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.
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