We’ve been played by Syria and Russia A4 Sunday, September 15, 2013
“One does not sharpen the axes after the right time; after the time they are needed.” — Russian Proverb The late Ukrainian violinist Mischa Elman is considered one of the greatest of all time, but he has nothing on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has played the Obama administration better than any musician. Washington is astounded at what happened over two days on the Syria front. First, there was a supposed faux pas on Monday in London by Secretary of State John Kerry, who said the only way Syria could avoid a military strike was to give up its chemical weapons. While the State Department was busy walking back his comment, Putin said it was a great idea and offered to facilitate the handover, a proposal to which Walid alMoallem, the Syrian foreign minister, quickly agreed. Then on Tuesday, things accelerated at warp speed. Al-Moallem
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CAL
THOMAS SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
said Syria was willing to become a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the international agreement banning the use of chemical weapons, which was the first admission his country possessed them. While the United Nations was preparing to hold one of its toothless “emergency meetings,” Putin then added a caveat: The United States and its allies (meaning Israel) would have to agree that in exchange they would pledge not to attack Syria. It was then announced that Secretary Kerry would meet before the end of the week with Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva to discuss Syria. Putin seems to have pulled a page from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw missiles it had placed in Cuba if the United States promised not to attack Fidel Castro’s communist island. President Kennedy agreed and potential nuclear war was averted. Cuba is an island. Syria is in a far different and unstable neighborhood. In his nationally televised address Tuesday night, President Obama said little that was not already known. By my count he used the words “I,” “me” and “my” 30 times in his 15-minute address. He personalizes everything, but delivers little, except uncertainty in his foreign policy. The world is becoming increasingly dangerous because we have a president who either does not know how to lead, or doesn’t want to lead in foreign affairs.
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That House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would credit the president with a diplomatic triumph because of a pledge from two men whose promises aren’t worth the paper on which they have yet to be written, is funnier than the monologues of late-night comedians. Shortly after Putin’s “diplomatic triumph,” which might have been expected given Syria’s puppet status with Russia, ABC News Online reported that Putin planned to meet Friday with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani to renew Russia’s offer of S-300 air defense missiles to Iran. Putin knows how to stir the pot to America’s detriment. Iran, with or without its proxy war in Syria and its arming of Hezbollah, remains the major threat in the region. President Obama, who once said he would consider negotiating with Iran because America had become too “arrogant,” shows that, too, was a
meaningless policy proposal. You can’t negotiate with evil. Evil must be defeated. By assuming the role of a bad character on the world stage, Russia is a threat to peace. During last year’s presidential campaign, Mitt Romney said Russia is “our number one geopolitical foe; they fight for every cause for the world’s worst actors.” Who sounds more presidential: a tentative Barack Obama, who speaks loudly and too often, but carries a small stick, or Mitt Romney, who clearly understood that for threats to be diminished or deterred a president must have credibility? It certainly isn’t our president. (Write to Cal Thomas at: Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207. Readers may also e-mail Cal Thomas at tmseditors@tribune.com.) © 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Don’t forget Benghazi
It was a year ago last week that a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, was targeted for a terror attack that claimed the lives of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. In the aftermath, President Obama declared that “my biggest priority now is bringing those folks to justice, and I think the American people have seen that’s a commitment I’ll always keep.” Well, one year later, the masterminds behind the Benghazi attack, the Islamist terrorists who killed Ambassador Stevens and the others, have not been brought to justice. And the “commitment” the president made to the American people has not been kept. On the contrary, Obama and his national security team appear determined to put Benghazi behind; to “let the dead past bury its dead,” in the words of Longfellow. Indeed, the president’s sudden preoccupation with Syria, evidenced by his separate appearances Monday on all four network news programs, and his nationally televised address Tuesday, have completely overshadowed the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi terror attack. But the murders of the four Americans must not be forgotten. And the questions that remain about what exactly happened on that fateful night a year ago need to be set straight. It may be recalled that, the day after the attack, Susan Rice, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, received an email that clearly stated the attack was committed by Islamists. Yet, several days after receipt of the email, Rice appeared on all the major Sunday news shows and told the American people the attack “began spontaneously” and was a “reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated.” The State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, later followed up with a review that concluded there was not enough time for U.S. military forces to be deployed to Benghazi to repel the terror attack and save American lives. But Gregory Hicks, the No. 2 diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, who was on the ground in Benghazi during the attack, at least partially contradicted that narrative in congressional testimony back in May and again last week in an appearance on ABC News. He noted that attackers came in two waves, some eight hours apart. U.S. forces may not have arrived in time to save Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith, a U.S. foreign service officer, both killed in the first wave, but they appear to have had enough time to rescue Ty Woods and Glen Dohery, killed in the second wave. The FBI has reportedly identified five men suspected of orchestrating the attack in Benghazi, but the Obama administration decided against using the military to detain them. That’s quite a contrast with President Obama’s willingness to take military action against Syria, which is ruled by an inarguably despotic regime, but which has neither attacked the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, nor taken the lives of American personnel. Guest Editorial The Orange County Register DEAR DOCTOR K: I often feel like I have a lump of mucus in my throat. In the morning I spit some of it up, but the sensation doesn’t go away. What can I do about it? DEAR READER: Doctors sometimes use the term “globus sensation” for the feeling of a lump in the throat. The first question I ask when a patient says he has a lump in his throat is: Is it just a feeling that there is a lump there, or is there something you can spit up? Because you say you have mucus that you cough up, the most likely explanation is that allergies are causing your nose and sinuses to produce extra mucus. At night, when you are lying flat, that mucus collects in the back of your throat; that’s why you tend to spit it up in the
US should stay out of Syria’s civil war Some things you just have to do, in spite of great uncertainty. Launching missiles at Syria isn’t one of them. Many pundits talk about going to war as if all we have to do is make up our minds about what “ought” to happen — who the bad guys are — and the rest is just details. If we decide we must punish a tyrant, let the military worry about how to get it done. We ought to worry more about details. Everyone agrees there are huge “known unknowns” in Syria — we barely know the composition of the rebel move-
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mornings. The treatment is allergy medications and inhalers. Another common cause is the regular reflux of stomach contents up into your esophagus and throat. When this happens frequently, the back of your throat can become irritated, which can feel like a lump. If you sometimes notice a bitter taste in your mouth, that’s a clue that reflux
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ment we’re supposed to aid — but we should be more concer ned about “unknown unknowns,” to borrow former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s phrase. Remember the confidence with which he and other Bush administration of ficials described their plans to
could be the source of your problem. If that’s the case, avoid foods that worsen your symptoms, remain upright for several hours after eating and lose weight. If lifestyle changes don’t help, many heartburn medications are available over-the-counter or by prescription. Irritation and swelling in the throat can also be part of an allergic reaction to certain medications. The blood pressure medicines called “ACE inhibitors” are particularly likely to cause swelling in the throat. Rarely, that swelling can become so severe that it threatens your ability to breathe and is a true medical emergency. If one of my patients on an ACE inhibitor has even a mild sensation of a lump in the throat, I switch the patient
remake Iraq? Dick Cheney said, “We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” The Wall Street Journal beat the drums for war for a year. I read that Iraq was full of repressed democratic activists just waiting for Saddam to be overthrown. Pundits also argued that once the authoritarian ruler was gone, Iraq would blossom into a showcase of peace and democracy that would inspire transformation throughout the region. I wanted to believe it. Once they had a choice, why wouldn’t they pursue our way of life? It’s clearly better! Instead, we’ve spent more
to another type of blood pressure medicine. A food allergy is another possibility. I once had a patient who got a lump in her throat and swollen lips any time she ate a mango. This was sad, because she loved mangoes! Finally, there is an unusual condition called Zenker’s diverticulum, when a pouch forms in the wall of the back of the throat. Food can collect in the pouch and may come back out before it is swallowed. Zenker’s diverticulum is easily diagnosed and treated, usually by an ear, nose and throat specialist. In medical school we’re taught a lot about the major illnesses — the ones that can disable or kill See DR. K, Page A9
than a decade fighting feuding factions that most Americans have never heard of — and still can’t name. When pro-war pundits did admit to uncertainty about what would happen in Iraq, it was often to stoke fear about what would happen if we did not intervene. Saddam might use chemical weapons! Saddam might get nukes! Well, maybe. I’m glad Saddam is gone, and Iraqis are better off. But the masses year ning to breathe free tur ned out to include more troublemakers
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25 YEARS AGO
Sept. 15, 1988 Larry K. Issacs, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sterling P. Issacs of Roswell, has been promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. Issacs is a Civil Engineering Inspection Branch chief with the Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base. His wife, Marsha, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mel Cook and LaVonne Murphy of Albuquerque. The colonel is a 1967 graduate of Del Norte High School and a 1972 graduate of the University of New Mexico, both in Albuquerque.