Carpet Designer Threatens CosPlayers With Legal Action

Sometimes lawyers have too much time on their hands. Carpet designer threatens cosplayers with legal action.

"In the world of cosplay, people don’t generally expect to get into trouble for dressing up as well-known characters like Superman or Spock, even though the legal teams at DC Comics or Paramount could probably crush them like a bug. Unfortunately, the designers of the Marriott’s patterned carpets didn’t get the memo about turning a blind eye to cosplay tributes.

Apparently the carpet costumes were so popular that one of the original cosplayers offered a version of the Marriott carpet pattern for the presumably vast number of people who also wanted to dress up in carpet-themed camo gear. Seeing this, carpet designers Couristan Inc. sent cosplay suppliers Volpin Props a Cease & Desist letter."

Viral Political Ad

It's a little unusual for a political ad to go viral for being good. This is going around now.

The Pixar Theory

The Pixar Theory. "Every Pixar movie is connected. [Jon Negroni] explain[s] how, and possibly why."

Not infrequently people tell me I have too much free time on my hands, it's nice when I can say it of someone else.

John Boehner’s Congress is a train wreck

Ezra Klein says John Boehner’s Congress is a train wreck

Begin with the simplest question: What have they gotten done?

• The Senate managed to pass comprehensive immigration reform with bipartisan support. The House's effort has fallen apart.
• The Senate passed a farm bill. The House failed at that, and has been breaking their farm bill into pieces and trying to pass them one at a time.
• The Senate, at long last, passed a budget and moved to go to conference with the House. The House passed a budget and refused to go to conference with the Senate.
• The list goes on. Gun control was a flop. The appropriations process has been a mess. We almost went over the fiscal cliff when Boehner's 'Plan B' failed. Sequestration, which Boehner once called 'devastating,' is now the law of the land. The Fed can't pursue the policies it thinks makes sense because it's scared that Congress is going to drive the economy into a ditch."

At first I thought this wasn't quite fair. The Senate has a strong Democratic majority, so why are their objectively bills better than the House's? Well, some are bipartisan, and the Senate does have to deal with the filibuster. But then there's also the shift in positions that the House leadership has taken.

Boener said "'We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal.' So how many laws has Boehner repealed? Well, none. He's tried to repeal Obamacare a bunch of times, but Obamacare remains the law of the land. He hasn't managed, or even really tried, to repeal any other major laws at all." Then there's his shift on sequestration, once it was unthinkable, now it's the liberal compromise.

John Boehner is being even more irresponsible than Ted Cruz

John Boehner is being even more irresponsible than Ted Cruz

The problem comes in No. 4. Boehner isn't going to simply shrug, say he tried, and bring the Senate bill to the floor. He'll shrug, say he tried, and tell his members that they should let him bring the Senate bill to the floor. He'll say it's because they need to save their fire for the debt ceiling fight, where they can force the White House to delay Obamacare for a year by threatening to trigger a global financial crisis. In fact, this is already the message he's delivering to his members.

There's been a lot of talk -- much of it among Republicans -- about how irresponsible Ted Cruz is being in his fight to defund Obamacare or shut the government down trying. But Boehner and the rest of the House GOP leadership is being much more irresponsible in their promises to delay Obamacare or cause a global financial crisis while trying. And the way they're going to get past Cruz's irresponsible threats is to double down on their own, even more irresponsible, threats.

A Map of Where NFL Quarterbacks Throw the Ball

Grantland shows a Pass Atlas: A Map of Where NFL Quarterbacks Throw the Ball "Thanks to new forms of data and emerging kinds of analyses, teams, media, and fans are gaining new insights into on-field performances. I have been exploring one such data set, a giant collection of highly detailed passing data created and maintained by ESPN’s Stats & Information group."

Bonus sports infograpics from Visualizing Economics, Sports and Income

A Staggeringly Complex Infographic Of The Civil War, Drawn 116 Years Ago

A Staggeringly Complex Infographic Of The Civil War, Drawn 116 Years Ago "Once you understand the underlying gimmicks, it’s an impressive piece to be sure. The United States is broken down into a series of columns in a grand vertical timeline. In the loosest possible terms, the Union was working its way left, to Richmond, while the Confederacy worked its way right, to Washington. Yet at the same time, there were several battlefronts operating in unison, depicted in multiple side-by-side columns. And it’s these fronts the chart captures so well. The skirmish lines appear as red, while green (Confederacy) and yellow (Union) armies zigzag back and forth in a fight for territory. Presented en masse, it gives you an appreciation for both the grand choreography and futility of war--along the unparalleled patience of 19th-century data designers, who would have counted and rendered this all meticulously and macro-lessly, by hand."

View of an Eagle

This is what happens when you put a GoPro camera on an eagle.

The Most Spectacular Astronomy Images of the Past Year

The Most Spectacular Astronomy Images of the Past Year "There were thousands of entries this year to the Royal Observatory Greenwich's Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013 competition. These awe inspiring images are the best of the bunch."

Colorado Flooding Photos

In Focus: Colorado Flooding: After the Deluge "Following days of record-setting rainfall and historic flooding across Colorado's Front Range, skies have cleared, and the recovery has begun. The number of people still unaccounted for has dropped to about 200, as helicopter teams are fanning out across the foothills in the largest aerial rescue operation since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Colorado authorities coping with the aftermath are now preparing possible evacuations of prairie towns in danger of being swamped as the flood crest moves downstream. Tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed, a problem exacerbated by the fact that only about 1 percent of Colorado homeowners have flood insurance. The photos below show some of the events of the past few days, following up on Monday's Historic Flooding Across Colorado. [34 photos]"

The Big Picture: Colorado floods. "The effort continued today to locate more than 500 people still missing from last week's damaging floods in Colorado. The death toll stood at 6, which state officials said is expected to rise from the heavy rains that washed out roads, collapsed bridges, destroyed homes, and left a massive clean-up in their wake. -- Lloyd Young ( 37 photos )"

Fracking may not be as bad for the climate as we thought (or it might be)

Fracking may not be as bad for the climate as we thought

So that brings us to a new peer-reviewed paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This study took direct measurements of 489 shale-gas wells being drilled around the United States — a far more detailed look than had been done before. (The study was conducted by the University of Texas and funded by both the Environmental Defense Fund and nine oil and gas firms, including Shell and Chevron.)

The study concluded that the methane leakage rates from these wells were fairly low — lower, in fact, than the EPA's estimates. The EPA had estimated that about 1.2 million tons of methane were probably seeping out of these wells. But the researchers found that only around 957,000 tons of methane were coming out.

What's more, the study found that new techniques required by the EPA to capture methane after wells have been drilled were very effective at minimizing certain leaks. (These techniques are known as 'green completions.') By contrast, other parts of the production process not regulated by the EPA, such as valves and chemical pumps, were leaking more methane than previously thought.

The rest of the article points out the caveats and they're significant. I think the better headline would imply that it's possible that fracking can avoid a lot of methane leaks, but we're not doing it right all the time.

What Your Taste In Music and TV Says About You On A Date

Just saw these for the first time and they're pretty funny.

What Your Taste In Music Says About You On A Date

What ELSE Your Taste In Music Says About You On A Date

What Your Favorite TV Show Says About You on a Date

Americans Are 110 Times More Likely to Die from Contaminated Food Than Terrorism

Alternet writes Americans Are 110 Times More Likely to Die from Contaminated Food Than Terrorism

In 2011, the year of Osama bin Laden's death, the  State Department reported that 17 Americans were killed in all terrorist incidents worldwide. The same year, a single outbreak of listeriosis from  tainted cantaloupe killed 33 people in the United States. Foodborne pathogens also sickened 48.7 million, hospitalized 127,839 and caused a total of  3,037 deaths. This is a typical year, not an aberration.

We have more to fear from contaminated cantaloupe than from al-Qaeda, yet the United States spends $75 billion per year spread across  15 intelligence agencies in a scattershot attempt to prevent terrorism, illegally spying on its own citizens in the process. By comparison, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is  struggling to secure $1.1 billion in the 2014 federal budget for its food inspection program, while tougher food processing and inspection regulations passed in 2011  are held up by agribusiness lobbying in Congress. The situation is so dire that Jensen Farms, the company that produced the toxic cantaloupe that killed 33 people in 2011,  had never been inspected by the FDA.

This isn't arguing that we shouldn't try to stop terrorism, it's arguing that we should pay more attention to food safety.

iOS 7

Last night I installed iOS 7 on my iPhone 5. It took about three hours as apparently everyone else was downloading it too. So far it's pretty nice. It will take me a bit to get used to the look but already Control Center is a big win. The camera is faster, background updating of apps will be nice, the calendar is much nicer and Siri seems improved. While I like that folders now have pages, my biggest complaint is that each page shows 3x3 icons instead of 4x3). I'm going to have to spend some time reorganizing my icons (but it's my fault, I have too many apps installed).

MacWorld has a good overall review, iOS 7 review: Radical redesign is more than skin-deep and The Verge has The best hidden features in iOS 7.

Update: 12 New and Hidden Settings in iOS 7.

More:

• A Few Points on iOS 7,
• iOS 7, thoroughly reviewed by Ars Technica is six pages
• iOS 7 Review and Guide by Everything iCafe is a nice overview of most things.
• First Impressions of iOS 7 for Keyboard Power Users has some cautions if you use an iPad with an external keyboard

Jon Stewart on Coverage of DC Shooting

What Has Congress Accomplished So Far

As we're about to enter several weeks of stupid budget battles I thought it might be interesting to look back at the Laws Passed by the 113th Congress so far. Of the 31 laws passed, 8 are commemorative, about 4 strike me as real (13, 24, 26, 30) regarding some fishing laws and hydropower plants and the rest seem like temporary budget fixes and dumb fixes to austerity laws (9 was the airline fix) and other things. Pretty weak.

Public Law 113-1 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 41 Signed into law by the President 1/6/2013.

• To temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program.

Public Law 113-2 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 152 Signed into law by the President 1/29/2013.

• "Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013"

Public Law 113-3 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 325 Signed into law by the President 2/4/2013.

• To ensure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until May 19, 2013, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-4 Passed Congress as bill S. 47 Signed into law by the President 3/7/2013.

• "Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013"

Public Law 113-5 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 307 Signed into law by the President 3/13/2013.

• "Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013"

Public Law 113-6 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 933 Signed into law by the President 3/26/2013.

• "Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013"

Public Law 113-7 Passed Congress as bill S. 716 Signed into law by the President 4/15/2013.

• A bill to modify the requirements under the STOCK Act regarding online access to certain financial disclosure statements and related forms.

Public Law 113-8 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1246 Signed into law by the President 5/1/2013.

• "District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Vacancy Act"
• To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide that the District of Columbia Treasurer or one of the Deputy Chief Financial Officers of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia may perform the functions and duties of the Office in an acting capacity if there is a vacancy in the Office.

Public Law 113-9 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1765 Signed into law by the President 5/1/2013.

• "Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013"
• To provide the Secretary of Transportation with the flexibility to transfer certain funds to prevent reduced operations and staffing of the Federal Aviation Administration, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-10 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1071 Signed into law by the President 5/17/2013.

• To specify the size of the precious-metal blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins.

Public Law 113-11 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 360 Signed into law by the President 5/24/2013.

• To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, in recognition of the 50th commemoration of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where the 4 little Black girls lost their lives, which served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

Public Law 113-12 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 258 Signed into law by the President 6/3/2013.

• "Stolen Valor Act of 2013"
• To amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to fraudulent representations about having received military declarations or medals.

Public Law 113-13 Passed Congress as bill S. 982 Signed into law by the President 6/3/2013.

• "Freedom to Fish Act"
• A bill to prohibit the Corps of Engineers from taking certain actions to establish a restricted area prohibiting public access to waters downstream of a dam, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-14 Passed Congress as bill S. 622 Signed into law by the President 6/13/2013.

• "Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Reauthorization Act of 2013"
• An original bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to reauthorize user fee programs relating to new animal drugs and generic new animal drugs.

Public Law 113-15 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 475 Signed into law by the President 6/25/2013.

• To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include vaccines against seasonal influenza within the definition of taxable vaccines.

Public Law 113-16 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 324 Signed into law by the President 7/12/2013.

• To grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the First Special Service Force, in recognition of its superior service during World War II.

Public Law 113-17 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1151 Signed into law by the President 7/12/2013.

• To direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to obtain observer status for Taiwan at the triennial International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-18 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 2383 Signed into law by the President 7/12/2013.

• To designate the new Interstate Route 70 bridge over the Mississippi River connecting St. Louis, Missouri, and southwestern Illinois as the "Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge".

Public Law 113-19 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 251 Signed into law by the President 7/18/2013.

• "South Utah Valley Electric Conveyance Act" To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain Federal features of the electric distribution system to the South Utah Valley Electric Service District, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-20 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 254 Signed into law by the President 7/18/2013.

• "Bonneville Unit Clean Hydropower Facilitation Act" To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to facilitate the development of hydroelectric power on the Diamond Fork System of the Central Utah Project.

Public Law 113-21 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 588 Signed into law by the President 7/18/2013.

• "Vietnam Veterans Donor Acknowledgment Act of 2013" To provide for donor contribution acknowledgments to be displayed at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-22 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 2289 Signed into law by the President 7/25/2013.

• To rename section 219(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA.

Public Law 113-23 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 267 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• "Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013" To improve hydropower, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-24 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 678 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• "Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act" To authorize all Bureau of Reclamation conduit facilities for hydropower development under Federal Reclamation law, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-25 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1092 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• To designate the air route traffic control center located in Nashua, New Hampshire, as the "Patricia Clark Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center".

Public Law 113-26 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1171 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• "Formerly Owned Resources for Veterans to Express Thanks for Service (FOR VETS) Act of 2013" To amend title 40, United States Code, to improve veterans service organizations access to Federal surplus personal property.

Public Law 113-27 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1344 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• "Helping Heroes Fly Act"
• To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) to provide expedited air passenger screening to severely injured or disabled members of the Armed Forces and severely injured or disabled veterans, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-28 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 1911 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• "Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013"
• To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish interest rates for new loans made on or after July 1, 2013, to direct the Secretary of Education to convene the Advisory Committee on Improving Postsecondary Education Data to conduct a study on improvements to postsecondary education transparency at the Federal level, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-29 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 2167 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• "Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013"
• To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish additional requirements to improve the fiscal safety and soundness of the home equity conversion mortgage insurance program.

Public Law 113-30 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 2576 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• To amend title 49, United States Code, to modify requirements relating to the availability of pipeline safety regulatory documents, and for other purposes.

Public Law 113-31 Passed Congress as bill H.R. 2611 Signed into law by the President 8/9/2013.

• To designate the headquarters building of the Coast Guard on the campus located at 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue Southeast in the District of Columbia as the "Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building", and for other purposes.

With 30 tuners and 30 TB of storage, SnapStream makes TiVos look like toys

I'm pretty happy with my new 3TB 6 tuner TiVo Roamio but Ars Technica writes With 30 tuners and 30 TB of storage, SnapStream makes TiVos look like toys.

"Houston-based SnapStream makes a line of DVRs that scale to truly silly sizes—its products are the monster trucks of the DVR world. If you watch TV at all, you've almost certainly already seen what SnapStream can do—popular shows like The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Soup, and tons of others are customers, using 30+ channel DVRs to record dozens and dozens of TV shows simultaneously in order to integrate clips from those recorded shows into their own."

Imagine this: In Germany, one TV ad per candidate

Emily Schultheis wrote in Politico Imagine this: In Germany, one TV ad per candidate. "And instead of myriad ads on different topics featuring different people, each party in Germany typically releases just one main minute-and-a-half ad for the entire election."

Part of the reason for the stark difference in TV advertising is the way German system works: each party is allotted a certain amount of airtime on the two public TV networks, ZDF and ARD, based on their vote share in the last election and the number of members in their party.

For the major parties, the CDU and the SPD, that’s eight times on each channel — over the entire course of the campaign. Ads for the smaller parties — the Greens, the Free Democratic Party and the Left Party — will run four times each on ARD and ZDF.

Parties can buy additional spots on private television channels, though their limited campaign budgets keep them from spending anywhere close to the level of U.S. candidates. President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney ran billion-dollar campaigns last year; in Germany, by contrast, each of the major parties expects to spend about $26 to 33 million for the entire campaign.

I wonder what would happen if we banned TV ads in elections? Candidates could still get their message out via newspapers and the Internet. They'd save millions and in presidential elections billions of dollars. Politicians would have to fundraise less (which is about a third of their time now) and wealthy donors (individuals and corporations) would have less influence over them (and might save money). Networks would make more money because they have to offer some airtime at a reduced rate for elections. I'm really not seeing a downside.

Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration

That rocket launch from Virginia the other week included an experiment known as LLCD or Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration.

The main goal of LLCD is proving fundamental concepts of laser communications and transferring data at a rate of 622 megabits per second (Mbps), which is about five times the current state-of-the-art from lunar distances. Engineers expect future space missions to benefit greatly from the use of laser communications technology. This new ability will provide increased data transmission for real-time communication and 3-D high-definition video, while taking advantage of its lower on-orbit mass and power requirements. For example, using S-band communications, the LADEE spacecraft would take 639 hours to download an average-length HD movie. Using LLCD technology, download times will be reduced to less than eight minutes."

40 maps that explain the world

The Washington Post blog WorldViews posted 40 maps that explain the world "Maps can be a remarkably powerful tool for understanding the world and how it works, but they show only what you ask them to. So when we saw a post sweeping the Web titled '40 maps they didn't teach you in school,' one of which happens to be a WorldViews original, I thought we might be able to contribute our own collection. Some of these are pretty nerdy, but I think they're no less fascinating and easily understandable. A majority are original to this blog (see our full maps coverage here), with others from a variety of sources. I've included a link for further reading on close to every one."

Number nine had some surprises for me:

Why is the U.S.’s 1 percent so much richer than everywhere else?

Why is the U.S.’s 1 percent so much richer than everywhere else? "That's the focus of this month's Journal of Economic Perspectives, which features several papers arguing a few sides of the debate, offering some fascinating windows into the nature of extreme wealth. Increasing income inequality is not disputed. The question of why the divide is widening, though, splits economists into two broad camps. One believes that people at the top have used their positions of influence to lock in excessive earnings. The other thinks that people with scarce and unique talents have simply been able to command a premium in markets that have gotten bigger over time."

$700k windfall: Russian man outwits bank with hand-written credit contract

$700k windfall: Russian man outwits bank with hand-written credit contract. I really do love stories like this. Reminds me of the guy that bought a Dell to use Linux on, read the Windows license, didn't agree to the terms and followed their instructions to destroy all copies and return for a full refund. Dell had no idea what to do and said go to Microsoft. MS said you have to go to Dell. Ultimately he won.

A Russian man who decided to write his own small print in a credit card contract has had his changes upheld in court. He's now suing the country's leading online bank for more than 24 million rubles ($727,000) in compensation.

Disappointed by the terms of the unsolicited offer for a credit card from Tinkoff Credit Systems in 2008, a  42-year-old Dmitry Agarkov from the city of Voronezh decided to hand write his own credits terms.

The trick was that Agarkov simply scanned the bank’s document and ‘amended’ the small print with his own terms.

He opted for a 0 percent interest rate and no fees, adding that the customer 'is not obliged to pay any fees and charges imposed by bank tariffs.' The bank, however, didn’t read ‘the amendments’, as it signed and certified the document, as well as sent the man a credit card. Under the agreement, the bank OK'd to provide unlimited credit, according to Agarkov’s lawyer Dmitry Mikhalevich talking to Kommersant daily.

Is Google Funding Climate Science Denial?

Back in July Think Progress wrote Is Google Funding Climate Science Denial? Jim Inhofe Fundraiser Planned For July 11

Google’s motto is ‘Don’t Be Evil,’ but it is supporting one of the worst deniers of climate science in the world: Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). On July 11, Google is hosting a lunchtime $250-$2500 a plate fundraiser for Inhofe with the National Republican Senatorial Committee at its Washington, DC headquarters at 1101 New York Ave NW.

The Washington Post also recently revealed that Google was the biggest single donor to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual dinner on Thursday, June 20, dropping $50,000 in support of this anti-science group. The dinner was headlined by radical global warming denier Sen. Rand Paul. CEI’s other donors include a who’s who of polluters: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Altria (Phillip Morris), Koch Companies, and Koch’s Americans For Prosperity. CEI is famed for its ad promoting carbon dioxide emissions: ‘They call it pollution. We call it life.’

I'm not sure what came of it but if true, I'm not happy about it.

The Talented Justice Kagan

Back in June, the New York Times wrote about The Talented Justice Kagan "I have been writing about the court the past three terms, and reading her prose has been as enjoyable as watching her in action. No previous justice has written with her emphasis on the vernacular or so matter-of-factly addressed readers as if our views about a case truly mattered. In a dissent this term about a labor dispute resolved on a technicality, which unfairly deprived the plaintiff of her day in court, she wrote, ‘The court today resolves an imaginary question, based on a mistake the courts below made about this case and others like it.’ She added, ‘Feel free to relegate the majority’s decision to the furthest reaches of your mind: The situation it addresses should never again rise.’"

Russia’s position on Syria is all about constraining America

Brad Plummer talks with Dmitri Trenin, Russia’s position on Syria is all about constraining America

At a minimum Russia wants to achieve U.S. non-intervention in Syria. The medium-term goal here, although it’s pretty high up, is resolution of the Syrian issue, with some kind of political resolution. But the larger goal, the really big goal is forcing the United States back into the U.N. Security Council-centered international system.

There were many things that struck me in that op-ed, an it’s hard to deconstruct or summarize in a sentence. I think Putin is basically saying something that a lot of people will find objectionable — that the United States has been soaring above international law and it’s time the country to return inside the framework of international law as codified by the United Nations charter, especially with the Security Council."

I didn't know this:

Syria is marginally important. It’s important as a market for Russian arms. But Russia is not involved in the geopolitics of the Middle East the way the Soviet Union was, so Syria’s not important as a foothold in geopolitical terms. There are some other things like the Tartus naval facility [a naval station in Syria and Russia's only resupply spot on the Mediterranean], but I would say they are relatively marginal in Russia’s thinking here.