[Telegraph]Syria will be 1st rogue state to get Barack Obama charm offensive

Syria is a terrorist nation their president almost single handledly conquered lebanon into rubble I can't see why we would want to enlist the help of such an aawful nation. The only middle east country with somewhat decent people is lebanon and their christians the rest of the middle east is a chaotic islamic anti-semitic war zone. If obama wants peace he has to make the christians in the region orchestrate it because those people don't want our american opinions but maybe they'd listen to locals.

 

And that, in short, is the exact thinking that got us into this mess. Let's just bomb all of them to hell then...

 

...or we could put our trust in them, only making us more vulnerable to them in the almost inevitable instance where they lie to us.

 

Christians good! Muslims bad!

*highfive*

 

Trying to improve diplomatic relations with a country doesn't mean you have to 100% trust them. I'm sure Syria and Iran don't completely trust eachother either.

 

It is difficult at best to even have diplomatic relation with a country that has been built upon the terrorism that we are waging war on. Good luck to President Obama, but I believe that this tactic is doomed to failure.

 

I am a big supporter of this kind of diplomacy, but tactically, Obama should have chosen an easier challenge. Obama has no diplomatic experience, he has a relatively inexperienced diplomatic team so far, and Syria doesn't have the best record of being easy to deal with. It's like learning to swim by jumping into the deep end with your hands tied. Ideally, he could have started with Cuba, but there's several countries that would have been better choices. All that being said, I believe that if the US goes into any negotiations with a recognition of our strength, they can't lose, and have a small chance of making something better.

 

We were able to have diplomatic relations with communist countries during the Cold War when we were fighting a proxy war on communism all over the world. Why wouldn't we be able to have diplomatic relations with terrorist-supporting countries?

Besides which, Syria has actually been one of the more helpful countries in the Middle East in terms of the fight against Al Queda (relatively speaking, of course). They seem to be more interested in regional issues and Israel than they are in fighting the US (unlike, say, Iran).

 

weird how syria is allies with the US yet a terrorist nation? the USA and Israel are great though and don't bomb nations without just cause or written declaration of war.

 

Is Lebanon a rogue state?

I like Lebanese girls. BO needs to befriend them.

 

I wish he had started with Cuba as well, although I don't see why we can't attempt a dialogue with Syria. No, I don't trust them and yes, they have been absolute bastards re Lebanon, but talking doesn't cost anything, and you never will know if anything will come of it unless you make the attempt.

 

Here is the thing: I'm sure Obama and his team don't expect instantaneous results. Syria will be a long process and we will never be able to really trust them. The goal with a country like Syria is to change the relationship from being, for example, 85% adversarial to maybe just 30-40%. With it's current regime, I doubt there is any way Syria will ever be considered an ally of the U.S. But if a fairly constructive relationship is created over time that moderates their behavior, it would be a huge win. Syria has to be given a real alternative to supporting Iran and must be given the opportunity to make the change with dignity & pride, instead of under duress or threat.

The goal of diplomacy should be to change behavior, not to humiliate into changing behavior. The diplomatically impotent Bush administration's "in your face" attitude towards all antagonists bit this country in the rear. If Syria isn't steered away from Iran to a constructive relationship with the U.S, there is no hope for peace within Lebanon, between Syria and Israel and between Israel and the Palestinians. For the last decade or so, Syria is the country the U.S. must "flip" before there is any chance for peace in the region.

Keep in mind that Iran's nukes must be addressed soon and Syria is Iran's only long-standing (major) Arab ally. Also remember that Syria is key to keeping Iraq stable.

I like the choice.

 

Syria is an oppressed nation. Have you ever been there? They don't even have toilets at the airport they have holes in the ground and people sell you toilet paper you have to pay for. They have secret prisons that make Gitmo seems like disneyworld, people who've spoken up against assad have been taken never to be seen again and their fmailies torchered much like Saddam did in Iraq but of course we wouldn't hear about it in America because Bush's father didn't start and lose a war to them in the early 90's. I did extensive research on the subject while in college and Lebanon is the only true democratic nation in the entire middle east. The rest are islamic nations who have governments led by anti-jewish people. The lebanese are wonderful people who are trapped in the middle of the war with Israel because hezbollah fighters who are Iranian have setup shop in the south and fire rockets into israel because they can't stand to see any arabs happy like the lebanese. So if Obama wants a friend in the Middle my vote would go to the unbiased christian nation of Lebanon any day of the week before my vote goes to the terrorist nation of syria and hafez assad.

 

have you been there?

 

We're not looking for friends in the region, we're looking for stability in the region. We're trying to clamp down on terrorist networks and the potential of nuclear arms being proliferated in the region. We can't not talk to someone because we don't like them, if we are planing on creating any sort of positive change in the Middle East.
Syria has the potential to be a major player because of their fragile support for Iran. Any signs that they are willing to compromise with the West weakens and isolates Iran, and probably makes them far less bold, which is a major plus to our security and the stability of the region. Divide and conquer (just without the conquering).

 

We're already friends with Lebanon. And Saudi Arabia. And Egypt. And the UAE. And many others. We're looking to build *new* relationships.

 

Very good post.

zantabak1111, the issue is how to deal with the governments in the region. Assad's regime isn't going anywhere. That's just the way it is. And most everybody is friends with Lebanon, but the greatness of that country is stifled by none other than Syria. Lebanon is truly a heartbreaking story and would be the Switzerland of the Middle East if Syria and Israel would keep their hands off. In this world of ours, the U.S. must talk to, negotiate with and compromise with distasteful governments like Syria.