Huffington Magazine Issue 66 | Page 36

POOL BENAINOUS/HOUNSFIELD/GAMMA/GETTY IMAGES Voices weapons will not accomplish that. It will merely prolong the period of time the conflict will continue, because the threat of formal military intervention by the West will presumably have been removed in the short to medium term. In the absence of some other action, or series of factors, that would preclude a similar threat of military intervention by the West, the conflict will probably continue as a stalemate, in which neither side can achieve a military victory. Fourth, the war weariness and skepticism of the voters of the West is not going to change in the short or medium term. After a decade of war involving the international community in Afghanistan and Iraq, not only is there little political support for military intervention in the Syrian conflict, there are limited financial resources available to apply as a result of the “new normal” following the Great Recession, and even less desire among the general public to become embroiled in yet another Middle Eastern conflict. Many citizens of the West believe its engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya achieved little in the end, and was not worth the resources, DANIEL WAGNER HUFFINGTON 09.15.13 It is indeed a leap of faith to presume that, a) Mr. Assad will declare every single agent, and b) that the international community will be able to detect every single agent.” blood, and effort. Every time in recent history that the West has stuck its finger in the Middle East, it has not turned out well. So what is the incentive to do so here, they ask. In the unlikely event Mr. Assad’s agreement to diplomacy brokered by their ally Russia may stop possible U.S. airstrikes.