A funny thing happened on the way to the GOP's deification of Putin: While Syrians were busy

[pampango]

shooting each other, the country's last supplies of chemical weapons — 600 metric tons of it — left Syria on a Danish ship under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. "Never before has an entire arsenal of a category of weapons of mass destruction been removed from a country experiencing a state of internal armed conflict," said OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu. This is probably the best news you've never heard.

The extension of the negotiating window with Iran came and went with little notice. The nuclear freeze in Iran should be a big deal. Thanks to our negotiations and economic sanctions, Iran has diluted its highly enriched uranium, agreed to in-person inspections and video surveillance, and ceased work on its heavy water plutonium reactor. But this progress is less well known than some state secrets, a mystery not just to Americans at large but most political insiders as well.

The one diplomatic success that Americans share a vague awareness of is how Obama has corralled the European Union into imposing tough economic sanctions on Russia, isolating Putin. By getting Europeans to put the screws to Russia's banking, oil and gas, and military sectors, Obama can play his brand of strong-arm diplomatic ball, forcing Putin to choose between his country's economic well-being and his fantasies of restoring the Russian Empire.

But Obama is the president he said he'd be. He speaks softly and carries Seal Team Six, but the most effective weapons in his foreign policy arsenal have proven to be economic sanctions and negotiation. Obama has learned the lessons from Iraq. This time we're using diplomacy — and it's working.

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/story/opinion/2014/08/08/janson-stanford-obamas-secret-diplomatic-victories/13802173/

Perhaps diplomatic successes always get more publicity than failures get.