When is a red line more of a grey area?

[Taem]

EDIT: What did I learn? What is the take-away from all this?

I think just understanding why I feel the way I do has helped me come to grips with my reactions and ultimately gives me more control to see the situation for what it is instead of letting it get under my skin and become reactionary. I still think Obama should take some action in Syria because of what he said, but if he doesn't, I'm at peace with it.

...

I don't want to make this too OT, but I found out something about myself today, and what the hell, might as well share it since I've already made a fool of myself: While looking for my shirt that I knew I put on a chair, it wasn't there and I became upset and made others feel uncomfortable by stomping around making it clear I blamed everyone else since I knew where I had left my shirt last so "they" were to blame, and all because I knew someone in the house had moved my shirt, but nobody could honestly remember where they put it! My wife pointed out to me how I was making others feel and I thought of this thread and realized that, when looking back in my life, in retrospect of all the times I became irrationally upset, that I'm quick to anger! Not just that, but when I anger, I feel justified when it happens, but guilty afterwards because I know my ire was unjustified, but not when it's happening. When it's happening, it all makes sense. Actually, today would have gone under the radar if my wife hadn't of pointed it out, it was over and done in a matter of minutes... yet when she did, it really hit close to home because of what came out of this thread for me a few days ago. Just to be clear, I'm not a physically angry person, just irrationally angry and unintentionally intimidating. I guess what I find so absurd about this whole thing is that with all the foresight I thought I had about myself, I was never able to realize - to be cognizant - of this simple insight until this very moment! How sad. I hope in time to change, and I don't think I'm like this all of the time so something must be stressing me out IRL, but regardless, in times when I do act this way, I'm going to try to be aware of it, to catch it immediately and be the one in control, not through anger or intimidation, but through sharp wit and intellect and with a clear head. I don't want to be reactionary anymore if I can help it! I guess the trick is to reach this state without feeling like I'm loosing part of myself in the process as I'm finding I'm constantly second guessing my actions now, worrying if I'm being too harsh or not.

Hmm, I don't know. I maybe see it a bit different from Europe, and the fact is that I am not too much into this but Obama is in his second term so what should he be scared about? For a democrat to be tougher against other countries and even go to war would only be favorable election-wise.

So to me a US president that keeps his head cool has much more respect than one that doesn't.
A good conflict involving the Russians would be great for your weapons industry but for the rest......Iraq and Afghanistan have shown that invading such a country is not so easy, and it also doesn't really help a lot.

Back on track, everything you're saying makes complete logical sense. Obama made a bluff, had his bluff called, and rescinded on his threat. The insurgents are not our allies. They will most likely turn into another American-hating Islamic state. But then again, I would say this is a humanitarian issue, at least if what is reported in the news is to be believed:

4 million Syrians were internally displaced because of the Syrian civil war.

Can I sleep tight at night knowing my country won't go to the aid of Syria? Of course I can, it's not my war. But I question when does the motive move from "protect your people" to "do the right thing?" Obama said it would be when Syria used chemical weapons, and the world believed him, although I suppose that does not seem to be enough for him, or for any country it would seem. Which begs the question, when innocents die, who is to blame? Those that killed them, or those who stood by and watched? When the Syrian government murders civilians to demoralize the rebellion, I think that is an inhuman act. But I remember all the other multitude of atrocities happening in the rest of the world that we don't lay a finger on why? Because they don't support our national interest, and I'm reminded that we are not the world's police, and it will never be "do the right thing", because really, there is no right choice when all you're doing is setting up yet another despot to take the throne who might even be worse than the current ruler. So with all this in mind, I guess I don't give a damn what Obama decides to do because like I said before, it's Syria's civil war, not ours. To be honest, I think it would be a terrible idea to go to war right now with any country due to our economic situation, however call it my ego, call it my vanity, call it what you will, what I feel in my heart is that Obama should not have even issued that "red line" threat unless he was willing to back it up, and that is why I am still upset (that and his lousy excuses instead of just saying, "now is not the time,"). To be clear, I can still be upset at Obama's choice of wording, but still not care about the outcome of events, and my comment about the death's of innocents was not because I'm deeply attached to the situation - hardly, but to bring up a point on how despicable all of our nations truly are when it comes to human rights atrocities, and it just fit so perfectly with what I was saying, that I decided not to edit it out, even though it serves no purpose with what I'm actually saying.

TLDR your rant; get to the point:

I'll reiterate from my quoted text, I disagree with the way Obama chose his wording with the "red line" comment, and with the excuses I felt he gave for not committing to his plan of action. But I understand why he choose to take no action and I'm okay with it.