I wasn't in favour of a strike without being sure of the source. A 2013 gas attack initially blamed on Assad was later found to have come from other factions. The attack was meant as a way to draw US in. The US military leadership interceded and advised politicians not to strike.
That said, I'm not apprehensive since the strike last night was what's called "proportional" and limited. Assad and leadership were not targeted. The target was the airport where the planes for gas attack supposedly took off. Russians (have base in Syria) were warned of attack. The strike isn't the beginning of war or larger involvement. In fact, Assad removal was publicly declared (last week) as not as important to US. If Assad did cause attack those statements might have given him idea he had more wiggle room.
The broader background is significant here. There is a lot of tension over North Korea and the missiles they fire at Japan. Japan doesn't have nukes but they could get them practically overnight. With North Korea firing missiles (and being close to nuclear) Japan talks of arming up. The US is supposed to defend Japan but let things slide while threats to Japan escalated.
Now things are at the point were letting things slide is over. North Korea has been warned more provocative missile firings wont be ignored. The last two weeks have been tense since China is North Korea's protector. I'm sure the Syria strike was considered with the North Korea situation in mind. I would be more apprehensive about North Korea situation than Syria (this week anyway lol)
Last edited by Isoverity : 07-04-2017 at 08:20 PM.
I don't know about UK but a lot of Trump support in US was based on Trump ridiculing exotic adventures abroad. In the past he said a US attack on Syria would have been a mistake. People liked that about him. Trump hasn't been a hawk - no "rah rah lets get'em" aside from Daesh
Farage (a Trump top mate now) said the bombing leaves a lot of Trump supporters scratching their heads today and that's true up to a point.
Secretary of State Tillerson has came out today and said this is not the beginning of a ground war, nor a push for regime change in Syria. As far as regime change he said that Assads long term status "will be decided by the Syrian people".
Another thing is this attack was ordered right before his meeting with the Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Finally, the president is privy to stuff that we're never going to be, so we're not going to have all the information. I will say, from my perspective, I disagree with this strike, but I'm not ready to start protesting yet.
Last edited by Rageaholic : 12-01-2018 at 05:45 AM.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
That said, paranoia about the deep state is nothing new, so if people genuinely believed Trump would be different - and they definitely seemed to - then it is perhaps understandable? I dunno.
It seems unrealistic to anticipate that not being deep state would automatically mean being isolationist though.
I guess also the swing from adulation to vilification is a bit unsettling.
Well the "deep state" thing has taken on new meaning. Administrations come and go but the bureaucrats stay. Over 95% of agency staffs donated to Clinton. They've been actively and openly trying to create problems for new admin. Trump calls to foreign leaders get leaked. Fake intelligence smears (Trump with Russian prostitutes) come from top intel agencies. Now it turns out Trump people were being surveilled for over a year.
The last admin was able to do sketchy things because they could limit participation and block investigations. As they left in Jan., they spread intel (for leaks) around agencies. They created a sloppy paper trail that's emerging. Whistleblowers and canaries are also emerging. We've been having an attempted velvet coup of sorts. People weren't sure what "deep state" meant 6 months ago but they are starting see things different now. Syria business comes around in middle of all that. Summer should be interesting.
I'm scared, 2018 is going to be quite bad I think, with North Korea especially, I mean why would they make nuclear bombs, if they're not going to use them, scary.
North Korea is a puffed up balloon. The only reason someone hasn't popped it yet is because they fear China not North Korea. The only reason North Korea is making threats is because everyone has basically coddled them for the past few decades.
The Kims don't care how many sanctions are put on their country, they'll still have all their comforts, it's what despots do. The only scary thing is that they've been allowed to get this far in the development of nuclear weapons. This was always going to come to a head, and it should've been dealt with decades ago. Personally, I say it's a damn good thing we have someone not afraid to do something about it now instead of waiting for them to attack some of our allies.
As I've said before about a North Korean attack, so long as you don't live in Seoul, I wouldn't fear anything about North Korea, any ICBM will be shot out of the sky before it leaves North Korean air space.
Last edited by Rageaholic : 12-01-2018 at 05:45 AM.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
You've got a good point, sanctions won't stop their nuclear aspirations, it's only ordinary people who suffer, the elite still will have their luxuries.
It really is difficult to comprehend why North Korea is developing nuclear weapons anyway, it only seems for offensive rather than defensive reasons, Trump & Kim Jong-Un seem like kids in the playground trying to outdo each other.
You've got a good point, sanctions won't stop their nuclear aspirations, it's only ordinary people who suffer, the elite still will have their luxuries.
It really is difficult to comprehend why North Korea is developing nuclear weapons anyway, it only seems for offensive rather than defensive reasons, Trump & Kim Jong-Un seem like kids in the playground trying to outdo each other.
North Korea is developing nuclear weapons because they can, they've been allowed to when Bill Clinton made a similar deal to the Iran deal with Kim Jong Il. Even prior to this deal the Kim regime has been antagonistic toward the west, and due to their relationship to China literally no one, until now, has did anything other than "denounce in the strongest terms" or imposed ineffective sanctions on North Korea.
Tough talk was needed, and while some dislike the optics of it, the effect it's had on China and North Korea cannot be denied. Literally hours after the "my button is bigger" tweet, North Korea announced they would open up a dialog with South Korea, something that hasn't happened in over two years.
So think whatever you want, but this has been a net positive so far.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
