The United States and Syria

Welcome to The New York Times Leader. This new blog will offer commentary on the day’s lead story in The New York Times (top right of the first page).

So, let’s get started. Today’s story, “Clinton Says U.S. is Ready to Begin Talks with Syria,” demonstrates a cunning strategy by President Obama. He has correctly identified Syria as a fulcrum point in the region, or the structural component essential for effecting permanent change.

The key is Syria’s relationship with Iran. By approaching Syria with diplomatic envoys, President Obama is trying to create a domino effect for the advantage of the United States.

Here’s how it will work. Syria is eager to improve relations with the United States. By offering a possibility to achieve that objective, instead of pouting about the country like ex-President Bush, we can prevail upon Syria to influence one of its main allies, Iran.

Simultaneously, we have now offered Iran the possibility of direct talks with the United States. President Obama will ask Syria to prevail upon Iran to agree to these talks and thus engage Iran to negotiate seriously about its nuclear program.

But that’s not all. By starting direct talks with Iran, and lessening the hostility between our two countries, President Obama will create an opportunity for other Arab nations to negotiate seriously with Israel without worrying about the “radical” Islamists in their midst, who are typically spurred to action by Iran itself, now moderated by Syria’s influence and the new direct talks with the U.S.

Those negotiations with Israel in turn could influence Hamas to relax its stance towards recognizing Israel.

Genius!