Syria’s Half Measures

And the White House is obviously a tad miffed.

Who can blame them? The UN as well as the US told Syria to pack up their toys and leave Lebanon. Not in the next two years, or whenever it is convenient for Damascus to move the troops. It wasn’t the sort of thing that you do with a kindergartener who’s been playing in the sandbox too long. It was the sort of thing that you do to the second grader who knows that it’s time to leave when you say so and you look at them and say, “Johnny James Somesuch! You get out of there right now!”

That’s what it was. That menacing tone of voice was also implied because… with UN backing… we may just be forced to spank the Syrian government for misbehaving. I hope that international economic sanctions is all this has to come down to, but somehow I fear that a UN peacekeeping (isn’t that a contradiction in terms?) force will be sent to defend Lebanon’s borders.