In today's article by Benny Avni we see that Syria has grown bolder in it's dismissal of international law and couldnt care less about any veiled threats coming from the Obama administration.
"US sources have confirmed the news broken last week by Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said in Paris that even while Syria talks of peace, it's sending Scuds to Hezbollah. With a range of 435 miles, the missiles are a significant addition to Hezbollah's known arsenal: During the 2006 Lebanon war, the terror group could only hit northern Israeli towns; with the Scuds, it can reach all of Israel's populated areas.
Israel reportedly mulled bombing a recent convoy carrying the missiles from Syria to Lebanon, but decided against it -- for now. But Jerusalem is unlikely to permit Hezbollah to possess arms that threaten every man, woman and child in Israel, complicating any military plan for ending the far greater threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb.
Using intermediaries, Jerusalem sent warnings to Damascus. So did Washington: Sen. John Kerry expressed concerns about weapons transfers to Hezbollah during a Damascus visit in early April. An American UN diplomat, Alejandro Wolff, publicly told the Security Council last week that the United States is concerned about the "sophistication" of the weapons Syria's giving Hezbollah -- which, he said, "risks sparking a conflict that no one needs."
Israel reportedly mulled bombing a recent convoy carrying the missiles from Syria to Lebanon, but decided against it -- for now. But Jerusalem is unlikely to permit Hezbollah to possess arms that threaten every man, woman and child in Israel, complicating any military plan for ending the far greater threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb.
Using intermediaries, Jerusalem sent warnings to Damascus. So did Washington: Sen. John Kerry expressed concerns about weapons transfers to Hezbollah during a Damascus visit in early April. An American UN diplomat, Alejandro Wolff, publicly told the Security Council last week that the United States is concerned about the "sophistication" of the weapons Syria's giving Hezbollah -- which, he said, "risks sparking a conflict that no one needs."
Apparently when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon broached the subject with Bashar Assad (pictured above), Assad blew it off by stating that it must be "smugglers" who are supplying SCUD missles to Hezbollah. When Obama took office during his Bow, Curtsey and Apologize World Tour, "Obama's emissaries to Damascus started hinting that America would soon lift sanctions, and that other goodies were on the way. And in February came word that Washington would be sending a new ambassador to Syria, a job that America had pointedly left vacant since the (Rafik) Hariri killing."
The US needs somebody strong in foreign policy the White House and the world knows that Obama just doesnt have the stomach for it. Why else would a second-rate power like Syria be so carelessly flaunting what passes for their influence in the region?
On a related note, it seems that Jews in the United States are being driven into the arms of Sarah Palin of all people hot on the heels of the Obama
"President Obama’s recent demarche designed to increase pressure on Israel is having one immediate impact in the Jewish community — it is hastening the formation of an organization called Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin.
Plans for the new group are set to be announced on Sunday by a Philadelphia-based journalist and activist named Binyamin Korn, a former executive director of the Zionist Organization of America. The announcement is unlikely to make big news, as the group is embryonic, with an advisory committee of several journalists and academics.
Its aim, however, is to take advantage of the growing alarm within the Jewish community at what Mr. Korn, in an interview this week with the New York Sun, called an “escalation of rhetoric” criticizing the Jewish state. The group also hopes to counter suggestions — by, among others, such opposite figures as the widely read Atlantic magazine blogger Jeffrey Goldberg and the left-of-center, anti-Israel publication Counterpunch — that Mrs. Palin’s support for Israel is animated by “end of days” theology that believes an in-gathering in Israel will precede the apocalypse and the destruction of the Jews." Link to full article.
None of this inspires confidence in a presidency that one blogger decribed as less of an administration and more of a parody of one. To top it all off, it seems that Obama has broken GWB's record for aloofness and has now played his 32nd round of golf since taking office. George W. Bush played 24 games in 8 years in office by comparison. Link
It's probably what Nero would have done instead of fiddling if they had golf back in his day. God help us all.
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