John McCain Might Be An Idiot

The civil war in Syria has been raging for quite some time now and as most internecine conflicts; this one is rather bloody.
For a while now some of our our national "leaders" have been debating on giving aid to the "rebels." I suppose the reasoning is that Assad is evil, somewhat a threat to security in the region and, not to mention, an ally (sponsor) of Hezbollah (Hizbollah whatever), Iran and (and this is the crux of the matter) Russia. Some would say that it makes some sense (geopolitically speaking) for the U.S. to chose sides against this crew and support those in opposition. That might make sense I suppose if we were talking of some sub Saharan African nation or some Central American toilet but this is the Middle East. What we are seeing is Muslim on Muslim violence and last time I checked my common sense meter - that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Do the pros of Assad & Co remaining in power outweigh the cons? A case could certainly be made for it. As of now - Assad does not seem particularly interested in seriously testing the most powerful nation in the region (Israel) directly. He prefers to fight his wars (and Iran's) the old fashioned way - by proxy. That proxy is of course Hezbollah which, while a pain in the ass and destructive, does not seriously threaten the existence of Israel (as long as they don't get ahold of WMDs which would change the game dramatically).

These "rebels" - these "freedom fighters" that we hear spoken of, well, just who are these fine folk? It is reported that they are dominated by Islamists (including affiliates of our friends AQ), and some of these groups would certainly attack Israel (and perhaps Jordan) if in power. Likely when and if Assad is deposed there would be more carnage as these various groups fight among themselves for power.
Of course they would also likely be of a mind to kick the Russians out of their, Syrian provided, naval facility thus depriving the Russian fleet (again) of their warm water port that they have historically pined for. Perhaps that would be one advantage to a "rebel" victory.


This civil war is one that we should certainly stay out of. Let these various groups slug it out and cause as much carnage as they can.

 Foreign policy should be dictated by what is best for a nation state and not necessarily dictated by" "morality." What is best for the United States and the West in general is to allow this war to continue. Indefinitely if necessary.

Seems like a no brainer. I guess John McCain disagrees and he has long since lost his mind.

But you already knew that.