President Obama’s speech on Syria last night opened with continued threats of strikes yet remained open to a diplomatic solution. The President then mixed concerns of regional spillover with reassurances that Assad is not a serious threat to its neighbors or the US. This nicely summarized the confusing, self-contradicting, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink handling that led even reliably leftist publications such as Slate or the New Republic to break ranks. If President Obama eventually asks for Congressional support for strikes, he’s looking less likely to get it by the day.
* As wobbly and improvised as the Administration’s handling of Syria may be, US pressure did at least get out of the Assad regime the admission that it has chemical weapons. Getting them to acknowledge the obvious seems to count as progress.
* Assuming Syria actually plans to act in good faith, destroying gas and ammo stockpiles in a timely way would be a daunting task, to put it mildly. Assad’s regime is indicating it is willing to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). But while the precursors of binary chemical weapons are easier to dispose of than their eventual lethal mix, some of them have legitimate civilian industrial uses, making CWC verification and enforcement even more challenging.
* According to Kommersant [in Russian] Vladimir Putin intends to authorize the sale of Antey-2500/S-300VM systems to Iran, following up on a proposal made a few months ago to settle a dispute between the two countries on a 2007 deal for S-300PMU1s that Russia then refused to deliver on. Dangling the possibility of such sales seems to some extent meant to be used as leverage against the US in the Syrian crisis.
* Russia is working on adapting its Pantsir short-range air defense missile systems for naval use within 2 years.
* Data compiled by Bloomberg shows US DoD spending of $17.6B across 324 awards in August, down 34% Y/Y.
* Lockheed Martin is touting a track record of long-term support as the key aspect differentiating US missile defense manufacturers from their international competitors.
* State-controlled China Shipbuilding Industry is looking to raise a $1.4B private placement of shares to expand its naval production capabilities.
* The UK’s Defense Secretary Philip Hammond is opposed to procurement centralization proposals pushed by the European Union.
* Thanks to the help of a US veteran he worked and fought with, an Afghan interpreter finally got a visa. But by the veteran’s own admission, this sort of adhoc advocacy to cut through red tape does not scale.
* Today’s video below shows a CF-18 refueled by a CC-150 Polaris during last month’s Exercise Vigilant Eagle 13 between Canada, the US, and Russia:
