always distinguished by exceptional brutality." Ah, well.
A wrong-headed, precipitate strike against his good friend President al-Assad would, he asserted, sit quite ill with Mr. Putin. Should such a precipitate strike occur he could, of course, send Syria the components of a missile shield to aid against American aggression. No surprise there; U.S. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testified Russia might replace any military assets the U.S. might destroy in a strike.
"If Russia decided to strike at us in that theater ... we can certainly say that Russia would have options to strike us in that theater in retaliation for us striking their ally" warned Rep. George Holding during the hearing. A tit-for-tat proxy war ... Russia and the United States, a diplomatic escalation of distrust and burgeoning antipathy between the two world powers.
With China on the sidelines. And the support for the United States of its usual allies shrinking back in dismay.
"Russia has capabilities that range from the asymmetric, including cyber, all the way up through strategic nuclear weapons. And again, it wouldn't be helpful in this setting to speculate about that", commented General Dempsey, before the U.S. Senate hearing urging that the discussion on that particular trajectory be limited; speculation on what might be not particularly helpful to the matter at hand.
Which of course, is the prospect of a strictly limited strike. Whose purpose is to show-and-tell, that America remains vigilant and cares, even if nobody else does, about the moral precepts of right and wrong, what can be forgiven and what cannot be overlooked. And the reminders that must, in all conscience, be issued. It's a matter of principle, of conscientiousness, of humanity toward others. One has a reputation to maintain.
It is also, hugely, a matter of fumbling about in the dark. In the depths of the dark unknown, actually. That old adage of supporting the devil you know; invariably the other devil lurking around the corner may just turn out to be legions of hell worse than the one who has limited your patience and risen your gorge.
Labels: Conflict, G20, Intervention, Russia, Syria, Terrorism, United States
posted by Pieface @ Friday, September 06, 2013
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