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…)

MOSCOW — Russia’s richest businessmen are increasingly frantic that President Vladimir Putin’s policies in Ukraine will lead to crippling sanctions and are too scared of reprisal to say so publicly, billionaires and analysts said.

If Putin doesn’t move to end the war in Ukraine in the wake of last week’s downing of a Malaysia Air jet in rebel-held territory, he risks becoming an international outcast like Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko, whom the U.S. famously labeled Europe’s last dictator, one Russian billionaire said on condition of anonymity. What’s happening is bad for business and bad for Russia, he said.
‘‘The economic and business elite is just in horror,’’ said Igor Bunin, who heads the Center for Political Technology in Moscow. Nobody will speak out because of the implicit threat of retribution, Bunin said by phone on Sunday. ‘‘Any sign of rebellion and they’ll be brought to their knees.’’ (more…)

White House Communications Director Ben Rhodes must really be annoyed with Secretary John Kerry this week.
Kerry and Wallace got into a heated exchange:

VICE News reported: On Thursday, July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet carrying 298 people was shot down over eastern Ukraine — allegedly by pro-Russia separatists. Residents in the area described bodies falling from the sky and landing in their own backyards. VICE News travels to the still-gruesome scene of the crash and speaks to residents who witnessed firsthand a tragedy that promises to dramatically alter the terms of the conflict.

HRABOVE, Ukraine (Associated Press) – Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of helping separatist rebels destroy evidence at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in rebel-held territory – a charge the rebels denied.
As dozens of victims’ bodies lay in bags by the side of the road baking in the summer heat, international monitors at the crash site Saturday said they were still being hampered by heavily armed rebels. (more…)

If your children are old enough to be in college, they probably think the country they were born into is falling apart.  If you’re a Baby Boomer like myself, you know the country you were born into is already gone.  It’s a hard thing to thwart the general feeling of optimism shared by most Americans during a beautiful summer season.  But, if you stop and take a thoughtful assessment of the disasters currently befalling our world, perhaps you’ll see that the fall might be closer than you think.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The summer of 2014 will go down in history as the season when America fell apart. Let’s take a tour of the disasters…

(Townhall)…Germany in 2008 enthusiastically hosted candidate Barack Obama for his so-called “Victory Column” speech. Now, Germans suddenly sound as if they are near-enemies of the U.S. Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly was furious that her cell phone was tapped by American intelligence agents. She just kicked the top CIA official out of Germany, further enraged that the U.S. had recruited at least one German official to provide intelligence on the German government. Polls show that Germans find Vladimir Putin’s Russian tyranny almost as popular as Barack Obama’s America.
Japan is becoming similarly frustrated with the U.S. It is rearming like crazy to confront an aggressive China. Both Asian powers apparently assume that Obama won’t guarantee the security of the Japanese as America had in the past. (more…)