In which the bromancer excoriates the Ruskis and excuses the Donald ...

The reptiles were wildly excited today, but the pond never steps out the door without checking with the bromancer on such matters …

And what a relief, he too was wildly excited …

John Bolton?

But enough of the comedy of war …

Isn't it amazing, and remarkable, that a rather mild gesture with no particularly significant consequences, is suddenly hailed by the bromancer as evidence that a new Trumpian Messiah has arrived in the world …

Quick, call Robert Mueller, the bromancer's got it all sorted …nothing to see here, if you happen to have a spare pair of rose-coloured glasses

But it turns out that there are still a few nutters out there not yet equipped with standard lizard Oz glasses issue …

The expulsions brought into focus the disconnect between aggressive actions taken against the Kremlin by the Trump administration and the president’s public eagerness to have a cooperative relationship with Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump has staunchly resisted criticizing the Russian president, even as he imposed sanctions on a series of Russian organizations and individuals for interference in the 2016 presidential election and what the administration called other “malicious cyberattacks.” 
Mr. Trump, who energetically comments on almost any other subject on Twitter or in encounters with reporters, stayed conspicuously silent on the showdown with Russia on Monday, leaving it to aides to explain his decision. 
“The only real conclusion to draw is there is something of a divide,” said Thomas Wright, the director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe. “They may have convinced him to sign off, but he doesn’t want to be the face of it. He could have resolved this any day with a 10-minute appearance. That’s the part that’s puzzling to me.” (NY Times here).

The Donald has also been remarkably silent as stormy weather swirled around him these past few days, but that's another story …

The Canadians were also confused, though to be fair - in the temperate language routinely deployed by the bromancer - many think of them as maple syrup nutters …

There's more along the same lines ...

Earlier this month, Trump equivocated on calling out Russia for the nerve-agent attack, saying that the U.S. would condemn Moscow, or "whoever it may be," for the poisonings. "It carries a lot of weight when the president speaks," Bruen said. "Can you imagine if [former president] Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in lieu of his statement after the attack on Pearl Harbor, had his press secretary issue a statement?" It's an extreme example, of course, but Bruen's point is that any adversaries watching should have no questions about the president's position. (CBC here, Bruen tweeting here).

But ever since he went full Trump, the bromancer has had few questions to ask about the Donald …in much the same way that the Donald has had few questions to ask about his beloved Vlad.

What joy then to learn that it seems everything is restored to full working order, and the west is back in business ...

A severe blow to Moscow's intelligence capabilities?

A few countries have got together to kick out a few feet on the ground? 

But these expulsions have long been a routine of tit for tat. Obama did it, the Ruskis have done it, and nobody much cares, it's just part of the diplomatic game.

The Ruskis didn't need those feet on the ground to interfere with the US elections, or play a dab hand in the Brexit saga …damn you useless internet, how the bromancer yearns to get back to the good old days of Robert Shaw as a blonde villain. How tragic that these days it's Jennifer Lawrence doing a sparrow imitation ...

But there you go, the pond's been distracted, in much the same way that May certainly needed a distraction … 

The pond sat through some of the q and a with Chris Wylie but got nowhere near the almost four hours of tedium, still available on the Graudian's YouTube channel, though it takes a little while to get going …

The short version? Well there's Politico here, or The Graudian here … with Boris deep in it yet again … or an even shorter version ...

(and more Graudian cartoons here).

But enough of the bromancer doing his best to paper over the cracks, please allow the pond to do an update on the Caterist column which caused such a fuss yesterday...

Normally the pond leaves the Crikey mob alone behind the paywall - they have enough problems - but the pond was delighted to see Guy Rundle have a go at the Caterist.

It involved arcane mathematics far beyond the pond's attempts to fully account for its fingers and toes (surely eleven isn't the right answer?), but the pond has every hope that the dam-buster will at some point take note and bite back, and so, just to stay on top of things …

There's more here for those who can get behind the paywall, but the pond is mortified … it's quite possible that it's never once called the Caterist a carpetbagger …and hadn't realised that the reptiles were suffering from a certified medical condition, Green Derangement Syndrome … and yet once the pond understood, suddenly everything seemed clear ...

And so to the cartoon of the day. 

The pond couldn't decide. Despite all that the bromancer had written, it still seemed likely that the Donald should get a good lawyer son, and make sure it's a real good one …but ...

… but then there was the Rowe, with more Rowe here, celebrating a little more ball tampering …