I'm afraid it will escalate. It may trigger an Israel-Iran war. Once we launch missiles we're involved. (We may be involved by secretly helping the rebels.) There's also the possibility that Israel will feel more alone and may feel the need to go it alone.It only escalates if we allow ourselves to get dragged in deeper. Kosovo didn’t escalate.This isn’t Kosovo. The Syrian rebels aren’t the K.L.A. Assad isn’t Milosevic. Putin isn’t Yeltsin. This is far worse. Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate. That’s not going to happen in Syria.You think Putin is going to risk a military confrontation with the U.S. and Europe?I think Russia isn’t going to let Assad go down. Neither is Iran or Hezbollah. So they’ll escalate. This could be the thing that triggers an Israel-Iran war, and how do we stay out of that? My God, it feels like August, 1914.
Obama said explicitly that military might can't solve this conflict. He said America is war weary and will not send in troops or even take a side or even try to topple Assad.
However it may be just that they'll launch missiles because of the chemical attack and do nothing else. If there's another chemical attack, they'll launch missiles again and do nothing else. And so on. But there is a risk of escalation and retaliation.
Hopefully Obama is counting on the Republicans in the House to block this. My sense is that they'll go along with it. (How much pull do Boehner and AIPAC have?) Rep. King of New York believes the "isolationists" will block it.
If they do go along hopefully Obama doesn't escalate.
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