Va. senator travels to Syria, shakes hands with Bashar al-Assad

[Igel]

3. It pays not to get too worked up over these kinds of things.

In response to their political foe's denigration of Assad, in '08 Pelosi and Kerry visited Assad. The usual "picture of ______ with Assad" and the usual "handshake between ___________ and Assad" pictures were widely circulated.

Then, as now, people keep trying to say he is ready for peace talks, that time with Israel. A bit of Jewish-related politics + "need to show I defy the president I loathe" politics. They were as widely applauded as they were condemned for it. As for peace talks, nothing happened. Zilch. Nada.

Yes, the trip was one of those "a senator is trying to conduct foreign policy without the president's approval" kinds of things that we <strike>hate</strike>/<strike>love<strike>/hate. Only conservatives mentioned the Logan Act, and (D) defended them pretty much in the same way that (D) condemned (R) senators for the same thing under Clinton and Obama (and (R) defended them, using language reminiscent of the way (D) defend their own).

At least in this case, Assad really is better for Xian longevity, and for sure in the event of Assad's fall to ISIS and an-Nusra there'll be no Xian airlift like happened from Arab countries after '48 in relocating Jews. Although you can never tell, Iran may help move some Shi'ites and Alawites to Lebanon. (I doubt they'd want the Alawites in Iran. They're sort of deviant Shi'ites.)