Tag: syria

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) loses her chance to, quote-unquote, ‘shine.’

You’d think that the woman and the hour would have met.

Well, that was a remarkably silly little Elizabeth Warren 2016 boomlet while it lasted:

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been on the warpath against banks since going to Washington, but when it comes to launch­ing a war against Syria, she 
and other liberal Massachusetts 
Democrats suddenly don’t have much to say.

Warren, known for her outspoken stances, has turned timid on one of the most important issues a U.S. senator will ever face — whether to put American 
troops in another military conflict.

Asked to say whether she 
approves launching a strike against Syria, Warren’s press 
office — which churns out releases regularly on financial industry abuses — did not get back to the Herald.

Continue reading Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) loses her chance to, quote-unquote, ‘shine.’

Quote of the Day, ‘Just Muscular Enough Not To Get Mocked’ edition.

Alternate title: Quote of the Day, SOMEBODY In The Executive Branch Is Going To Get Fired For This One edition. And yes, that was a direct quote:

One U.S. official who has been briefed on the options on Syria said he believed the White House would seek a level of intensity “just muscular enough not to get mocked” but not so devastating that it would prompt a response from Syrian allies Iran and Russia.

:holding head in hands: I remember a time when we had message discipline in the Executive Branch. It wasn’t that long ago (heck, IIRC the Clinton White House had message disicpline, too). And, you know? I kind of miss those days. Less Deep Hurting all around.
Continue reading Quote of the Day, ‘Just Muscular Enough Not To Get Mocked’ edition.

“Police seize painting of Vladimir Putin in a negligee.”

I got nothing, sorry.

Police seized a painting of Russia’s president and prime minister in women’s underwear from a gallery in St Petersburg, saying the satirical display had broken unspecified laws.

The painting showed President Vladimir Putin wearing a tight-fitting slip and brushing the hair of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is wearing knickers and a bra.

…Wait, that’s a lie: I figure that if we do end up blowing things up in Syria we’re going to first do a few things to kiss up to the regime that’s can’t bear to see their proto-Little Father be shown as a sweet transvestite*. We wouldn’t actually have to kiss up – the Cold War ended twenty years ago, and well, we won – but we’d still be going to. I’d respect the President’s decision to be so unilateral in his foreign policy decisions, except that I’m pretty much convinced that it’s due to fundamental incompetence on Barack Obama’s part.

[pause]

I’m going to have to show the painting, aren’t I?

I apologize in advance. Continue reading “Police seize painting of Vladimir Putin in a negligee.”

So. Syria has chemical weapons being used in their civil war, allegedly.

OK.

On Saturday, the international aid group Doctors without Borders said more than 3,000 people were hospitalized in Syria Wednesday with what it called “neuro-toxic” symptoms. About 355 of them died. Now both sides in the conflict are accusing each other of using chemical weapons to wage war.

Well aware of the power of video in the conflict, Syrian state TV broadcasted images Saturday of what the government claimed are chemical agents — discovered by their soldiers in tunnels used by rebel forces in Damascus.

Now what?

Moe Lane Continue reading So. Syria has chemical weapons being used in their civil war, allegedly.

@barackobama FINALLY takes @governorperry’s advice on Syria no-fly zone.

Took Obama a while, of course.  It always does.

“The White House has tasked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan for a no-fly zone inside Syria, that would be done on a multilateral basis with countries such as France and Britain,” said Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s senior correspondent Josh Rogin.

Continue reading @barackobama FINALLY takes @governorperry’s advice on Syria no-fly zone.

QotNight, We BELIEVE That The Israelis Have Conducted An Airstrike? edition.

That indeed is what CNN is reporting.

The United States believes Israel has conducted an airstrike into Syria, two U.S. officials tell CNN.

You know, I remember a time when the Israelis would simply tell us if they had or not.  Of course, there’s a whole lot of other things I remember as working more smoothly before… oh, say, 2009 or so.

Moe Lane

PS: On the bright side, they should start doing that again in… oh, say, 2017 or so.

*IS* Syria using WMDs on its own people?

You know. Just like Saddam Hussein did.

Although this may come as a surprise to some.  Secretary of Defense (God help us) Chuck Hagel, yesterday.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday cast doubt on an Israeli general’s conclusion that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against its own citizens.

Chuck Hagel, today.

That latter bit seems to be backed up by John McCain: i.e., somebody who actually has some credibility on natsec issues:

Although that last bit may be news to White House staff:

 

…so. Now what, Mr. President?

Muslim Brotherhood reaches out to Hezbollah.

Ah, the Arab Spring.

Tell me again how marvelous it is that we encouraged the Muslim Brotherhood to take over in Egypt: “In a dramatic policy shift, Egypt will seek to forge “tight” relations with Hezbollah, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Hamdy revealed in a candid interview published Saturday in Lebanon’s Daily Star.” Such ‘tight’ relations will presumably include Hezbollah’s right to keep getting ready for that armed conflict with Israel that Hezbollah is supposedly not REALLY getting ready for. Because, of course, nobody in the Middle East has ever preemptively decided to try to attack Israel, ever. Continue reading Muslim Brotherhood reaches out to Hezbollah.

Report: Syrian chemical weapons appearing in Hezbollah caches.

(H/T: Instapundit) I am back-and-forth on how seriously to take this particular story:

Two days after a mysterious explosion at a Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon, the Kuwaiti website Al Jarida is reporting that Israel bombed the site because Syria had transferred missiles there that were capable of being equipped with chemical warheads. The missiles had been moved into Lebanon from Syria in the last several months and were being held inside warehouses owned by farmers in the area.

The report also claimed that Hezbollah has many additional warehouses across Lebanon that are used for the same purpose. In October another weapons storage facility in the town of Baalbek was destroyed after an explosion. The AFP said that four Syrians were killed in the blast.

…given that I’m not familiar with either the website in question, or the site that it’s drawing its story from.  On the other hand, reports that Syria is using Hezbollah as a storage facility for its weapons of mass destruction have been circulating for years. Haaretz reported something similar happening in 2009; the Washington Post, of course, had a column on the subject a couple of days ago.  On the gripping hand, if I was running the Syrian regime right now I’d want to have my WMD stockpiles under the control of somebody reliable… and when you’re dealing with a civil war, ‘somebody reliable’ often means ‘somebody you’re paying.’  So it’s not really surprising that the Assad regime would move its nasty stuff to someone who’d hold onto until it was needed – and maybe supply a little WMD blackmail against the West on the side, if that was needed.

Continue reading Report: Syrian chemical weapons appearing in Hezbollah caches.

The NYT needs to read *itself* on the Syrian rebel situation.

Because first it’s writing things like this: “Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster, according to American officials and Middle Eastern diplomats,” and then it visibly wonders why it is that such a thing could be happening.  Well, it’s probably happening at least in part because the Saudi and Qatar governments are being bullied by the Obama administration into not providing official support for the rebels, leaving private subjects in both countries to take up the slack: ” …there are signs of an uptick in the number of young men crossing illegally into Syria from Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, and of private fund-raising efforts across the gulf to help the rebels acquire heavier weapons.”  Note: both quotes are from the New York Times. Continue reading The NYT needs to read *itself* on the Syrian rebel situation.