OldSchool Loc: Moving to the Red State of Utah soon!

And, it's so secret that the incompetent Susan Rice is the weakest link.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/10/23/the-u-s-saudi-crackup-hits-a-dramatic-tipping-point/

jonhatfield Loc: Green Bay, WI

A most interesting Washington Post column in this posting. Equally interesting were the comments...a few irrelevant snipes at "Obummer" by rightists obsessed that way but mainly insights & interpretations of situation in the Middle East from various perspectives neither particularly right nor left. While I'm uncertain about some of the interpretations by the commentators, the insights gave me new perspective on the Middle East situation.

Why did the poster have to start this subject as another snipe at the administration through boiling Rice? Oh, I forgot, this is a POLITICAL forum.

Well, I urge readers of the WP column and the comments there to consider closely whether the turn of Syrian situation toward negotiated resolution could be the middle path forward in the Middle East situation. That's not in praise of the President or softening any of the sharp edges in his management of situation...which seemed a bit hesitant to me but may have been political genius or perhaps just dumb luck. Or perhaps all 3. ha.

Thank you, Old School, for posting this WP column which gives some perspective on Middle East situation.

In the end we may have to bomb Iranian nuclear operations out of existence and remove Assad in Syria by force of arms directly and burn out the Hezbollah nest in Lebanon like we are doing elsewhere with drone strikes, raids, etc.--and if it comes to that need, I hope we will have the determination to do it. However, if there's another way not so immediate or absolute but moving to better situation, that may be the way to go. In 2008 I was torn between what I saw as Chamberlin-like Obama and Biden over-caution in geopolitical decision and MacArthur-like McCain over-action. In the end I v**ed on basis of positive versus negative domestic positions for O/B...and my guess that O/B would see the necessity of strong action in some situations to make possible wait-and-see and indirect action in other situations seems to have taken place and may work out (and may not). I had hoped the Syrian "limited attack" would go through and re-establish credibility (as coming from the cautious side) in determined geopolitical action--a determination that had been eroded in the outcomes in Vietnam & Iraq--and was furious when the far right and left joined to snipe any action. Just lucky that the Russians in their own neighborhood interest decided to try to enable a bartered settlement before it was too late. Why they haven't been behind us in the Middle East before this has baffled me. It's in Russia's direct immediate interest to have moderate stable political situation in the potentially fanatic and hostile area south of the border. What's taken the Ruskies so long to see they should have been by our side in the Middle East long ago? Do they even yet understand how far they have to go with us to handle the fanaticism, hostility, terrorist, and chemical & nuclear armament situations in the Middle East?

The subject here is geopolitics, a separate category from internal politics. I hope the postings are not occasion for petty personality snipe shots and domestic political story lines but serious discussion of what the Middle East situation is and what to do or not do in the way of action. Traditionally we have more or less seen foreign relations as a subject above domestic politics or personalities.