A US bill to impose additional economic sanctions on Syria and countries that support it like Russia and Iran is just a meaningless exercise in political posturing, experts told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)�� The US Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act would sanction Syrian President Bashar Assad�s government for�alleged war crimes and those that aid Damascus, including Russia and Iran.

�The bill is mainly meaningless grandstanding,� veteran Middle East analyst and historian Helena Cobban who heads the publishing company Just World Books said on�Friday. �Syria is sanctioned to�the bone already as�are Russia and Iran.�

If the bill was passed into�law, �it would definitely further complicate any attempt US President [Barack Obama] might want to�make to�halt or slow the current breakneck slide to�bigger superpower war in�Syria,� Cobban warned. The legislation could also backfire on�the US government by�opening it to�legal claims over�Washington�s abuses committed in�Iraq, Afghanistan, CIA black sites worldwide, and the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, Cobban suggested. Extra sanctions would only serve to�increase suffering of�the Syrian people, Cobban predicted.

�We should note that the UN's humanitarian agencies are warning of�the extremely dire effects on�the humanitarian situation for�all Syrians of�even the current level of�sanctions,�Cobban said. Foreign affairs analyst and commentator Dan Lazare told Sputnik that US President Barack Obama did not want the extra sanctions but�feared the criticism he would face if he opposed them. �Obama is not an Assad appeaser.

He is just a man in�the middle who is afraid to�do the same thing when everyone around�him is going nuts,� Lazare explained. Obama wanted to�appease hawkish neo-conservatives, Israel, Turkey, and the Arab Gulf oil exporting nations, all of�whom wanted Assad removed from�power, Lazare continued.

However, Obama �knows that if Assad goes, the ensuing chaos will make Libya look like�a minor dust-up. So he dithers,� Lazare explained.

Obama had been playing for�time but�the pressures on�him were mounting to�send US forces into�Syria on�a much larger scale, Lazare warned. �Now that the CIA and the Pentagon are pushing for�stepped-up military intervention, it is not clear how much longer he [Obama] can hold out,� Lazare said.

Lazare said he believed Obama hoped he could leave office in�January without�having to�launch new military operations in�Syria. �He is no doubt hoping and praying that he can make it to�January 20 without�a major war erupting, but�the prospect seems more and more unlikely. The prevaricator-in-chief looks like�he's about�to tumble off�a cliff,� Lazare concluded. The new sanctions bill is being guided by�House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking Democrat Eliot Engel.

By Sputnik