U.S. Defends the Caliphate + Hillary Mounts Dead Mother Again

First, let's go to the last paragraph of a story ("U.S. Moves to Block Russian Military Buildup in Syria" by Michael Gordon and Eric Schmitt) that appears in today's paper. It is a quote from U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby:

“Russia is not a member of the coalition against ISIL, and what we’ve said is that their continued support to the Assad regime has actually fostered the growth of ISIL inside Syria and made the situation worse,” [Kirby] said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. “If they want to be helpful against ISIL, the way to do it is to stop arming and assisting and supporting Bashar al-Assad.”

This is the U.S. position: Russia is indirectly responsible for the rise of Islamic State because it supports the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic. Put another way, by supporting international law, Russia is fostering terrorism.

Notice the absurdity of the U.S. position. Never mind that U.S. allies in the region -- member nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as Turkey and Israel -- have been actively collaborating with ISIS and Al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front to destabilize Iraq, Syria and Lebanon; the important question to ask is what is the U.S. plan for Syria the day after Assad relinquishes power.

The answer is that there is none, which means that, absent Assad, a caliphate, in one form or another, is going to be the de facto state. Russia's moves to fortify Latakia Province with Spetsnaz special forces is Putin's way of saying that such an outcome is unacceptable. Once again Russia is on the correct side. U.S. attempts to block Russian overflight is pitiful.

Before signing off this morning I can't help mention a word or two on the latest Hillary reboot (Maggie Haberman, "Hillary Clinton, Citing Her ‘Mistake,’ Apologizes for Private Email"):

When asked if she had ever second-guessed her decision to make another run at the White House, Mrs. Clinton began to choke up, admitting that she had, at times, before invoking her mother’s admonitions to “fight for what you believe in, no matter how hard it is.” 

“I think about her a lot. I miss her a lot. I wish she were here with me,” Mrs. Clinton said of her mother, who died in 2011. But, she added: “I don’t want to just fight for me. I mean, I could have a perfectly fine life not being president. I want to fight for all the people like my mother who need somebody in their corner. And they need a leader who cares about them again. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

The Clinton campaign riding the bones of Hillary's dead mother was at the core of the last reboot, the one at the end of this past spring. Now that summer is coming to a close it must be time to flay the corpse again. Hillary showing emotional vulnerability is the only thing that the Clinton campaign has for a sure-fire winner. What I am waiting for next is a tearful revelation from the candidate that she was sexually abused as a child by an adult male relative who has recently passed away.