Since taking office, Barack Obama has never shied away from diplomacy (unless of course it’s with the Republican Party). We all remember the “Kumbaya” tone of his campaign speeches, and it comes as no surprise that his tireless efforts to “make nice” in the Middle East have resulted not in a decline in violence but only in America’s influence there. This was most recently illustrated in the president’s handling (or lack thereof) of Syria’s chemical weapons.

Obama’s show of bravado fooled no one, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who warned that we should be “prepared for anything” if we struck Syria. The absence of American leadership always creates a power vacuum, and those stepping into that vacuum might not be friendly to our interests, or to liberty in general. This time, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the helm.

In the meantime, Assad is putting his own spin on the situation, namely, that Putin is a “real friend” who truly “understands the fight against terrorism” due to Russia’s own troubles in Chechnya. Of Obama, Assad said something with which we can sympathize: “He has nothing to offer other than lies.” Currently, UN inspectors say they’re in the process of destroying Syria’s weapons and the machinery that created them. But we have no knowledge of what specifically is being destroyed, only the “promise” that the entire program will be shut down by the middle of next year.

Finally, from The Washington Post: “The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Hague-based agency responsible for destroying Syria’s chemical weapons, has won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Friday in Oslo.” Yet another meaningless prize handed to someone who hasn’t actually done anything yet.