Fate Favors the Well-Prepared

Although this isn't by any means a fait accompli, the idea that a couple of comments floated by supposedly "oughta-know-better" Secretary of State John Kerry regarding a unbelievably small but ultimately conditional US strike seems to have roused an actually effective response from the more influential-upon-Syrian affairs Russians.

Huh. It's like there was this thing called diplomacy. And it works even when you don't actually use force, but only imply it's a possibility. Huh. Maybe, among other things, the President talked to his opposite number in Russia. Maybe, when you really can fuck shit up, you don't actually have to go to the full extent of fucking shit up. Threats are effective enough. And actually having to fuck shit up is, well, a sign of being insecure and not effective. Maybe.  Just throwing that out there.

Now, I'm not offering free pats on the back and attaboys to the Obama Administration for hustling a call to war ahead of having a cogent reason to do so, in ample time to let the anti-war party get its feet under it, as if there was a clear and present intent to avoid a dumb war by not battering the opposition to it, and maybe I think using the "loyally" opposite to the administration folks by expecting them to easily go out of their way to not make the case for them as if small-d democracy was ever a factor. That would be foolish, because reverse psychology only works on tv sitcoms and this is, for better or worse, real life.

So I will refrain from thinking this is a good thing just yet. Unless it is. In which case, I called it. So there.