Obama Finally ‘Appalled’ at Syria

Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies e-mailed me: “Syria is an increasingly ugly mess, and I don’t see anyone from the international community willing to step up to mitigate this crisis. The slaughter of civilians continues, while the military now shows real signs of fracturing. The Syrian opposition continues to struggle to organize, but has recently been bolstered by some high-level military detections.” As for the Obama administration, Schanzer observes that it “continues to punt on leadership. It refuses to call for the end of the Assad regime. The U.N. Security Council is equally timid.The longer this indecisiveness continues, the more likely we are to see more bloodshed and the potential for a messier outcome.”