Amnon Lord: Obama as a grand failure - or missing the great red herring.

An Israeli veteran journalist, Amnon Lord, published an article in the Hebrew edition of Maariv, titled American pundits: Obama as a grand failure. As a critical article on the behavior of the current US administration, the piece is scorching - and still it proves that Putin's maneuver succeeded beyond expectations to create and to put on our collective table a huge red herring that effectively sidetracked everyone.

Follows its translation (Google with my assistance) and a few remarks after that.

[Lede of the article]When Assad wins immunity, Obama is also expected to give legitimacy to Iran through meetings with Rouhani and through backing Putin's initiative to build another reactor.

Only a few pundits in the American media, who were loyal to President Barack Obama, continue to rationalize his political conduct on Syria last month and claim that it works correctly. His other supporters issue prophecies styled like that of Time magazine's Joe Klein, Obama is currently showing "breathtaking incompetence*". "In the process, he has damaged his presidency and weakened the nation’s standing in the world."

But among opponents of Obama there are those who have already gone far beyond the "unsuited for the job" and other explanations relating to the seriousness of the Obama administration. Norman Podhoretz, 82, who infrequently writes lately, was the first who dared to write what some people feel for a long time : the treatment of Syria is a failure, but this failure is a huge success of Obama's strategy to weaken - Yes, weaken ! - and harm the United States and its foreign policy .

Podhoretz wrote this about a week ago in the Wall Street Journal. He tied the deliberate sabotage, as he claimed, by Obama's of American foreign policy to what the American media was trying to whitewash and to hide for the past five years: his links with the radical anti-American left, his closeness to the preacher Jeremiah Wright, etc.

The treatment by Kerry/Obama pair of the chemical attack in Damascus contains in a nutshell the lack of basic morality that comes from what is considered "progressive", "humanistic" and "peaceful" ideals of global left in the form they get in U.S. In his desire to withdraw America for better world equilibrum and as an expression of moral relativism, Obama became a collaborator with the leaders responsible - each according to his contribution - for crimes against humanity. One is Bashar al-Assad, the second is his sponsor, defender and supporter, Vladimir Putin.

Ultimately, what President Obama is doing is nothing less than legitimizing a mass murderer responsible for gassing nearly 1500 people including hundreds of children. According to what develops in negotiations between John Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov, Assad will get immunity from possible attack on Syria and immunity from the court in The Hague. These gains - that will enable him to continue the slaughter - are achieved through the chemical attack! For this he really has to say "Spasibo" to Putin, as one of Israel's senior publicists has already mentioned.

Intellectuals among those who respond to the diplomatic horror that unveils before our eyes are muttering: this is how the life looks in the post - American period. The world order built after World War II is crumbling. But it is impossible to dismiss Obama's responsibility for the melee that carries off parts of the world in the absence of American leadership. We should expect now that Obama give further sponsorship and legitimacy to the Iranian leadership through direct meetings with the new President Hassan Rouhani.

Doing this, he will give a covert support to Putin's new initiative to build another reactor in Iran and to arm Iran with S-300 missiles. I mentioned last week that Russia preserves its provocation and disinformation instruments sharpened in its extensive toolbox. This past week we have seen a demo [of these tools]: Putin's provocative article in New York Times (and Ha'aretz) , which caused many Americans to want to "throw up" as a senior senator said.

At the same time Snowden, who acts now as an  agent on behalf of the Russians, released information harmful to Israel and intelligence that brews trouble between United States and Brazil. Russia's proxies are very well planted in the Western media. But it is still a "soft" campaign. Whoever keeps Iran under their wing will sooner or later push it to break through the nuclear threshold. Let's not allow the stink of old wars to hide the new wars Russians will try to ignite, using their old techniques . It would be another "successful failure", and expected one at that, by President Obama.

(*) The full text of the sentence is: "It has been one of the more stunning and inexplicable displays of presidential incompetence that I’ve ever witnessed." Yep.

Now that you have read the article, you may (as I did) feel disturbed by some of its statements, disagree with the others - but you will probably agree with me that it's a strong one. Still, I have promised to show you the red herring.

This article, being an aggregate of several other articles that aim searing criticism (and more than that - accusations, if you mind the Podhoretz's piece), proves  beyond any doubt that Putin, with very little assistance from his buddy Baby Assad, succeeded in an endeavor he himself, probably, hardly believed in. Where the whole world was focusing on the relentless campaign of mass murder managed by Assad's regime for more than two years, ending the lives of more than 100,000 of his own people, no one talks about them now - not the Western pundits, at least. The hundred thousand** victims are swept off the table. It is as if they don't count anymore, being completely overshadowed by the Damascus gassing.

Look again at what Amnon Lord says "Ultimately, what President Obama is doing is nothing less than legitimizing a mass murderer responsible for gassing nearly 1500 people including hundreds of children." I don't blame Amnon Lord, he, like all other pundits, is seeing only the red herring created by Vladimir Vladimirovich. Mission accomplished.

Fairly soon we shall see the schedule of chemical weapons' transfer to "international control" published (but not necessarily adhered to), Baby Assad will get his "get out of jail" card, merrily turning back to his murderous daily tasks. Obama gets rescued from the "red line" crisis he created for himself, showing off now as a careful leader who is not prone to impetuous acts that could put Americans in the harm's way.

And finally, Putin will show off his new "peacemaker" crown, having succeeded in a peaceful mission where all others failed. And look hopefully in the general direction of Oslo.

And the mass graves will keep being dug and filled, again and again.

And this is the way this planet keeps revolving...

(**) The number itself is, probably, wrong by now. It is just that the "murder counter" stopped ticking, at least in the mass media, after the Damascus gassing. How many more Syrians died since the gassing? I don't know.