Sen. Mark Rubio recently said that the United States should be doing more to create a safe haven for the Syrian opposition but did not go as far as to urge Washington to arm rebels which some believe is a suggestion that they were not yet organized.

The vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party gave a very lengthy speech regarding foreign-policy which put emphasis on a much more active US role in the world, one which also resembled Barack Obama’s position in some ways mostly in relation to Syria and Iran.

Rubio also was critical of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, stating that he “might talk tough, but he knows he is weak.” Rubio was also critical of China saying “for now it would be foolish to be confident in the idea that China can be counted on to defend and support global economic and political freedom.”

This speech that was held at Brookings Institution have Rubio saying that others see the situation as a test of US leadership and concluded that Washington “is no longer a reliable security partner” if it does not step up.

He went on to say “the most powerful and influential nation in the world cannot ask smaller, more vulnerable nations to take risks will he stand on the sidelines. Leading a coalition with Turkey and the Arab League nations to assist the opposition, by creating a safe haven and equipping the opposition with food, medicine, communications tools and potentially weapons, will not only weaken Iran, it will ultimately increase our ability to influence the political environment of a post-Assad Syria.”

This comes after over 9000 people are believed to have been slaughtered in Syria in a period of over a year of fighting while the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad has tried to reduce antigovernment protests. The Syrian government claims that 2600 of the security personnel have already been killed by the rebel armed groups that are in operation within different parts of the country of 23 million.

The Obama administration claims to already the providing opposition the logistical and communications help to Syria but has been reluctant to provide arms out of concern for the rebel organizations.