From Iraq to Syria: US Political Impotence in the Middle East by Ramzy Baroud

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/23


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks with Syrian National Coalition President Mouaz al-Khatib, next to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, during meetings at Villa Madama in Rome February 28, 2013. (REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool)

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 US 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 US 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 US 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.