Redline update

Pale Blue, Red Line. Mary Didoardo, 2011-12.

Just a quick note: I've noticed people have started writing it as one word: "Redline".

I've been baffled by the importance assigned by Obama in the first place and the rest of the world behind him to the question of whether the Syrian regime is or isn't using chemical weapons. Given the scale of the killing, what on earth difference could it make? Like "OK, I'll let you go this time, but don't you dare kill anybody whose name starts with an F."

My theory was the president had just meant to draw a line between reality and a decision he didn't want to go near, assuming Assad never would bring out the chemical weapons—that Assad and his thugs couldn't be as crazy as they have regrettably turned out to be.

But the use of chemical weapons has a real-world meaning that I've just understood for the first time, thanks to BBC (can't find the specific story online): because of treaty obligations, Russia cannot ignore it at the Security Council and it may make a resolution possible. FWIW.