Posted on 09/09/2013 12:32:20 PM PDT by mojito
In what looks like an off-the-cuff blunder, Secretary of State John Kerry might have accidentally given Russian President Vladmir Putin the opportunity to muddy the international diplomatic waters and buy his friends in Syria some time.
During a press briefing on Monday, Kerry said that Assad could avoid American air strikes by giving up all his chemical weapons within a week. Within hours, the State Department was forced to walk Kerry's new red line back with the claim that he was making a "rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used."
It seems, then, reasonable to conclude that Kerry spoke out of turn. Kerry was not authorized to offer Syria an "out" or a new ultimatum. But Kerry's hypothetical hyperbole appears to have already backfired.
In an obvious desire to make Kerry pay for his flub and throw a wrench in Obama's determination to go to war with Syria, Putin has seized upon Kerry's hypothetical and called on Syria to accept Kerry's offer and turn over all of its chemical weapons. No one believes Assad would ever willingly give up his chemical weapons, but should he agree to an offer the Obama administration did not mean to make, it could stall American action for weeks and even months.
Syria is already warming to the idea.
This complication could be a major blow to all of the Obama administration's prepared plans to punish Assad for using the weapons and to change the balance of power in the ongoing Syrian civil war.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
“This unbelievably small red line is seared, seared into my memory.”
Are you focusing on it like a laser beam?
Kerry strikes again.
His public pontificating has bit him in the ass. Again.
Sure, Assad turns the chems over to Russia for safe keeping.
What is the phrase Obama uses?
“Republicans just have to learn to say ‘yes’ to getting what they demand”
Now maybe it will come back to Obama.
I wouldn’t trust these guys to run an elementary school playground, let alone a war.
If it wasn’t already apparent to all, Putin has further highlighted US duplicity and the phony pretext being used to justify another overthrow by Al Qaeda.
Kerry went to Paris to sip fine French wine with the diplomats. He speaks French. They love him there. So does Tereasa.
I wonder if Mika was there too.
Chemical weapons? What chemical weapons? There were no chemical weapons.
(They are now in Egypt. Or Libya. Or back in Iraq. Hans Blix is looking for them.)
Every time Kerry opens his mouth he [roves his ignorance. It’s a shame that this country is being run down by a group of incompetent idiots. Putin trumped obama.
I wonder if he’ll cancel his speech tomorrow or come on and tell us it was all his idea. Liar that he is I won’t put it past him.
The Smartest Guys in the Room have a knack for running off at the mouth without thinking, apparently.
Kerry blunder? That’s unpossible!
OTOH, he never gave one damn about guarding the line between Mexico and the USA. Or upholding any other laws he disagreed with.
It's not even any real sport for Vlad, former KGB, when it comes to matching wits with J F'ing Kerry.
Pooty Poot is eating Obama/Kerry’s lunch.
Yep, Putin threw a spanner wrench into the Obama’s latest gambit.
New day, new way for the Obama administration to make America look bad
It seems to me that the 0bama regime doesn’t yet understand that loose lips sink ships.
In some ways it is astoundingly amusing to watch these people blunder line after line.
Yet, here at home the fools are mesmerized and enamored with him. Why is that?
Damn; you hit that nail on the head.
(chuckle, chuckle)
"... and then the idiot tried to backpedal again! I tell you, it is like... how they say... Keystone Kops!"
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