Since wordpress has fallen afoul of Turkish authorities, I’ve had to hold off on posting. This one is going to be brief, however, as I get resettled. The topic: the recent American overtures towards Syria (allegedly in an attempt to isolate Iran). Honestly, I must say that I am puzzled by this - or, rather, by how our government can continue to pursue such policies. On the surface, it makes sense. Play nice with Syria and they’ll be less inclined to cozy up to Iran. The major problem that I see is that this puts the ball in Syria’s court. It can essentially blackmail (to use a strong word) US policymakers into doing its bidding just to avoid warmer Syrian-Iranian relations. This cannot be the long-term strategy for the US (or any government that finds itself in such a situation). I’m not sure what the solution is, but the current one is only a temporary remedy. I would hope that the policymakers are also taking into account long-term plans rather than taking the short-term view towards things (which they seem to have done a fair bit of at least since the Cold War). But I have faith in the government, thinking that if I can see this as being an issue, so can they and that there must be some other underlying reason I’m not aware of for them to pursue this strange policy.