Sunday, December 28, 2014

I Remain Too Simplistic to Appreciate the Glories of Nuance

I just don't get nuance.

We can't work to destroy the Assad regime in Syria (who had to go, as our president proclaimed) because it could help al Qaeda and other jihadis in Syria who are fighting Assad.

But we can attack ISIL in Syria, which is helping Assad who is fighting ISIL and which is helping Assad's ally  mullah-run Iran, even though Assad's support for jihadis and Baathists in Iraq while we fought there was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of American dead troops (not to mention Iraqis in even larger numbers) while Iran's support for Shia death squads in Iraq was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops. Oh, and Iran also seeks nuclear weapons.

I just don't get nuanced, smart, foreign policy. But thank God, Secretary of State Kerry speaks French fluently! ("I was against it before I was for it" is probably a single French word, no?)