WHY AM I SKEPTICAL – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  Obama and our allies are moving, really moving, I mean really, really moving.  The world is being saved.  Why am I not convinced?  From Fox: 

President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will use this week's NATO summit to press for a multi-national coalition to carry out military action against the Islamic State militant group, formerly known as ISIS.

The summit began Thursday in Wales with a session on Afghanistan, with the Islamic State threat looming over the discussion.

The two leaders, ahead of the session, began laying the groundwork for their Middle East mission in a joint op-ed published in Thursday's edition of The Times of London. In the piece, Obama and Cameron vowed that their leaders would "not be cowed" by the extremists who have beheaded two American journalists and threatened a British aid worker with the same fate in recent weeks.

"We will be more forthright in the defense of our values, not least because a world of greater freedom is a fundamental part of how we keep our people safe," the op-ed states.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that over the past day, Secretary of State John Kerry and other administration officials have reached out to leaders from Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Israel to discuss how to combat ISIS. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the discussions focused on what each country might contribute -- including weapons, humanitarian aid and other resources -- and noted that some nations already have.

COMMENT:  It's interesting that the Obama/Cameron op-ed was published in a British paper, not an American paper.  Probably tells us something – that the intellectual leadership of the anti-ISIS forces is coming from David Cameron.

But Cameron has few military resources.  The force that Margaret Thatcher sent to the Falklands a generation ago was larger than is the entire Royal Navy today.  Britain, basically a welfare state, continues to cut its defenses, even as its prime minister speaks with greater clarity than any other leader about the threats before us.

Will anything actually happen at the NATO summit?  I hope so, but doubt it.  Obama really doesn't have the interest.  But we can hope, and then hope that the November elections force some change on our drifting, weak administration.

September 4,  2014