BULLETIN – RUSSIA, CHINA, VETO UN RESOLUTION ENDORSING THE CALL FOR SYRIA'S ASSAD TO STEP DOWN – AT 12:13 P.M. ET:

With this veto, Russia and China are throwing in their lot with the Syrian dictator, amid reports that hundreds more Syrians have died today in the violence that has beset their country.  From The New York Times:

UNITED NATIONS — A United Nations Security Council effort to end the violence in Syria ended in acrimony and a veto by Russia and China on Saturday, hours after the Syrian military attacked the ravaged city of Homs in what opposition leaders described as the bloodiest government assault in the nearly 11-month-old uprising.

The Security Council voted 13 to 2 in favor of a resolution backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria, but the measure was blocked by Russia and China, who opposed what they saw as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

With this veto, Russia and China deal a body blow to the Obaman illusion that "engagement" can work with these regimes, in place of the more vigorous approach of big, bad BUSH (!!) and the even bigger, badder CHENEY (!!!!).

So there will be no UN action on Syria.  As Egypt descends into Islamism, as Libya seems to be following, and as Syria descends into Civil War, where is America?  Well, we're pretty much on the sidelines.  We've withdrawn completely from Iraq, we've thrown our friend Hosni Mubarak overboard in Egypt, developed a chill toward our ally Israel, and have been ineffective in stopping the Iranian nuclear program. 

Oh, we've also provided our enemies with a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

And yet, the mainstream media is, even today, parroting the line that Obama can go to the American people this November as a successful foreign-policy president.  After all, he "got" bin Laden.  I'd thought it was the Navy SEALS, but perhaps I'm misinformed. 

As The Politico notes today, the main thrust of this administration's foreign policy is to be sure it doesn't interfere with Obama's second-term dream of transforming America, making into a leftist copy of European nations.  But foreign crises have a way of imposing themselves uninvited. 

A confrontation with Iran is brewing, with the possibility that Israel, if it loses confidence in this wishy-washy administration, may strike Iran to disrupt its nuclear program.  What will Obama do?  No one knows.  Our policy toward Iran is a failure, but no one has told Obama.  Maybe Michelle can be persuaded...

And how do we stop the horror of Syria?  We and the Europeans seem, at least on the surface, to have ruled out any kind of military intervention, after intervening in Libya.  There is no clear policy because there is no clear leadership.  This is what happens when a community organizer becomes president.  The world is not a community, except in the minds of Hollywood actors. 

February 4, 2012