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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says "Steps are underway" to Remove Assad from Power.
This might be serious, guys. It might not, we won't know until next week most likely, but prepare for the worst.
Also, it appears that Trump has taken off his "Trumpeteer" Robes and "Alt-Right" Cape this week, in favor of a "Neo-Conservative" Business Suit. He kicked Bannon out of the NSA (who may completely quit because of it) and put the US into Syria's Civil War: 2 Things that got or will get heaps of praise from the Neo-Con branch. Sounds to me that Trump is trying to become more Presidential... It's just a shame he decided to go with one of the most unpopular ideological sects of American Politics. At least they're better then the Alt-Right faction.
Here's the thing
You and I. We are normal. We hear of bombing in Syria, we are horrified.
Donnie Boy and Putin Man though? The bombing of a few thousand people are absolutely meaningless. It's why no one puts above their head the fact they might just be doing it for PR or some other ulterior motive. In the large scale, doing that kinda shit (Wether is Trump bombing people, or Putin supporting or not supporting Trump on this over Syria) it's meaningless to them.
A few bombings here and there to a country with no nukes. They don't care.
North Korea bombs south Korea. China suffers. Russia and the U.S don't give a fuck, cuz' China isn't dumb enough to start nuclear war over NK being retarded. In the scheme of plans, again, a few hundred million deaths of innocents or their nationals don't matter.
Donald has nothing to offer Xi Jinping, cuz' he doesn't care about him, or Germany, or any other people who have visited, hence why he does so much outrageous shit when they visit
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothesChicago Tribune on Syrian Airstrike
.
Russia and Iran, Assad's allies, pose other problems. Russian military personnel and aircraft are embedded with Syria's, and Iranian troops and paramilitary forces are also on the ground helping Assad fight the array of opposition groups hoping to topple him.
Before the strikes, U.S. military officials said they informed their Russian counterparts of the impending attack. The goal was to avoid any accident involving Russian forces.
Nevertheless, Russia's Deputy U.N. ambassador Vladimir Safronkov warned that any negative consequences from the strikes would be on the "shoulders of those who initiated such a doubtful and tragic enterprise."
Another article about it.
I'm not particularly worried about Russia in regards to Syria, at least compared to the other factors in motion here, partially because Putin specifically went out of his way to throw a major diplomatic bone to one of Syria's sworn enemies (Israel). Considering Russia was heavily involved in the process of disarming Syria of its chemical weapon stockpiles, I can't imagine they're very pleased with Assad.
You know, I have to wonder if Chomsky (among others) are right about the seemingly endless stream of contradictory statements coming out of the Trump administration are actually part of an intentional strategy in a Confusion Fu sense. Which is something that's most heavily associated with Bannon out of all of Trump's aides.
Which makes him all the more dangerous, both domestically and abroad.
edited 6th Apr '17 7:52:44 PM by CaptainCapsase
@Cap: Oh I'm not saying he was a dove. (I think you meant to respond to me although the arrows don't line up.) But he made that big speech about the red line Syria must cross to get the US military involved and then failed to follow up when it was crossed. (Even Colbert has called him on that point as a commentator when it came up during the election cycle.) He was unwilling to commit to boots on the ground when his advisors told him that's what it would take. (His words, I forget from where, IIRC one of the end-of-term interviews going around.)
Supposedly the Russians were also warned beforehand, and considering Russia made a major diplomatic overture towards Israel (a sworn enemy of Syria*) about 30 minutes before this happened, it might very well be that the Syrian regime having hidden parts of its chemical weapons stockpile from Russia (which was heavily involved in the enforcement of the disarmament agreement) was the last straw; as I understand it they've gotten rather frustrated with Assad.
* And basically every other country in the region.
edited 6th Apr '17 8:04:50 PM by CaptainCapsase
One question for those more knowledgeable of military matters: The base they're bombing is said to contain chemical weapons, is their any possibility that those chemicals could be accidentally released by the strike?
Thank you, although I wasn't suggesting that the gas attack a few days ago was a false flag, rather I was wondering if the current air strikes could accidentally release gas from stockpiled weapons.
edited 6th Apr '17 8:04:25 PM by iflewaway
something
That's very, very unlikely from my understanding of the chemistry of chemical warfare, and the experts agree with this assessment. An unintentional release couldn't have caused such high casualties.
A false flag operation isn't necessarily impossible, but there's no clear motivation for the sort of actors that would be capable of pulling off such a feat. It doesn't make much sense why the Assad regime would deploy chemical weapons in the first place*, but Hanlon's Razor suggests its more likely to be due to hubris or stupidity than something like that.
* They were winning the civil war, and, with Iran and Russia supporting them, the international community was beginning to come to terms with the reality that removing him would mean extending the already 5 year long civil war for God knows how much longer in addition to possible proxy conflicts with Russia and Iran.
edited 6th Apr '17 8:04:08 PM by CaptainCapsase
I mean, all external analysts estimated that a small portion (~10%) of Assad's chemical weapon stockpile was still intact and in his hands.
They just assumed he wouldn't be Stupid Evil enough to use it.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Shit like this is exactly why I was worried about Trump becoming POTUS in the first place. Very bad things happen when multiple belligerent idiots are running countries. They inevitably clash.
Consistency from the Trump administration? Pssh, yeah right.
edited 6th Apr '17 8:07:38 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedI think Trump just won the 2020 election. His strike proves he is a "strong man who fights back" to his followers. Whatever you think of feel we hear of an attack and Trump publicly fights back and it is reported on quick means he gets the credit and all the bad stuff can be pushed into his cronies lap.
edited 6th Apr '17 8:11:39 PM by iflewaway
something

edited 6th Apr '17 7:42:24 PM by CaptainCapsase