Obama is singing the blues. And why not? The president can find time for music at the White House, can entertain his guests, and can bite Iran with the teeth of the sanctions and the Syrian regime with the teeth of “isolation.” He can play on the strings of the crises and coexist with the Arab spring without any cost drawn from the blood of the Americans and their soldiers. But an American journalist fell with the bullets of the killing machine in Syria after the blues concert at the White House. And if a mistake was committed by Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik in the city of Homs, it is probably their unrestrained eagerness to see who is actually fighting whom, who is being killed, and who is engaged in the opposition! Is this not the task of American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey who does not know the identity or the “nature” of the oppositionists against the Damascus regime? For his part, US Intelligence Chief James Clapper seems to be more knowledgeable about the division of these oppositionists and is practically condemning them after he decided they allowed Al-Qaeda to infiltrate their ranks. Dempsey is granting the regime half a certificate of good behavior, hence dividing the responsibility for the massacre in Homs among others between terrorists, armed oppositionists, and soldiers ordered to deter the conspiracy. Obama is singing the blues while the bereaved of the killing machine in Syria are not daring to bury the victims. The American teeth of isolation are fine, while the number of dead is rising but not exceeding fifty martyrs per day. Whenever this number hits one hundred, a newspaper in Damascus rises to courageously confront the government and attack the shortcomings at the level of the “state's regaining of its role” following its regaining of its status! Obama is singing while the regime in Damascus is playing the Russian tune. Putin is exercising his muscles, recalling the missiles crisis in the Bay of Pigs (Cuba) and wagering on his ascension to the presidency within a few days. In the meantime, Obama is reluctant to undertake any risks, considering that he has a long way to go in the American elections battle. For his part, Erdogan is remaining silent following the fierce condemnations with which he bombarded the Syrian regime. Now, he is listening to Obama's singing and to Kremlin's tune, while waiting to meet Syria's Friends in Tunisia tomorrow, and maybe even waiting for the outcome of the referendum over a new Syrian Constitution that is playing the tune of the containment of the Baath's role. The referendum will grant the Russians additional ammunition to undermine the legitimacy and reputation of the Syrian opposition. Is it not paradoxical - following the commotion over the American-Russian standoff at the Security Council and the United Nations - to see Washington and Moscow both doubting the oppositionists' identity, goals and intentions? The conscience of the White House cannot tolerate militarization, which is why it is still wagering on the Syrian regime's possible submission to the “soft isolation” pressures, at a time when Moscow is trying to convince the world it is merely trying to prevent the evils of the conspiracy and that the blood being shed in Homs and in dozens of Syrian towns and cities is being poured over the body of the regime from behind its back. Even the humanitarian corridors are perceived with dubiousness by the Russians who are consequently arranging the priorities as follows: The implementation of the reforms and the ending of the violence, then the introduction of humanitarian aid from which those who survived can benefit. In the meantime, from Baba Amro to Daraa, Aleppo and Damascus, there is only one corridor, leading toward death. Erdogan threatened the regime of the tyrant that he will not remain idle, and indeed, he increased the number of camps hosting the refugees fleeing the Syrian hell. The Israelis on the other hand carried out outbidding over the Americans and said that the regime in Damascus will collapse within a few weeks, until the CIA became convinced that this regime can uphold power for a while. As to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, he is busy looking for someone with the necessary qualifications to assume the post of humanitarian coordinator without any work. And between a West that does not wish to become involved and an East refusing to be led into the conspiracy, Syria is seeking its friends and its people are seeking graveyards. The killing machine is hiding behind the American-Russian bombardment targeting the opposition's legitimacy and behind a dialogue that can only play funerary tunes. And while the Putin-Medvedev duo has the right to resist another “dupery” in Syria after Libya, in order to regain what it perceives as being a wounded dignity, are the Syrians not entitled to condemn in each funeral and demonstration the great conspiracy against their freedom and humanity under the headline of eliminating the conspiracy of Al-Qaeda, the fundamentalists, the outlaws and the detractors of a deaf will which believes it can liquidate history? Obama is singing, Putin is playing the tune of a funerary dialogue and Erdogan is listening. In the meantime, let us – the Arabs – count our tragedies after our setbacks, as we powerlessly witness the predicament of a population that courageously insists every day to topple the illusion of a dialogue whose purpose expired months ago.
