I think if we continue to make the progress that we're making now, that we believe that we could start conducting some training of moderate opposition by early spring.

John Kirby

Categorized in : World

What worries me is that the President's decision space gets further limited and smaller, some of it is of his own doing and the fact that his own team is not on the same page but also now the Iranians are closing that decision space and they are pushing him into a corner and I don't think that is good for anybody.

I would think the Trump administration could -- if they choose -- cite the principle of self-defense under the UN Charter and conduct operations accordingly, but those operations would have to be proportional to the threat -- a threat that has now been made more challenging by the sophistication of Iranian air defenses.

I do not expect this latest incident to, by itself, lead to outright conflict. But it is certainly escalatory and, regrettably, may be further limiting the already small decision space Trump had given himself.

These officials are public servants. What they say — in State Department entirety — is inherently of public interest. It's inappropriate and irresponsible not to observe that obligation.

It's perfectly fine to ensure faith-based media have a seat at such a table. But it's PR malpractice to cut off access to the broader press corps. I wish I could say I expected more from this crowd.

Secretary( John Kirby) Kerry used to say that there should be nothing foreign to the American people about foreign policy.

If I had posted something about John Kirby like this on social media, Secretary Kerry would have -- rightly -- been incensed. I might even have been fired, my account -- which is a personal account, where I say my personal take on anything from government-related to news-related topics -- is my specific point of view. But it is also consistent with our policy of pointing out the Iranian regime's excesses and misrepresentations and malign activities.

It is not unusual -- and frankly it can be quite beneficial -- to advancing American interests for the spouse of a cabinet secretary to occasionally travel with him or her. The spouse often engages in separate encounters during such trips meeting with local officials and participating in cultural or educational engagements that flesh out and help inform America's foreign policy.

Care must be taken at all times to ensure meaningful context is gleaned by the cabinet official from the spouse's interactions and that the taxpayer is properly served for the expenditure of such travel.

I hope that in the wake of the images that came out, military leaders there and here in DC are taking a look at the protocols and procedures... of briefing service members before these types of visits... particularly by The President, it's bad enough that Donald Trump doesn't see a problem with signing campaign paraphernalia at a military base, maybe even more so that some of our troops are OK with it.

One big danger is imbuing in the American people's mind that the military's loyalty is not to them, but to Donald Trump, when Donald Trump behaves this way, it conveys a message to the American people that the military is not there for them, it's there for Donald Trump.

The President conflates the obedience of the troops with political alignment and does not realize they are not political supporters of The President, they are subordinates.

It is in fact a campaign slogan, that is a campaign item, and it is completely inappropriate for the troops to do this.

Writing a formal letter and presenting it to the boss personally was exactly the right thing to do. It is very much in keeping with military custom..

I don't think we're at the stage right now that if we pull out of the INF Treaty, you've got to go sort of build a bunker in your backyard, i don't think we're at that stage at all.

I suspect our European allies right now are none too happy about hearing that President Trump intends to pull out of it.

This gives Putin an excuse to just continue doing what he's doing... by John Kirby

This gives Putin an excuse to just continue doing what he's doing, only doing it more blatantly.

These aides are often very young, not even at the mid-career point in most cases. Their inclination is to want to accommodate, to succeed, and to help the boss succeed. The boss has to be the one to make clear where the lines are, and to do so vigorously.

They can see a propaganda value here and this is basically them showing the level of deference and respect that Trump has paid to them and to their military leaders.

This is what we would call at the State Department a CBM -- a confidence building measure -- obviously baked into the plan to agree to have Trump sit down with Kim Jong Un, good news and certainly indicative of the fact that KJU is taking this summit seriously and that the North Koreans really are serious about wanting to sit down.