For Want Of A Leader !

The civil war in Syria reached new heights this week.   War planes - either Russian or from Assad's air force - bombed a refugee camp in Idlib, huddled up against the Turkish border.  The aftermath was brutal. The charred remains of tents that had housed desperate people and the ground strewn with the bodies of men, women and children sheltering from a war that seems to have no end.

What is unsettling the world that looks to America for leadership is the unchallenged  aggression of Russia. What can only be described as the " invasion " of Crimea was followed by Russian soldiers with identification removed fighting in Ukraine, and now Russian military forces are blatantly waging war to prop up the Assad regime in Syria.

All we are hearing from the White House is that America " deplores " this criminal act in killing civilians.  It seems that President Barak Obama has turned away from America's role as the worlds " policeman " and is concentrating on fixing the internal problems that plague his country.   This has started a new arms race in countries that have long sheltered under the American " nuclear umbrella " - and now doubt that America would go to war if they were threatened.

The turning point was when Obama warned Assad that the use of chemical weapons would " cross a red line " !   Assad deployed chemical weapons with impunity - and Obama simply walked away and did nothing.  America lost face - and that has never been recovered.

Obama certainly has internal problems.  As a Democrat president he has to deal with a Republican majority Senate, but he now has just months remaining of his term in office.  In November, America will select a new president and the options offering scare the rest of the world witless.

When Donald Trump announced that he would run for office most people thought that was some sort of a joke !    This billionaire was more of a media personality with a long list of successes and failures in the business ventures he had established.  His electioneering was brutal and direct. He threatened to deport all the illegals in the country and erect a fence along the Mexican border - and force Mexico to pay for it.   Many of the items on his agenda are totally impractical, but they make people who have suffered job losses from globalization feel good - and he has certainly gained a faithful following.

Now it comes of something of a shock to many to find that he is almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee, and this is despite the elders of the Republican party predicting that he will be rejected by the vast majority of the American voting public.   His standing as the Republican nominee seems to hand the presidency to Hilary Clinton - and many staunch Republicans even concede that would be preferable to Trump in the White House.

This thinking seems to highlight the bombast and threats sprinkled through Trump's stump speeches. The thinking is that Hilary is less likely to " gaffe her way into a nuclear war with North Korea " - and so would be the safer option.

The world will follow this American election with wonder.  Already there are signs that divisions between those in the Republican party are massive.  No less that the speaker of the Senate, Paul Ryan and two former presidents, George W Bush and his father, have indicated that they will not attend this years convention.

There is now an uneasy possibility that Donald Trump may become the next president of the United States of Americas.    It seems that the rest of the world should tighten it's safety belt.   It seems we are in for a very rough ride !