Thursday, September 19, 2013

Blog #2 Latest Crisis in Syria


Brittany Brooks
11:20 am
9/19/13
Blog #2

On Tuesday the Obama administration explained to congress their strategy for eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons. John Kerry briefed the senate of foreign relations committee on the chemical weapons plan that was ironed out with Russia. Moscow insisted that the United Nations must not support the idea of the United States carrying out the military strikes in the event that diplomacy fails. Russia is blaming the rebels for this attack last month but the Unites States and its European and Arab allies are saying that Mr. Assad’s forces were responsible. Mr. Kerry however planned to update the senate members of the details of the agreement with Russia and he was going to try to build support for it. Despite the new plan that Russia has come up with, President Obama and his national security team have continued to stress the importance of maintaining a credible military threat. People are becoming challenged on whether the United States and Russia should be working together. Senator Richard Blumenthal accused Russian banks of financing Mr. Assad’s government through two and half years of conflict. More than 100,000 people have been killed. The senator believes that the administration should freeze Russian bank assets in the United States and put travel bans on employees. “This is a pressure that we ought to be exerting”, Mr. Blumenthal said. He and three other senators sent a bipartisan letter to the Treasury Secretary demanding action against Russian financial institutions that are allowing Mr. Assad to “continue military purchases and pay the soldiers that sustain the war in Syria.” 

            The question arises, should the Unites states be concerned about the Russians? Can we really trust that they are being honest and are truly wanting to put an end to Syria’s chemical weapons? So many people and government officials here in the United States seem to be very torn about the matter. Some want to believe that Russia can be trusted and that we can leave the issue up to Russia and the United Nations to handle. Others however, feel the exact opposite of that. They want Obama to continue on with his plan of intervening with Syria. These people want Obama to stay true to his military threat to Syria. What is the right choice? So many people are split on their feelings. Should the Unites States go in and try to save the day once again or let Russia have time to try and fix this in a non-violent way. Many Senators are pushing to have action taken against Russia’s financial institutions because they feel as though they cannot be trusted. As a country we may never have the truth to who is implementing the attacks on Syria, whether or not Russia is involved or aiding those attacks, or whether Russia can truly be trusted. At this point all that can be done is letting the cards unfold how they are going to unfold. However, no matter what move president Obama chooses to make at this point, there is an ongoing chance that this country may face consequences either way now that we are involved.

 
Article: http://projects.nytimes.com/live-dashboard/syria

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