memeorandum: Putin Ends the Interregnum (Lilia Shevtsova)

8:50 AM ET, August 31, 2014

Top Items:

Saudi king warns West will be jihadists' next target AFP 1 hr ago — Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has warned that the West will be the next target of the jihadists sweeping through Syria and Iraq, unless there is “rapid” action.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Booman Tribune, The Daily Caller, Corrente and CBS DC

Martin Matishak / The Hill:

Feinstein: Obama ‘too cautious’ on ISIS — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that President Obama has perhaps been “too cautious” in confronting the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). — “I think I've learned one thing about this president, and that is he's very cautious.

Martin Matishak / The Hill:

Sunday shows to focus on national security — Lawmakers from both parties will appear on the Sunday shows as the Obama administration weighs taking military action against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targets in Syria. — The lawmakers are also likely to be asked about Russia's repeated incursions into Ukraine.

Discussion: Hot Air

John Kerry / New York Times:

The Threat of ISIS Demands a Global Coalition — IN a polarized region and a complicated world, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria presents a unifying threat to a broad array of countries, including the United States. What's needed to confront its nihilistic vision and genocidal agenda …

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, Hot Air, Hinterland Gazette, Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Newsweek and The Huffington Post

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama: Media makes you think ‘world is falling apart’ — President Obama on Friday said social media and the nightly news are partly to blame for the sense that “the world is falling apart.” — “I can see why a lot of folks are troubled,” Obama told a group of donors gathered …

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Ed Driscoll, Power Line, Independent Journal Review, Hot Air, Mediaite and New York Times

Mitchell Prothero / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Syria's violence prompts worst humanitarian crisis in a century — IRBIL, IRAQ — Nearly half of Syria's population has been displaced either internally or externally as refugees in the worst humanitarian crisis to strike the Middle East in at least a century, according to new data released by the International Rescue Committee.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Save It For The Funny Papers, Or, The Long Slow Flip-Flop Into Light

Discussion: Guardian

Washington Post:
President Obama needs to focus on how the United States can meet global challenges

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Agence France-Presse, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mashable, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, New York Times and Guardian

Martin Matishak / The Hill:
GOP senators: Obama needs to respond faster to ISIS threat

Discussion: Liberaland

Molly Powell / National Review:

Considering Catcalls — No one is catcalling Rosie O'Donnell, Barbara Bush, or Janet Napolitano. No one is catcalling my plump elderly mother as I wheel her down the sidewalk in her wheelchair. Marilyn Monroe once observed that she could walk down the sidewalk without drawing attention …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Daily Mail:

Myth of arctic meltdown: Stunning satellite images show summer ice cap is thicker and covers 1.7million square kilometres MORE than 2 years ago...despite Al Gore's prediction it would be ICE-FREE by now — Seven years after former US Vice-President Al Gore's warning, Arctic ice cap has expanded for second year in row

Discussion: Watts Up With That? and NewsBusters

Pam Belluck / New York Times:

Coverage for End-of-Life Talks Gaining Ground — DUNDEE, N.Y. — Five years after it exploded into a political conflagration over “death panels,” the issue of paying doctors to talk to patients about end-of-life care is making a comeback, and such sessions may be covered for the 50 million Americans on Medicare as early as next year.

Discussion: National Review and jco.ascopubs.org

Courier-Journal:

McConnell campaign chief resigns amid scandal — Jesse Benton resigned as Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign manager Friday following reports that he had emerged as a figure in an endorsement scandal during the 2012 Iowa presidential caucus. — In an emailed statement Friday evening …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Associated Press and The Daily Caller

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
Mitch McConnell's Campaign Manager Resigns

Discussion: Americans Against the …, Hinterland Gazette and Balloon Juice

Lilia Shevtsova:

Putin Ends the Interregnum — When the Gaza War and the threat from ISIS pulled global attention away from Ukraine, you could almost hear the sighs of relief emanating from the Western capitals: Finally, something to distract us from this Eurasian conundrum!

Discussion: Democracy in America

Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
War in Europe is not a hysterical idea

Discussion: National Review, Telegraph, CNN and Instapundit

Allie Rasmus / KTVU-TV:

Walnut Creek officer accused of beating woman with bat — A man who'd been in charge of upholding the law for three decades is now accused of breaking it. Richmond police arrested an off-duty Walnut Creek Police Officer for allegedly donning a mask and beating a woman with a baseball bat on August 16.

Discussion: The Raw Story and Hinterland Gazette