Politics

The issue of arms sales to Saudi Arabia by Western countries has always been a contentious topic in some circles.

As you might imagine, I’m delighted by any historical comparison that involves Marshall Kutuzov, and so I smiled to read Ross Douthat’s latest column, wondering whether Marco Rubio might be taking lessons from the Russian commander:

[W]hat is Rubio waiting for? What is his campaign thinking?

Back In December, Spain held what turned out to be inconclusive elections.

To be sure, voters were clearly sick of the status quo. The country’s three decade old political duopoly was broken when PP and PSOE garnered their lowest combined share of the vote since the eighties.

Mariano Rajoy’s PP still won the most seats, but fell short of a majority and with a grand coalition comprised of PP and PSOE largely out of the question, the quest to build consensus and form a government has been stuck in the mud for two months.

The Russian Foreign Minister has dismissed alternative plans by the US for a political settlement of the Syria crisis. On Thursday Sergei Lavrov  rejected claims by his US counterpart John Kerry that there was a ‘Plan B’ if an imminent truce deal for Syria fails to reduce hostilities in Syria. Moscow will focus on “Plan A” in accordance to the agreement signed between the US and Russia on the cessation of hostilities in Syria and is not looking at “Plan B,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

The US is discussing “Plan B” options should the Syrian ceasefire and political transition fail, the Secretary of State told a Senate committee. While giving testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Kerry said: “There is a significant discussion taking place now about a Plan B in the event that we do not succeed at the [negotiating] table” Kerry stressed that the partitioning of Syria could be part of the Plan B… He told the committee it ‘may be too late’ to keep Syria whole and suggests Washington would support partition if ceasefire is unsuccessful.