A man runs among buildings damaged by what activists said were missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet. Photo by Hamid Khatib/Reuters
Seeing Red -- Fred Kaplan, Slate
If Syria has used chemical weapons against its own people and crossed Obama’s red line, how should the president respond?
It seemed for a moment today that we might soon be at war with Syria.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told reporters that, according to new intelligence analyses, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has likely used chemical weapons, specifically sarin, against rebel forces.
At least five times in the last eight months, President Obama has declared that any such use of chemical weapons would cross “a red line.” These are fighting words, or very close to them. If a president describes a possible action as “crossing a red line,” then does nothing about it, no future declaration of red lines—no threat to respond with force to some horrible action—will be taken seriously by anyone, friend or foe.
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
If Syria Is Using Sarin, Obama Must Act -- Jeffrey Goldberg, Bloomberg
Should the United States intervene in Syria? -- James F. Jeffrey, Newsday/Foreign Policy
If Obama’s Syria Promises Mean Nothing, How Can We Trust Him on Iran? -- Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary
Israel fears end to 40-year peace on Syrian front -- Aron Heller, AP
‘Homework to Do’: The Afghanistan-Pakistan Peace Talk Tipping Point -- Shamila N. Chaudhary and Omar Samad, Daily Beast
Is Japan's Shinzo Abe finally acting on his true nationalist colors? -- Justin McCurry, Christian Science Monitor
Asia’s Next Tigers? Burma, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka -- Peter A. Coclanis, World Affairs
Nigeria’s President Launches Amnesty Committee for Boko Haram -- John Campbell, Council On Foreign Relations
Rocky road to Sochi: 2014 Winter Olympics on violent fault line, Boston attacks show -- Brendan Thomas, Daily Caller
How the FBI was blinded by political correctness -- Washington Examiner editorial
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