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Friday, August 26, 2016

Behold the Crowning Glory of Smart Diplomacy

Well, now Putin's gone and done it. Release the Kraken!

Putin has provoked the Obama administration into unleashing the disapproval of the United Nations for his actions:

The Obama administration is pushing U.N. reports showing Assad hasn’t given up, and is in some cases still using, poison gas. The strategy is to pressure the dictator’s patron, Vladimir Putin.

Wait. So the chemical weapons deal with Syria's Assad was a farce rather than a glorious success? Huh.

Well I'm sure our nuclear arms deals with Russia and Iran are much better, rather than part of a pattern of self-delusion.

More to the point, what's the administration going to do? Have President Obama's FBI director set out the evidence of Russian complicity?



Yeah, that man is going to care.

Assad wasn't deterred by President Obama's "red line" on chemical weapons use. Why would Putin feel any pressure from a belated effort to redraw the line for him?

I'm guessing that Putin isn't going to feel any pressure at all from this bold diplomatic stroke.

UPDATE: Oh Lord:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the talks on Syria with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were "excellent" as they took a lunchtime break from meetings in Geneva as part of a new U.S. effort to enlist Russia as a partner in Syria as fighting becomes more volatile and complicated with the introduction of Turkish ground forces.

I'm sure that from Russia's perspective, the talks with Kerry were indeed "excellent."