This is Obama's red line moment in Ukraine

The president vowed "consequences" should the violence escalate. That may be no more than an empty threat.

Obama
(Image credit: (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

In an August 2012 moment that he has surely come to regret, President Obama said that the U.S. would not become militarily involved in Syria's budding civil war unless the Syrian government crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons on protesters.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces eventually did just that. Then they did it again. But despite Obama's clear warning, the administration dragged its feet for months, waffled on intervention, and ultimately settled on a last-ditch diplomacy attempt that has, to this point, failed.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.