[wonkowasright]

Probably. And of course politicians never do that :).

In all seriousness I can think of myriad cases where we have started civil unrest in a nation and completely lost control of it. The State Dept and/or the Alphabet Agencies just cannot seem to win at this game.

When we go in with a huge military presence, like Afghanistan or Iraq, in the near term we certainly do wind up allowing governments favorable to ourselves to rise.

But I have yet to see us successfully do that with the more subtle approach. Usually we loose complete control and wind up letting some other group seize control. As, ultimately, we will do here too.

Ineptness is pretty much the only way to explain it, I cannot fathom its a strategy.

[1rudeboy]

In all seriousness I can think of myriad cases where we have started civil unrest in a nation and completely lost control of it.

Can you think of any cases where Russia fomented civil unrest and then intervened, militarily?

[Mariner]

"Ineptness is pretty much the only way to explain it, I cannot fathom its a strategy."

You pretty much nailed it, right there.

Egypt being the previous version...and Libya.