Headlines - 5:02 PM 10/28/2015: Obama fumbles for credibility in Syria as Russia and Iran seize initiative | US news | The Guardian | Iran Accepts Invitation to Join U.S. and Russia in Talks on Syria’s Future - The New York Times | Oil rises nearly 6% after EIA data shows distillate draw
Obama fumbles for credibility in Syria as Russia and Iran seize initiative | US news | The Guardian Under withering fire from political opponents, Barack Obama is once again shuffling his Syria cards, hoping against hope that he can salvage US credibility from the wreckage of his twin failures to defeat Isis terror and topple Bashar al-Assad. Fear is driving Obama’s latest rethink: fear that Russia and Iran are winning the strategic tug-of-war for decisive influence in both Syria and Iraq; and fear that his Middle East legacy will be an anarchic arc of muddle and mayhem stretching from Mosul to the Mediterranean... Obama’s many critics say his visceral fear of the Middle East quagmire has allowed Iran and Russia to run rings around him. Veteran columnist Charles Krauthammer was typically scathing: “Obama’s response to all this? Nothing. He has washed his hands of the region, still the centre of world oil production and trade, and still the world’s most volatile region, s