[War] US: Homeward Bound

[John Penta]

"Homeward Bound"
23 August 2014
Pres. John Williams
USA
================
<Air Force One>

    Sleep or do work, sleep or do work.

On an aircraft like Air Force One, most people, after the jam-packed
trip that had defined the last few days, were picking the former
option.

The President was not among them. However, he was gracious enough to
let the non-flying crew sleep, and so was parked in his airborne
office, catching up on paperwork.

Next among the memohorde, an item on the Chinese release of details on
the released Canucks.

The more that came out, the more the President felt even more played
like an idiot.

Which, of course, he had been.
---
<Secure Message Traffic>
JWilliams: Why, oh why are you even -awake-, Mr. Secretary?
CHill: It's only 1800 here, you're still on London time. Though I
could ask the same thing.
JWilliams: Yeah, I know. So has everybody else.
CHill: Take the hint, then?
JWilliams: Can't, if I do I'll be all screwed up tomorrow.
CHill: Ambien is your friend.
JWilliams: China
CHill: Nice dodge. I suggest to de-escalate it from our end. Dept
Spokesman says again that the Canadians played us, but that we
consider it a bilateral issue, to be solved -diplomatically and
peacefully-. Similar messages through ambassadors in Washington.
Nothing from either of us.
JWilliams: Sounds good.
CHill: McColl screwed up. He's paying the price.
JWilliams: Yup.
CHill: Curiosity arises: What the hell are you -working- on?
JWilliams: The last of the budget bills.
CHill: You have staffers for that.
*JWilliams kills the overcurious cat*
CHill: Meow.
JWilliams: Zombie cat? Sheesh.
CHill: Mwahahahaha. Oh, BTW.
JWilliams: Mweh?
CHill: Argentine Ambassador just got into DC today - when do you want
to receive credentials? They were all 'You pick' when we tried to get
a time out of them.
JWilliams: Tuesday, then, around 10. I must confess, I've been
slacking on mi espanol. Did Madrid in English.
CHill: Bad linguist, bad. But then, the guy we're speaking of needs
the English practice.
---
Actions:
1. State Dept de-escalates the China-Canada mess, politely noting that
they regard it as a bilateral matter to be handled diplomatically and
peacefully. In other words: Play nicely and LEAVE US OUT OF THIS.
We've said all we're going to say.