…Meanwhile Dove Obama asks Putin for permission to remove Assad.  Well, no, not really – maybe… um, with sprinkles.

#G20 RT @BuzzFeedOz: This Vine Shows Obama Getting Handshake Blanked At #G20Brisbane https://t.co/DpVb8PVfkg

— ABC Brisbane (@abcbrisbane) November 16, 2014

BRISBANE (G20) – Stephen Harper told Russian President Vladimir Putin flatly that he needs “to get out of Ukraine,” when the two met at a Group of 20 summit of major economies in Brisbane.
A spokesman for the Canadian Prime Minister relayed the details of the encounter and, according to director of communications Jason MacDonald, “Mr. Putin did not respond positively.” (more…)

Yeah, apparently Congress is well, not too terribly concerned about the missing AUMF.   Either that, or, well, they were quite comfortable relying on Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson to ask all of the insightful questions….

If you were to review the participation at today’s House Armed Services Committee for the testimony and Q&A of Defense Secretary Hagel or Joint Chief’s Martin Dempsey, you might walk away thinking our military were not in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and dealing with Ebola in West Africa.  Russia invading Ukraine, Iran getting nuclear weapons, Libya in a state of civil war, U.S. Embassy evacuated in Yemen, terrorists on the border…..
…Yeah, three effen’ hours of their time is just too much to ask for.  Oh, but they’ll parade around the military like some kind of optical pawn of patriotism.  And, yet people wonder why events like Benghazi and operation zero footprint are possible.  Seriously.

There are moments in edited TV content when a keyed-in viewer can see a cut intended to make a “comfort edit”, smoothing out the narrative. The Chuck Todd interview with President Obama was riddled with them. Even when being interviewed by a fellow ideological traveler.

But first to content:
On ISIS:
@00:24 “this administration has” – President Obama using third person distancing tactic discussing an uncomfortable negative. When the topic is positive, or viewed as favorable currency, the term “my administration” is used.
@01:05 “what I have done over the past several months” – President Obama knowing he was caught flat-footed, having called ISIS “JV”, and having admitted not having a strategy is now trying to give appearance of them having been working on this all along.
@01:45 “the next phase, is to start going on some offense” – Again, framing incompetence as if there was a previous outline/plan in place. This is similar to the re-writing of the Syrian RED LINE strategy, ‘yeah, yeah, we, um, we meant to um, create that Russian intervention WMD thing’. Embarrassingly juvenile for a President. (more…)

No doubt Putin is leveraging the U.S. position moving against ISIS in Syria which needs Russian assistance/acceptance.   As Russia assists U.S. political and strategic interests in Syria, now is the right time for Putin to make his selfish moves.   Putin is playing chess, and Obama is playing checkers…..

MOSCOW — Declaring that Russian troops had crossed into Ukraine, President Petro O. Poroshenko on Thursday canceled a planned visit to Turkey and convened a meeting of the national security council to focus on the “marked aggravation of the situation” in the southeast of his country.

The meeting of the national security council will focus on shaping a response, and Ukraine will also request a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. (more…)

Yesterday Ukrainian artillery destroyed a “significant” part of a Russian armored column that crossed into Ukraine during the night, President Petro Poroshenko told British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday, according to the presidential website.

Now today (Via Telegraph)  Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine are being bolstered by 1,200 troops who “trained for four months in Russia”, according to the separatists’ leader.
A video recording of Alexander Zakharchenko speaking to delegates in the rebel-held city of Donetsk appeared to confirm reports of Moscow’s military support to the separatists, who have been fighting Ukrainian government troops since April.
Ukraine’s government claimed on Friday to have destroyed part of a column of Russian military vehicles that crossed its border, with Nato accusing Moscow of launching an “incursion”. (more…)

President Obama gave Thomas Friedman an hour long interview before heading off on vacation to Martha’s Vineyard.    Within the interview the failure of a cohesive Obama foreign policy shines through despite the attempted cover from liberal reporters.
There’s actually two parts to this interview – the interview as reported – and the opinion piece from Friedman about the interview itself.
Within the Times Article you find the footprints of a dejected President staring boldly into the face of his own failure and shortcomings:

[…]  “We’re not going to let them create some caliphate through Syria and Iraq,” the president said in an hourlong interview with Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times columnist, as American planes and drones began dropping bombs in Iraq. “But we can only do that if we know that we have got partners on the ground who are capable of filling the void.”

[…]  Mr. Obama offered his justifications for his latest use of military force in Iraq while lamenting the outcome of a similar decision he made to intervene militarily in Libya in 2011. He defended the desire to help oust the Libyan dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, with American air power, but he acknowledged that he had “underestimated” the chaos that would follow after American forces left.

“So that’s a lesson that I now apply every time I ask the question, ‘Should we intervene militarily?’ ” Mr. Obama said. “Do we have an answer the day after?”

Oh that’s nice, as long as he readily admits his failure in Libya now.   Readers will note he’s essentially reaffirming the Bush policy in Iraq by saying the failure in Libya was a failure to stick around and nation build.

This, despite the fact Obama himself worsened the collapse in Iraq by pulling U.S. forces out ahead of structural governance in place which would insure their own security.

So failing to have a plan to stick around in Libya was a mistake, but pulling out from a plan to stick around in Iraq was, well, what exactly ? (more…)

Only cursory attention is being paid to the current situation in Ukraine / Russia.
Those who hold historical references are quick to note a combination of factors will generally lead to invasion:
1.) Talk of protecting ethnic Russians.  2.) Dismissal of international opinion.  3.) Weak to non-existent risk of military intervention.  4.) High internal favorability.   All of these factors are currently present.
So will Russia Invade ?
[polldaddy poll=8231380]
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The steadily advancing Ukrainian army is setting its sights on the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, while Western officials on Wednesday warned that a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border could herald a major incursion to protect the separatists. (more…)

So, he’s like no, and I’m like oh yeah who’s got more twitter peeps – BOOM, right?.   And he comes back with #CARE?   As if he’s all that – so I bring the hammer with #NOBEL, and the dude actually fires back “LOL Captain #RedLine” !  OMG srsly, I’m so not following him again – if, like, evah right – WTF ?

WASHINGTON — The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Obama to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in a letter on Monday.
(more…)

Not Russian backed separatists, actual Russian troops – inside Russia – firing into Ukraine to support the separatists.

VIA STATE DEPT – The United States has evidence that Russian troops are firing artillery from inside Russia on Ukrainian military positions, a US official alleged Thursday.

Moscow is also planning to “deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers” to the pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, US deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. (more…)

Denis “the fixer” McDonough is President Obama’s current Chief of Staff.   [Keeping tabs on him is also a little fun hobby of mine.]   The Fixer Goes To Germany.

Hey, why not…. what else does he have to do ?

WH Chief of Staff Denis McDonough held "intensive talks" today in Berlin to ease strained relations over spying/surveillance matters.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 22, 2014

WASHINGTON — In a sign of just how much German-American relations have frayed, President Obama sent his chief of staff to Berlin to try to smooth over the rupture caused by recent revelations of American spying on its ally, the White House said Tuesday.

Denis R. McDonough, the president’s chief of staff, met with his German counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday for what the White House called “intensive talks on the state of bilateral relations and future cooperation.” The American and German officials agreed to set up a dialogue “to address concerns of both sides,” the two sides said in identical statements issued by the White House and the Chancellery in Berlin.

The surprise trip by such a close confidant of Mr. Obama’s underscored the seriousness of the friction over recent disclosures about American espionage in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel was already livid last year when she learned that her cellphone was being tapped by the National Security Agency, and the damage only deepened this month with the arrest of a German intelligence agent accused of spying for the United States.

Germany responded to the latest case by expelling the C.I.A. station chief in Berlin, who has now left the country. Mr. Obama and Ms. Merkel discussed the episode in a recent telephone call and American officials said Mr. McDonough’s trip originated from that conversation. The latest falling out came even as Mr. Obama is pressing Ms. Merkel to orchestrate a tougher European response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. (more…)