SMART DIPLOMACY UPDATE: Wages Of A Failed Syria Policy: Chemical Weapons Deal Helped Assad.

The administration and its press acolytes did their best to spin the ugly meltdown of President Obama’s ill-considered and hastily abandoned airstrike proposal as a diplomatic victory, but around the world it was considered a major fiasco and raised deep doubts about the capability of this administration to manage American foreign policy with any kind of competence or credibility.

And things aren’t looking any better as time goes by. The Syrians keep missing deadlines, walking back concessions, and generally delaying and obstructing. Clapper was only admitting the obvious when he told Congress yesterday that Assad had come out of the deal stronger.

This would be a point of merely historical interest, except that Iran is carefully and closely watching how all this plays out. The lessons so far: The Obama approach offers Iran two bargain of the century opportunities. First, the Obama Administration is so desperate to avoid war that it will accept deals that probably no other American President would have entertained. And second, Iran has learned that the administration lacks the will to enforce the deals that it does make.

Obama is only ruthless with his domestic enemies.