|Russia's Vladimir Putin and POTUS Barack Obama|
The US bombing of Syria has been put off for the time being thanks to the Russians.
…Hard to believe.
Yet, that’s exactly what happened last week when Russian president, Vladimir Putin, proposed that through Russian influence, Syria would voluntarily surrender their chemical weapons to the international community to avoid bombing strikes and advance a peaceful settlement of that country’s civil war.
So how could an ex-KGB agent and perpetual Russian president upstage the US?
Simply put - Americans, along with their fellow citizens of the world are tired and weary of America’s wars. Since the debacle in Iraq, all people, including most of America’s dwindling partners are demanding a different kind of approach from the world’s so-called super power. They are demanding the ability to bring peace into the world without making war.
So a vacuum has long been set for a leader of country that has the power and influence to wage peace in troubled situations without inflicting war and it’s co-lateral damage.
But is Russia the right leader in the quest for peace?
Probably not - given that country’s recent history with some of their neighbors and former client states. But stranger things have happened.
In his op-ed piece in the New York Times last week, Putin wrote: “We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.”
The US changed after 9/11, but the rest of the world remained basically the same. Their lives changed no differently than ours do when war and atrocities takes place in foreign lands. If the US wants to stay on a permanent war footing because of our tragedy, the rest of the world will soon disregard us and the powers we once thought to be super, will be regarded by the world as basically useless.