I've felt that the diaries on Syria over the last few days have been more about the US than Syria and that there's been a gap in analysis. Meteor Blades encouraged me to write a diary on the Syrian conflict, so here goes… The Obama Administration finds itself confronted by a problem in Syria that is virtually unsolvable, but inaction or the wrong action carries with it genuine risks that extend far beyond Syria. This diary attempts to describe some of the reasons why this is rapidly becoming a regional ethnosectarian conflict, and why this matters with respect to stability in Iraq and Lebanon. I hope it is the first in a series – this diary will focus on the war in eastern Syria and how it affects Iraq. I won’t be arguing for or against airstrikes. Stop reading if you want a rant about bombing as a failure of imagination, or one that made me laugh, depicting us as a nation of "fat Spartans". (I might have to borrow “fat Spartans”- that was a pretty good rant.) Don't get me wrong - rants have their place, but they are usually about America. if you want to read a diary about Syria rather than America through a Syria lens, follow me over the Orange Itzl.
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