Did she really say this [expletive deleted] with a straight face?
Clinton: US using “smart power” for Libya, Syria
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the U.S. response to crises in Libya and Syria on Tuesday, saying the Obama administration is projecting “smart power” by refusing to act alone or with brute force to stop autocratic repression in the two countries.
. . .
Clinton said Libya was a study in the use of “strategic patience,” whereby the United States resisted the impulse for immediate intervention and instead helped to build support for the country’s nascent opposition, which the U.S. now recognizes as Libya’s legitimate government. She said the unprecedented NATO-Arab alliance protecting civilians on the ground was a key result of the tactics of smart power.
“This is exactly the kind of world that I want to see, where it’s not just the United States and everybody is standing on the sidelines while we bear the costs,” she said.
In Syria, Clinton said Washington had adopted a similar stance. The administration has imposed sanctions to protest a ruthless crackdown on reformers but has thus far resisted calls to make an explicit demand for President Bashar Assad to step down, something it did with Qaddafi.
Clinton said it would be a mistake for the administration to demand Assad’s ouster on its own because it wouldn’t be effective given Washington’s long-strained ties with Damascus and limited U.S. influence and trade with Syria.
See also:
U.S. taking “smart power” approach to Libya, Syria
Clinton: Libya, Syria show ‘smart power’ at work
Clinton: Libya, Syria show ‘smart power’ at work
Clinton: Libya, Syria show ‘smart power’ at work
Clinton: Libya, Syria show ‘smart power’ at work
‘Smart power’ at work, says Hillary Clinton
Clinton defends U.S. response on Syria
Clinton Passes Up Chance to Call on Assad to Step Down as Obama Remains Silent
A Conversation with Secretaries Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta
Let’s recap: for months now, we’ve been bombing the [expletive deleted] out of Libya, a country that isn’t a direct threat to U.S. national security, killing civilians, destroying infrastructure, and backing a “rebel” movement containing elements of al Qaeda. That’s “smart power” and “strategic patience”, check. Meanwhile, Bashar Assad in Syria, a dictator in a country with plenty of American blood on its hands and a huge threat to U.S. national security, is killing civilians on a daily basis, with a death toll totaling in the thousands, and we’re doing nothing, because our relationship with Syria is “strained”. That’s also “smart power”, as well as “protecting civilians”, check.
What manner of counterproductive, nonsensical bull[expletive deleted] foreign policy is that? Smart Power my ass!
/are you seriously telling me that we have to put up with these moronic clowns for another year and a half?
Filed under: Blog Entry | Tagged: Act Alone, Autocratic, Autocratic Repression, Bashar Assad, Bear, Brute Force, Build, Calls, Civilians, Costs, Countries, Crackdown, Crises, Damascus, Demand, Effective, Explicit, Explicit Demand, Government, Helped, Hillary Clinton, Immediate, Immediate Intervention, Imposed, Impulse, Intervention, Key Result, Legitimate, Legitimate Government, Libya, Limited, Limited U.S. Influence, Long-Strained, Long-Strained Ties, Mistake, Moammer Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi, Muammar Qaddafi, Nascent Opposition, NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Obama Administration, Opposition, Ouster, President, Projecting, Protecting, Protecting Civilians, Protest, Recognizes, Reformers, refusing, Repression, Resisted, Response, Ruthless, Ruthless Crackdown, Sanctions, Sidelines, Similar Stance, Smart Power, Standing, Step Down, Stop, Strategic Patience, Support, Syria, Tactics, Ties, Trade, U.S., U.S. Influence, U.S. Response, U.S. Secretary Of State, United States, Unprecedented .NATO-Arab Alliance, Washington, World | Leave a comment »
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