Great Tableaux of Fascism...

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carry a cross," Sinclair Lewis once wrote, quite famously.

Indeed. And perhaps it has come wrapped in Chanel, carry a briefing file.

And, by the way, the caption to this extraordinary picture would be:

The secretary of state asserted that progress was being made but declined to rule out widening the war to Syria.

"Oceania is at war with Eurasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia," as another writer once wrote, also quite famously.