Chinese Admiral: “You can sail freely and we can too, but your freedom to sail cannot impact our freedom to sail,” he said, according to the article. “The instant you interfere with our sailing, sorry, but we will block you.”
h/t Mark Collins
Operation Empty Chair
Rob Ford is news, and you’re not: Nato troops forced to risk dilapidated tunnel to get out of Afghanistan
h/t peterj
Global Test
The world is in the very best of hands.
“Um, this is the nature of this ruthless, horrendous dictatorship and of his insecurities. And — and I think we — we need to factor that into the urgency of getting China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, all of us, uh, to stay on the same page and to put as much effort into the denuclearization as possible. To have a nuclear weapon, potentially, in the hands of somebody like Kim Jong In — Jun — just becomes even more unacceptable.”
Operation Empty Chair
The US embassy in Ankara said on Wednesday it had suspended “all non-lethal assistance” into northern Syria after members of the newly formed Islamic Front took over premises belonging to the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council, which is aligned to the anti-Assad opposition National Coalition. […]
The Islamic Front, which comprises six rebel brigades, seized warehouses reportedly containing dozens of anti-aircraft weapons and anti-tank rockets at the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border last weekend. The group is backed by Saudi Arabia.
If You Like Your “Heard It On The News” Denial
You can keep it.
It was a jaw dropping moment of naked self revelation, and the more one reflects on it the more striking it becomes. The President of the United States didn’t know that his major domestic priority wasn’t ready for prime time–and he thinks that sharing this news with us will somehow make it better. It is moments of this kind that give epithets like “Carteresque” their sting.
No, he was lying again.
A Speech In Cairo
National Post: Russia is negotiating its biggest weapons deals with Egypt since the Cold War as it seeks to capitalize on U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to cut defence aid to the military-backed government. (h/t Maz2)
President Empty Chair
Now is the time at SDA when we told you so.
Carol Platt Liebau, 2009;
A lot of the time he quote/unquote “worked from home”, which was sort of a shorthand – and people would say it sort of wryly – shorthand for not really doing much. He just wasn’t around. Most of the day to day work was carried out by the managing editor of the Review, my predecessor, a great guy called Tom Pirelli whose actually going to be one of the assistant attorney generals now.
He’s the one who did most of the day to day work. Barack Obama was nowhere to be seen. Occasionally he would drop in he would talk to people, and then he’d leave again as though his very arrival had been a benediction in and of itself, but not very much got done.
This is a president who set up a system in which he imagines he is relieved of responsibility. Someone else’s job. Not his problem. Didn’t know. Doesn’t matter why.
Much more at Instapundit.
A Speech In Cairo
Daily Mail: Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic ties with US over response to conflict in Syria
“I can see Russia from my knees”
Quote of the Week.
Related: …the State Department indicates that Syria might miss its first deadline
QOTW
“Why is Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons worse than the rebels’ use of al-Qaeda?”
This Is Awkward
McClatchy: Intercepts caught Assad rejecting requests to use chemical weapons, German paper says… (h/t Rich)
HAHAHAHAHA
BREAKING: Chemical weapons checks in Syria can go ahead if US renounces use of force: Putin
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) September 10, 2013
Related: ‘Putin shipping Assad more weapons to crush rebels’
Reuters: Russia withdraws request for emergency U.N. Syria meeting
“Following withdrawal of the request for consultations, Security Council meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) will not proceed,” Australian Ambassador Gary Quinlan, president of the 15-nation council this month, announced on his Twitter feed @AustraliaUN.
The meeting was expected to focus on a Russian plan to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control, diplomats said on condition of anonymity.
Help Kickstart WWIII
Operation Empty Chair
Operation Empty Chair
Today, the French renamed American Cheese to "Freedom Cheese"
— Stephen Taylor (@stephen_taylor) September 2, 2013
More “Heh”.
QOTW
“So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?” – Sarah Palin
h/t syncrodox
Ouch
Related – Syria-based Carmelite nun Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix warns against jihadists.
Operation Empty Chair
One voice in Washington that has been remarkably absent from this week’s Syria debate has been that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton hasn’t said anything at all about President Obama’s plans for military strikes against the dictatorship in Damascus. As someone who dominated the US foreign policy landscape over the past four years, Clinton’s silence on Syria is striking. What explains this?
Related: EXCELLENT suggestion.
Operation Empty Chair
Daily Mail: UN Ambassador Samantha Power missed crucial meeting on Syria because she was on holiday in Ireland where her husband was guest speaker at comedy film festival
(h/t peterj)