Warmongers Hemmed In

Next week is shaping up to be a momentous one. The United Nations General Assembly convenes and the United States House of Representatives, currently being led by the Tea Party caucus, will decide whether to shut down the government.

The news today is buzzing with the possibility of a deal between Obama and new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, over Iran's nuclear program. They will likely meet in New York City where both will be attending the General Assembly.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry is proceeding along the same belligerent path he has trod from the beginning in relation to Syria, ignoring the unmistakable turn of events of the last two weeks since his Monday, September 9, faux pas during a London press conference opened the door for the Russian proposal for Syria to adopt the Convention on Chemical Weapons.

Michael Gordon has a good summary this morning of the effort underway, based on what Kerry says is indisputable proof of Syrian government guilt, to allow the Security Council the use of force if Syria does not comply with the agreement to get rid of its chemical weapons. To this end, Kerry is trying to isolate the Russians by getting the Chinese to join with the U.S., France and Britain in supporting Chapter VII sanctions. It's not going to happen.

The Obama Administration has its hands full: Iran, a Tea Party emboldened by its defeat of Obama's Authorization for the Use of Military Force looking to shut down the government, and, now, finding a plausible way to upend peace talks with Syria. This is from Gordon's story, "Kerry Presses Security Council to Act on Syrian Arsenal":

Mr. Kerry plans to meet next week with Mr. Lavrov and Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy on the Syria crisis, to discuss planning for a possible peace conference. 

No date for a conference has been set, and Russia and the United States are at odds over who should attend. Russia, for example, has insisted that Iran should participate. The United States has opposed including Iran and said the “London 11,” a group of European and Arab nations that support the Syrian opposition, should attend.

Engaged in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program makes it hard to deny them a place at the table in talks on Syria.

The Guardian had a story yesterday on Putin's take on Syria; it included this sensible question from the Russian president:

The Russian president also reiterated suspicions that the 21 August chemical attack near Damascus was carried out by rebels and not by forces loyal to Assad. 

"We talk all the time about the responsibility of Assad regime if it turns out that they did it, but nobody is asking about the responsibility of the rebels if they did it," said Putin. "We have all the reasons to believe it was a clever provocation."

The warmongers, it goes without saying, will do everything in their power to reassert the primacy of force. But with food stamps being axed by House Republicans, who at the same time are hurtling towards a collision in their quixotic effort to repeal Obamacare, the United States Government is in no position to threaten other countries.