to those giving Obama full credit for disarming Syria without violence, I would remind you...

[nadinbrzezinski]

82. The real big picture is that we are not as powerful as we think we are

The real big picture is that all empires, including the American Empire, do go away sooner or later. We are at that phase, where the return on investment of that over the place is not what it used to be.

Guys, let's bomb Syria, guys, where are you guys? Even our most loyal ally took a pass on this one. Why? People around the world know they can do that now. We are no longer a unipolar world. And don't tell me that vote in Parliament was planned by the US. Some here have, that's sheer fantasy writing. They should try their hand at it.

And when you have bases all over the place but people are starving back home and bridges are collapsing, 'cause shit we can't do both guns and butter....well, you know what this reminds me off? The last empire to collapse, that be the USSR to be exact. (There is also Spain, a tad more accurate, but people are all but familiar with it)

On the bright side, the process did not start with Obama, but with Reagan. It is time to domestically also abandon trickle down. And yes, for us to reduce military spending from 53% year, to 30%, it would still put us as top dogs, and invest a lot of quid in the US and domestic programs. It is also time to reverse the inequality trend, or not. The current trend is not nice. It could lead to the kind of social unrest not seen since the Great Depression. Perhaps even worst tan that.

Back to the crisis, the beauty of seat of pants diplomacy is that both sides got something substantial out of it, ergo both can claim victory back home. Bring out the Pom Poms. Of course it also offers plenty of room for chickenhawks who have not met a war they did not like to squawk loudly.

Sorry if I will not join the applause brigade that can't see things are a tad more complex. This was seat of pants diplomacy, period.