Are we at war yet?

Many United States citizens have been hesitating to get excited for President Obama’s foreign tactics when it comes to Syria. Following the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack on Syrian citizens, which left hundreds dead, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is challenging the United States to turn the other cheek.

In a recent interview with CBS, Assad dodges the reporter’s claims that his country has chemical weapons. Assad explains that, “there is only pictures and allegations [of the chemical attack].” Assad also went on to say that “[Syria] is not like America. We are not social media driven.” Assad also said that although Secretary of State John Kerry is confident that the United States has evidence to support Assad’s role in the chemical attack against his own people, he highlights that “confidence is not evidence.”

There have been many different proposals by Obama as to what the United States should do to resolve the issues with Syria. At first, Obama put the decision to strike against Syria in the hands of Congress.

However, on Sept. 9, John Kerry sarcastically said at a London press conference that “[Assad] could turn over every single weapon in the next week without delay...but it can’t be done.”Turning around that very same day, the White House released a statement, according to Fox news, suggesting that Kerry’s comments were “a rhetorical argument and not a real proposal.”

As it turns out, Assad actually took Kerry up on that offer. Along with Russia’s encouragement, Assad has agreed to give up his country’s chemical weapons. It seems as though Congress’s hesitation to make a decision on the issue actually turned out to be a good thing for once. The problem is fixed.

But now, attention is less on the actual chemical attacks and more on if the United States can trust Russia. Taking advantage of Obama’s weak position, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the U.S. public in a Sept. 11 issue of the New York Times.

In his article, Putin suggests that although relations between America and Russia have been unstable, the two countries essentially have a long history of working together. Putin even goes on to suggest that, “It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace.”

Such a comment to the American people was certainly off-putting. However, if not to insult Obama’s foreign policy any more, Putin even critiques America’s policy in that it is “dangerous to call ourselves exceptional...God created us equal.”

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer said that "these are the fruits of a completely incompetent, epically incompetent foreign policy diplomacy by Obama.” Tension has risen in America since Putin produced his op-ed in The New York Times. Obama is now seen by many conservatives to have been defeated.

As this episode proceeds on, Assad claims that his country will turn over their chemical weapons in a timely fashion. However, attention has drifted from the real tragedy of chemical warfare in Syria and has severed into a match against United States and Russia as to who can be a more rational and peaceful superpower.