When the idea first came up that Syria could avoid a military strike by turning over their stockpile of chemical weapons, I did not take it seriously. Apparently Putin, Obama, and Assad did, and Obama is just shitting himself with relief. He had no good options open to him, and had talked himself into a corner. Truth be told, Assad’s chemical massacre probably did merit a response, but the time to intervene was two years ago, before Assad had turned street demonstrations into a bloody sectarian civil war.
Russia's new plan is a win-win, really. The West gets to back off without looking like we’re backing down, while Putin and Assad avoid direct Western intervention in Syria. The only losers are virtually everyone else in Syria and the surrounding region.
If Syria is indeed prepared to turn over their stockpile of chemical weapons, then Putin must have convinced Assad that these weapons are more trouble than they're worth. If the West backs down from military action here, Assad will know that he is safe from outside interference, and will set about crushing the opposition in a long and bloody campaign that will never really end.
Meanwhile, in Assad-allied Iran, the Ayatollahs' choice of loyal party man and friend of the reform movement Hassan Rouhani as the new President of the Islamic Republic is meant to be a sharp departure from the hardline Ahmadinejad regime, a public face more acceptable to both foreign antagonists and local dissidents. More of a PR overhaul than a true change in course from the Ayatollahs, we'll see what effect Rouhani's election has on the nuclear issue. Iran is keen to get out from under crippling economic sanctions, and Rouhani is the man tasked with making it happen.
The question is, now that they have opened the floodgates, just a little bit, will they be swept away by their people’s growing desire for a freer, more democratic society?
It’s funny to think that the authoritarian, one-party regimes of China and Iran are running scared of their people, and showing more responsiveness to their needs and concerns than the more open, democratic societies are. Could it be because there’s one clear party to blame when things go tits-up?
China and Iran are two nations I see liberalizing rapidly in our lifetime, from the bottom up.
On the lighter side of things, Rob Ford, Toronto's 300 pound, crack-smoking, gang-banging, bicyclist-hating mayor has joined a chorus of Canadian public officials in admitting that he has smoked “a lot” of pot. To be fair, I don’t think that Rob Ford is the kind of guy who does anything just a little bit.
And finally, I think everyone needs to back off of Anthony Weiner. If you have a legitimate comment or criticism pertaining to the man’s policies, then please, air them. If all you're going to do is abuse the man for things which are none of your business, things you have no business judging him for, things that have no impact on his performance as a public servant, then do the rest of us a favor and go home, don’t vote for him, and most importantly, STFU.
What the heck is wrong with "sexting" anyway? Infidelity is one thing, but sexting? Infidelity is a personal matter, and thus nun’yo bidness, but sexting it's self should not even be an issue.
The fact that people care so much about Anthony Weiner's sexting is more of an issue than Anthony Weiner's sexting.
Still, I don’t know how the guy thought he could win. The repeated scandals and the news media’s character assassinations destroyed his chances before he ever got off the ground.
Where does Weiner stand on "stop-and-frisk?" How about the minimum wage? Does he plan to tackle the city's high cost of living? How will he stimulate and maintain employment? I don't know, but I do know that every time he got in a fight with some judgmental prick, the CNN slammed him all over my Facebook feed.
Hit the showers, Andy. Time to slip quietly into the private sector.
That’s all for now, so until next time, keep those hands up, protect yourself at all times, and keep coming back for more Rabbit Punch!
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