dagblog - Comments for "Kerry says Syria should hand over chemical weapons; Russia calls on Syria to do so; Syria says ok to Russia"

Following the timeline of

rmrd0000 — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 13:12:21 +0000

In reply to Kerry says Syria should hand over chemical weapons; Russia calls on Syria to do so; Syria says ok to Russia

Following the timeline of events, Putin denied that a chemical weapons attack occurred.It is remarkable to see him as the peacemaker in Syria Russia put up roadblocks to peace negotiations earlier in the year.

Thanks. See, even I fall for

artappraiser — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 06:49:51 +0000

In reply to No TV here so I watched the

Thanks. See, even I fall for the idea of "'they' got total control" sometimes.

No TV here so I watched the

ocean-kat — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 05:22:47 +0000

In reply to No flags = very interesting.

No TV here so I watched the video. Neither flag was cropped out, both where visible the whole time. I wonder if all channels had the same cropping.

McCain winks and then he

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 04:42:23 +0000

In reply to McCain says at a hearing that

McCain winks and then he looks down and he smiles tightly as he bets big and draws to an open ended straight. Nothings is real. He has nothing to lose. He hits it. Wide smile. Then chance, or chaos, beats him with a heart flush. He just grits his teeth and rings up new chips and keeps on playing. It is a fucking game. To him.

He can afford to play as long as he wants. He pretends, so that some will believe, that it means something when he wins.

McCain says at a hearing that

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 04:06:40 +0000

In reply to Just now on MSNBC, Chris

McCain says at a hearing that "pinprick" use of missiles does not/will not work and Obama says it won't be a pinprick. McCain winks.

Regarding what you say above, I see another interpretation as just as likely. McCains deal to give support for the Congressional approval was for the Syrian army to be degraded so that the opposition would win. McCain gets an agreement and it is passed on accurately but in almost dog-whistle fashion and intent through someone to the BBC. No such play for exposure in the U.S. media. From there everyone continues to play it politically. McCain still making noise because he is McCain and so that the part he likes he will get credit for. As his part he begrudgingly, in his public posture, says Obama's authorization to bomb must be allowed for the good of the country. But, like you say, everything changed. Things didn't play out as expected. If Obama can't bomb at all then he can't bomb everything McCain wants bombed. McCain will be against any diplomatic solution.
But everything that's changed so far is just the possibilities. The old probability, that we would bomb, is still very possible.

He's going to continue to do an an "all cards are on the table" threat until there's a more complete done deal on Putin taking full responsibility for no more chem weapons attacks.

Putin taking responsibility seems like the best possibility for control of the CW's to happen. I think the way to judge Obama's actions on this issue, going forward, is by judging whether he works to make that happen or if he throws up roadblocks or if he fails to try hard to tear down roadblocks put up by others he could possibly influence.

No flags = very interesting.

artappraiser — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 03:24:01 +0000

In reply to Another observation with the

No flags = very interesting. While I often argue the administration is being stoopid on messaging, this kind of trivial stuff is not the type of thing they forget. Not with Obama's history and domestic enemies--go back to the whole flag pin thing early on in his first run for president. There was a U.S. flag on left of podium (viewer's left) as he walked up (and something of navy field on the right) but cropped out after. They had plenty of time to plan this one, even the camera cropping. Maybe they were considering international effect?

Just now on MSNBC, Chris

artappraiser — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 03:08:15 +0000

In reply to He jumped on the pinprick

Just now on MSNBC, Chris Hayes claimed the pinprick comment was actually a direct rebuff to John McCain, and even played a clip of McCain saying at a hearing that "pinprick" use of missiles does not/will not work.

He jumped on the pinprick

artappraiser — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 02:58:15 +0000

In reply to The speech is in. What might

He jumped on the pinprick thing in one of the interviews last night, in response to an interviewer; I saw that clip replayed before the speech. He didn't like him/her using the word, like it was offensive, he said firmly that "the U.S. military does not do pinpricks." That he also put it in the speech means it was really was important to him.

I suspect that is twofold:

1) Not General Keene but the current Pentagon. Many behind the scenes grumblings about what they have been asked to plan for. (Not so subtle from General Dempsey.) Back to like LBJ times, CIC setting up impossible or no clear goals, not being allowed to win the best way they know how, all those old Vietnam/Iraq II bogeymen.

(General Keene was speaking from what he heard from McCain; since that McCain/Obama meeting, McCain hasn't exactly been a 100% happy camper, so whatever McCain told Keene that Obama said, I doubt it is reality. Did Obama tell the truth to McCain or just play games with him? Did McCain misunderstand? Why does it even matter any more? Things have changed. The Senate can limit what they will do. So now just listen to McCain if you want to know what will make him happy, no need any longer for the Keene intermediaries!)

Obama has always really cared a lot about his relationship with the military, he's no Bill Clinton in that regard.

2) He's going to continue to do an an "all cards are on the table" threat until there's a more complete done deal on Putin taking full responsibility for no more chem weapons attacks. It is also a direct response to all Assad's "bring it on" blather about his military being better fighters than ours (and #1 applies here, too; he often seems to take it as a personal insult when the military is insulted.)

Another observation with the

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 02:10:13 +0000

In reply to The speech is in. What might

Another observation with the thought in mind that nothing about such a presentation means nothing. In the view of the speech there was not a single U.S. flag in sight.

Syria changed its tune on

Aaron Carine — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 01:53:31 +0000

In reply to This is getting absurd! Of

Syria changed its tune on chemical weapons("we don't have them", "we do have them") because they were offered a way out. It doesn't demonstrate that this deal wasn't talked about between Obama and Putin. For politicians to keep secrets doesn't require any massive conspiracy; it is pretty standard practice.