Read this last night and felt heartened.
The Obama administration has signaled that it will reconsider its efforts to engage Iran on its pursuit of nuclear weapons if no progress has been made by the end of September.But as it turns out, the administration had already folded by the time I read that.
Meanwhile, playing pussy-foot with the Mullahs is encouraging them to meddle in Afghanistan, and our NSA has signaled there's less than steel in our spine with respect to that effort.
Visiting the newly installed military commanders in Afghanistan in late June, Jones told General Stanley McChrystal that if he requested more troops any time soon, Obama would have a "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" (i.e., "What the f--") moment. Jones then, in an interview, made the claim--denied by everyone else involved--that military leaders had agreed that when the president earlier sent 21,000 troops to Afghanistan, "there would be a year from the time the decision was made before they would ever come back and ask for any more."Jennifer Rubin points out that this kind of thing is exactly what's fueling people like George Will's desire to get out. Her view is that Obama should be pushed to do the right thing rather than capitulated to right away.
that’s what the debate is about now—to see if the president can be encouraged and supported to do the right thing. There will be time enough to quibble and, yes, condemn if he fails to fulfill his responsibilities as commander in chief. But it seems like a rigged game to complain that the president is insufficiently resolute—and then egg him on to be less resolute.Cliff May has a good spine stiffener for people like me who are disheartened about our prospects while there's no clear focus and no desire for victory.
Meanwhile --back to Iran-- Khameini says, "no compromises" with the West, the intelligence community believes Iran now has the uranium it needs for nukes and Iran just commissioned stealth submarines, too.
And lookie what Abombnjihad's great ally, OOOOgo, is doing: taking delivery of Russian Missiles; helping Abombnjihad to subvert UN sanctions; inviting Iran to store its nukes in Venezuela.
Ah, diplomacy.
