Obama Says He Wants to Stop ISIS; Germany Won't Help (Much), Nor Will Turkey, but France will participate; Forum Looks at Growing Tension Between Cold War Foes; Orioles Lose Davis for 25 Games But Sweep Yanks to Drop Magic Number to 5; Ravens Impressive in Cake Walk Over Steelers; Terps Score Late to Tie Michigan in Big Ten Opener; Terp Football Team Drops Thriller to West Virginia, 40-37

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 12, 2014 - Some say President Obama sounded presidential the other night as he assured USA citizens and others around the world that he is on the case against ISIS, the Muslim Extremist Rabble Intent on World Domination (as hard to fathom as it is, these people really say that). Obama told the world how dangerous ISIS is, and in the same breath assured anyone listening that American Troops will not get involved. Left unsaid, but truly garish in its absence, is the uber leftist Obama's promise to other uber leftists that he won't send troops anywhere that President Bush did. Obama and other uber leftists blasted President Bush relentlessly for everything. In a speech about foreign policy issues, Obama even managed to remind us that he had been the leader that led us in overcoming Bush's economic mistakes. We all know that he has to be the only one who believes that his long list of incomprehensible, ridiculous economic maneuvers and policy choices would give the worst economic policy in history a run for the money. He and Bush aren't even in same volume when it comes to economic management. But I digress.

Don't get me wrong here about sending troops to the Middle East. I'm not anxious to dispatch troops to fight ISIS in Iraq or Syria. But there may come a time - and it might come soon - when we have to. My issue with Obama is the way he is always gussying up to his pals on the uber left when other things are much more important. Why tell the lousy scum of ISIS that the USA is not going to come and get them? They know that the USA has a history of mobilizing to fight evil in the very country where they are now ensconced. Why spell out for them that we will not do it again? Let them expend resources preparing for the western invasion. Let our intentions be ominous by their unannounced direction. President Obama is so utterly beholden to all the little uber leftists on his donor list that he can't just do what they want, he has to publicly announce that he is beholden to them, even if it means giving away a huge strategic advantage.

On the other hand: Gen. David Petraeus, the former head of Allied forces in Iraq and Obama's former head of the CIA, says ISIS on the ground in Iraq and Syria pales in comparison to al Qaeda's numbers and degree of organization on the eve of the highly successful 2007 surge ordered by President Bush. Speaking in Denver on Thursday, Petraeus said the danger in formulating strategy now is in overestimating ISIS and its capabilities.

It was reported Friday morning that Germany has told the USA it will not actively participate in an air campaign against ISIS. According to these reports, Turkey has told the USA the same thing. France, on the other hand, will take an active role in the air strikes, while England is still debating the pros and cons. A group of Arab nations says it will offer appropriate help to the coalition Obama says he is putting together. I, for one, am wondering what this group means by "appropriate help." And, as for putting together a coalition, I am wondering how that will go. When the "older" President Bush put the first Iraq coalition together back when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and massed troops on his border with Saudi Arabia, President Bush deployed tens of thousands of United States' Marines before he started making the phone calls about joining a coalition. In other words, he led by example. President Obama, on the other hand, may be asking many countries to act in our stead. Imagine him calling up Poland, or Georgia, and saying he wants them to join a militsry coalition which the USA is putting together, but also one that the USA will not be deploying ground troops for, even though such ground troops may well be needed. As a prime minister or president of a country being asked to contribute fighter jets, troops, military hardware and whatever else, will you quickly join in if the superpower building the coalition is not really going to get knee deep in the military part? "But," Obama adds at the end of his pitch, "we sure will be cheering for you."

Carnegie Forum: USA and Russia Come Closer to the Brink over Ukraine
The Carnegie Corporation has sponsored a forum of international experts to analyze and break down the growing rise in the level of tension and conflict between the United States and Russia. Authorities from Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Georgetown and elsewhere weighed in for the forum. When and if you read their contributions, expect some elitist nonsense. But also count on some real insights into this immense and ominous conflict. Here is the web page: http://perspectives.carnegie.org/us-russia/?utm_source=googlegrants&utm_medium=AdWords&utm_content=WhatisRussiaThinking1&utm_campaign=USRussia082014&gclid=Cj0KEQjws8qgBRCLp-aploLbqcQBEiQAm0rD5_L4stHTx-1A4OztbJaZrhSzS27iwYMXmTiIBZD6xVYaAg8L8P8HAQ

In case you are wondering, this is how I see the growing tension between the USA and Russia. You have two megapowers. One is led by a virtual dictator hell bent on rebuilding what he selectively recalls as a great world power: the Soviet Union. He will stop at nothing to achieve this and doesn't care what the cost is, either economically or in blood and lives. I speak here, obviously, of Vlad Putin, the Russian strongman. The other megapower is trying hard to reduce the power of his country. He is against so many of this country's achievements. And while one of America's hallmarks is its willingness, indeed even its compunction, to air all of its errors for the world to see, President Obama believes the fact that mistakes were made disqualifies it from taking any credit at all for its achievements. In fact, he and other uber leftists believe that what they believe are terrible mistakes are actually unforgivable. But enough about the past. Obama wants the United States' role as a military power to be scaled way back. He does not want the United States to be a leading military power. He is quite uncomfortable in his role as leader of the west in the current showdown over the Ukraine. Hence, Putin says little and lets his military and its pulsing prowess do all of his talking. On the other side, President Obama virtually hides when he is expected to lead the west. He believes that the Europeans - as Russia's neighbors, should be at the point in the conflict. The friction between him and German Chancellor Angela Merkle is palpable. In other decades, a conflict of this sort would be about the desire of both the USA and Germany to lead the western nations. Now, the conflict is about the USA's strong desire not to lead militarily, and Germany's absolute reluctance to allow the USA to abdicate its role as the military leader of the western nations. Merkle and others believe that the western nations of Europe and elsewhere have developed under the umbrella of American dominance. For her country and others to begin to fill this role will be prohibitively expensive, to begin with. It will require her to undertake a forced retooling of German industry and, in computer science and other areas of technological development, the entire focal point going forward will change from capital growth to military growth. It is unpalpable for her and many of the other leaders. They don't live in Obama's cloistered world, nor do they want to. Meanwhile, Putin goes about his business, moving troops brazenly into Ukraine, fortifying the Crimea, strengthening the strategic tie to Iran, and so on. He moves forward militarily. We watch, grunt, cry out loud, and go back, again, to watching.

Orioles Lose Davis for 25 Games After He Tests Positive for Aderall, an Amphetamine, and is suspended by MLB On Thursday night and Friday morning, with 17 games left in the regular season, and the Oriole magic number to clinch the American League Eastern Division Race at 8, the team received the shocking news that it will have to finish the regular season and play up to 8 playoff games without one of the baseball's premier sluggers, first baseman - third baseman Chris Davis. The suspension - which can only happen the way it did if this is the second time that Davis failed a blood test - that Davis has tested positive twice for a banned substance, will be for the next 25 games the Orioles play. If they are still alive in the playoffs when his suspension expires, Davis may rejoin the Orioles, and the team has received permission to play Davis on their roster of eligible players. Davis received news of the suspension Thursday, and personally called manager Buck Showalter and several teammates with the news. He also released a statement taking full blame for the suspension and apologizing to Oriole Management, the team and the fans.

In First Game Without Davis, Orioles Use Dramatic Rally in Bottom of 11th Inning to Defeat Yankees, 2-1, Lower Magic Number to 7 On Friday afternoon the Birds played their first of the 25 games, and they rallied dramatically in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat the Yankees, 2-1. The game was a classic pitchers' duel between New York rookie Brandon McCarthy and the Orioles' outstanding young flamethrower, Kevin Gausman. Neither gave up a run. Gausman threw seven innings of seven-hit baseball, while McCarthy pitched into the 8th, leaving after Kelly Johnson led off the Oriole eighth with a ground-rule double. The game remained scoreless into the 11th inning. With two out and no one on in the top of the 11th, Chris Young homered for the Yankees, giving them a 1-0 lead. But the Orioles would not quit. Nelson Cruz got the Birds started in the bottom of the 11th with a walk. Showalter then inserted David Lough to pinch run for Cruz. Lough took second on Ryan Flaherty's sacrifice bunt. J.J. Hardy, who returned to the Oriole line-up today after missing a week with a sore back, was hit by a pitch, putting Orioles at first and second with one out. The Yankees moved within one out of getting a victory when Adam Warren, summonsed to start the inning, struck out Kelly Johnson. Showalter made another move here, bringing No. 3 catcher, Steve Clevenger, in to pinch hit for No. 2 catcher, Nick Hundley, who had started this first game of the day/night doubleheader. Clevenger remained calm and walked to load the bases. Again Showalter went to his extended September bench, bringing in Jimmy Paredes to bat for Jonathan Schoop. This move paid instant dividends, as Paredes lined a shot to right field that scored both Lough and Hardy, winning the game for the Orioles. Brad Brach, who surrendered the home run to Young in the top of the 11th, got the win to improve to 7-1. Adam Warren took the loss to fall to 3-6. Norris, De Aza lead birds to 5-0 Win in Game 2; Combined with Toronto's loss, Magic Number Plunges to 5
Bud Norris struck out ten Yankees and scattered just three Yankee hits over seven strong innings Friday night to lead the Orioles to a 5-0 win over New York and a sweep of the two teams' day/night doubleheader in Baltimore. Alejandro De Aza led the offense with two triples, the first one knocking in the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the second, in the eighth inning, missing homerun distance by just a couple of inches. De Aza has now hit in all eight games sine joining the Orioles earlier in the month. Baltimore now leads second plaee Toronto by 11 and one-half games. New York fell to 12 and one-half games behind the Orioles, and the magic number to eliminate the Yankees has shrunk to four. Should Baltimore win the remaining two games of the series they would eliminate the Yankees from the divisional race and deal a near terminal blow to even their wild card chances.

Ravens Impressive in 26-6 Win Over Steelers; Steelers Under Fire in Pittsburgh In Pittsburgh this morning, the usually pro-Steeler Pittsburgh Post Gazette was all over the Steelers for the way they played and didn't play against the Ravens. A target for more than one writer was Quarterback Ben Rothlisberger, known here as Mr. In Decline and Always Over-Rated. Gene Collier, the wiley sports columnist, laid into ol' Ben for not accepting the blame for his poor play. Suddenly, Ben says the Ravens have the toughest Defense around, especially in the Red Zone. After a miserable preseason and first half against the Bengals, Steven Smith, Sr. has turned into a ball-catching machine. Dennis Pita looked unstoppalble, and Bernard Pierce was the Rookie-season Pierce, running around and through the Steelers like he owned them. That defense bent a little less and never broke, holding the Steelers without a touchdown. Here is one little delightful tidbit from the Collins column:

"“Yeah,” Ben said when asked if he felt like he was sharp right now. “I don’t think it was horrible, I just think you’ve got to give them a lot of credit; they’re a good defense.”

That’s fine as far as it goes, but I don’t see Ed Reed out there and I don’t see Ray Lewis out there, and I don’t even see Lardarius Webb, a secondary cornerstone who hasn’t gotten onto the field for the Ravens yet this season. What I did see was 340-pound defensive tackle Haloti Ngata leap into the path of a feckless Roethlisberger pass and tip an interception to himself in the fourth, sending most of the 71,000-plus to the exits."

My man Gene Collier.

Maryland scores in 90th minute, earns tie at Michigan in Big Ten Opener David Kabelik was at it again. The junior defenseman hasn't been starting, but he has developed a knack for finishing, both games and shots on goal. He did both Friday night at Michigan, scoring in the 90th minute - just 22 seconds from time - enabling the Terps to tie the Wolverines and earn a point in their Big Ten opener. The Terps, on the face of it, are a disappointing 1-2-1 at this juncture, but not to worry. Coach Sasho Cirovski is a genius in this game, and as he tries to get a young and untested offense up and running, the Terps are still playing good soccer in a brutal schedule. Friday, the Wolverines scored in the 75th minute to go one top before nearly 1500 at An Arbor. Kabelik answered in the nick of time on an assist from Alex Crognale. The Terps play their Big Ten home opener next Friday in a game to be televised nationwide by the Big Ten Network.

And, as I post this updated piece, West Virginia kicks a 47-yard field goal on the last play of the game in College Park to give the Mountaineers a 40-37 win over Maryland. West Virginia's quarterback threw for over 500 yards. The Mountaineers built up a huge halftime lead, but Maryland outscored West Virginia, 31-9, from halftime until the start of the Mountaineer's final drive. West Virginia drove in and attempted a shorter field goal about five minutes before the winning kick, but Maryland blocked it.