Obama, Putin, Syria

As continuous turmoil rages in the Middle East, the U.S. has welcomed Russian prominence in the effort to relieve Syria. Even among the urgency to clear radicals from Syria, the United States plan of action for dealing with Syria seems to be largely unclear. Now that Russia has a strong and welcomed foot into the door, it could become problematic for U.S. operations.

In an article from the Washington Post, titled, “Obama’s Syria debacle”, the author Charles Krauthammer (a Pulitzer Prize winner), argues that President Obama had been “out maneuvered” by the Russians, claiming the administration should feel humiliated. He also goes on to say that Putin is acting so expeditiously because he sees President Obama as an “open door” with his “no one nation can or should try to dominate another nation” approach. He also argued that the President was blind to the fact that conflict and coercion have not become an old way of the past. Krauthammer contended that the Presidents administration blamed Russia for the late announced airstrike campaign against anti-Assad allies, determining the fault to the “unprofessional behavior of Russia”.

In my opinion, Charles Krauthammer’s article was extremely honest and astute. The U.S. administration was absolutely out maneuvered by Putin. Weeks before the President welcomed Russia into the Syria effort, he contended Russia’s efforts would be a “doomed failure”. Russia already had disdain for the U.S. before the Syrian conflict, after such actions, who could believe that they would be fully accommodating for the U.S? When the Russians launched their airstrike, giving the U.S. a mere 48 hours to clear their efforts, that action gave wind to how things would be forthcoming. I do agree that Putin sees the President as a leader who is slow to intervene, and that he is taking advantage of the time he has left in office.