Comments XI

• New term.   I think someone inside the beltway referred to the new normal (negotiating with the Syrians to divest themselves of chemical weapons) as a "brain fart."  Wow.  I'm brain-farted-impressed.
  
  
• Kerry and the Russians.   John Kerry will meet with the Russian foreign minister tomorrow.  The Syrians agree to give up their chemical weapons.  The net result?   A long protracted negotiation where by the Syrians can continue to prosecute their mission against the insurgents,now and years into the future.  What more could Assad hope for?  What more could our President hope for?  What more could Vladimir Putin hope for?  All of these persons are winners.  Assad gets a few more years before he is killed by opponents; Putin continues as Russia's Czar for decades. Only problem is the US continues its slide into international oblivion.  
   
• Hillary. Judging by Hillary's response to the new(est) normal, I believe it seems apparent that (1) she views Kerry is running in 2016, and (2) she views Kerry to be a competitor.  I am surprised that few have taken Kerry's obeisance to Obama's policies are not an indicator of his goals.
  
  
• Bashar Assad, like his father before him, having determined the weakened position and total lack of resolve of the United States, has called the bluff of the US and issued his own threat of retaliation in the event of a US led military strike against his country.  The beleaguered US President, likely out of his depth on international and terrorist dealings, must be perplexed.  Now what will be his counter move?  I suspect the US will walk away - possible with a token strike, enough to declare the message has been delivered and defeat assured.  (9/9/13)
  
  The President, an acknowledged master at working the US system and its arcane rules of relations, is facing a contingent that simply does not accept, adhere, or function by such rules.
  
  With this fluidity of action, we now have an inadvertent(?) comment by Secretary of State John Kerry that a strike by the US could possibly be avoided by Syria giving up all its chemical weapons.  The rejoinder from Russia seems to have given this option a life.  Russia knows, but we may not, this constitutes a lengthy delaying action for any action by the US.  Syria knows that by so agreeing they may need to give up some chemical weapon stores.  However, most are now so well hidden that a full accounting is impossible.  Thus, President Obama can rejoice that his mission is achieved - no more chemical weapons to be applied - and without firing a shot.  The other world has sustained the further weakening of the US.  All said, nothing has changed. The US has resumed its decline, now as the dupe of minor powers.
• Vincent van Gogh.  A new painting by this master has been discovered, Sunset at Montmajour..  See, http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/world/europe/netherlands-van-gogh-new-painting/?hpt=hp_inthenews.  He never sold a painting; he seemed to be a failure at everything attempted.  Yet he continued painting, once he discovered this venue.  In earlier days, I wondered what inspired and propelled him to continue his quest for art.  However...  The genius, despite constant and continuous defeats, understands and knows the value of his/her production, and carries on regardless, feeling assured of future vindication. For van Gogh, it has become a reality.  The master, if returning from the dead after so long a period, would not be surprised.  Maybe he would question why it took so long.
   
• It's all in a word. The most terrible weapon in the arsenal of mankind is the word.
• Lies.  What does it take to kill a lie?  Sometimes you have to kill it twice.

• Secretary of State John Kerry.  Judging by his slobbering fidelity to the President's rather unclear and vacillating  policy on Syria, I assume Kerry is in the run for the 2016 Presidency.   But what to do about Hillary?  Her assessment to "do something forceful" is so vague it shields her against future recriminations.  (Hate to go political - but  there you have it.)
• Bashar Assad: “If Obama was strong, he would have said publicly: ‘We have no evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian state.’ He would have said publicly: ‘The only way to proceed is through UN investigations. We therefore refer everything to the Security Council.’ But Obama is weak because he is facing pressure from within the United States,” Assad said, according to a translation of his interview with Le Figaro in The Telegraph.
  
  In this remarkable statement, we see Assad appealing to his base, much of the Islamic world, where weakness is the mortal sin.   As to the weakness, the British seem to concur, and also even the French, who have made a science of weakness and appeasement.
  
  
• Extreme Words.  These days, Americans have trouble expressing themselves except in the extreme.  Currently, the big words are:  Phenomenal,Fantastic, Amazing, Awesome, Incredible,Wonderful
  
  Unless the expression is in the extreme, it has little value.  Whatever happened to subtlety?  Whatever happened to measured and pinpointed commentary?  Gone, I guess.
• Math riddle.  What can you add but never subtract? Answer: Salt on your burger; sugar in your coffee, hate in your speech, threats offered, promises to your love.