More on Syria

[Zhivago]

I'm proud to be English too, and I tolerate having a Welsh mother

Proud to be English..?. About what..?.
Are you proud about England's contribution to Afghanistan..?.

You know that England at Agincourt utterly revoked all rules of chivalric honour by murdering unarmed prisoners.
It wasn't the first time and it wasn't the last.

Like all English folk I derive most of my self worth from our participation in Afghanistan and Agincourt, it's just not evil if it's not alliterative

You fucker, everyone knows it was the Welsh archers who won Agincourt.

[kk67]

I'm proud to be English too, and I tolerate having a Welsh mother

Proud to be English..?. About what..?.
Are you proud about England's contribution to Afghanistan..?.

You know that England at Agincourt utterly revoked all rules of chivalric honour by murdering unarmed prisoners.
It wasn't the first time and it wasn't the last.

Like all English folk I derive most of my self worth from our participation in Afghanistan and Agincourt, it's just not evil if it's not alliterative

You're being led by a tragic bunch of self interested stooges. It's painfully clear they are deeply divisive and not just separatist elitist morons.
They are that too.

[canta_brian]

We all know that Syria itself isn't the issue.
No one fights over a bit of desert for humanitarian reasons. Certainly not the Yanks or the English.

And not the Russians either. Don't turn yourself into Rowan mark 2, where anything anti western is automatically good and pure.

[rowan]

We all know that Syria itself isn't the issue.
No one fights over a bit of desert for humanitarian reasons. Certainly not the Yanks or the English.

And not the Russians either. Don't turn yourself into Rowan mark 2, where anything anti western is automatically good and pure.

Nor a brainwashed clown like Can't (have) a_brain, who thinks that anything non-Western is evil and sinister, and that anyone who suggests otherwise is obviously crazy

Yes, it's that time again, folks. When the arguments have all been shot down in flames, out come the ad hominems . . .

[morepork]

We all know that Syria itself isn't the issue.
No one fights over a bit of desert for humanitarian reasons. Certainly not the Yanks or the English.

And not the Russians either. Don't turn yourself into Rowan mark 2, where anything anti western is automatically good and pure.

Nor a brainwashed clown like Can't (have) a_brain, who thinks that anything non-Western is evil and sinister, and that anyone who suggests otherwise is obviously crazy

Yes, it's that time again, folks. When the arguments have all been shot down in flames, out come the ad hominems . . .

He has made no such claim. You are the gull here.

[kk67]

it's just not evil if it's not alliterative

Quality. I'm using that.

[kk67]

We all know that Syria itself isn't the issue.
No one fights over a bit of desert for humanitarian reasons. Certainly not the Yanks or the English.

And not the Russians either. Don't turn yourself into Rowan mark 2, where anything anti western is automatically good and pure.

Of course.
But watching the early morning reports of the air strikes got me thinking about that scene in The Hunt for Red October when Baldwin has jumped out of the chopper and scrambled aboard the aircraft carrier. He's chatting with the Admiral and the Skipper and the admiral says:
'Son... the Rooskis don't take a dump without a plan'.

I'd adapt that to : 'Son...the US don't launch ordinance without there being a profit'.

[rowan]

And not the Russians either. Don't turn yourself into Rowan mark 2, where anything anti western is automatically good and pure.

Nor a brainwashed clown like Can't (have) a_brain, who thinks that anything non-Western is evil and sinister, and that anyone who suggests otherwise is obviously crazy

Yes, it's that time again, folks. When the arguments have all been shot down in flames, out come the ad hominems . . .

He has made no such claim. You are the gull here.

Nor have I - and you know it.

[morepork]

Don't be obtuse man.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Don't be obtuse man.

For feck sake, MP. Stop being so slow to understand!

You will receive nothing but opprobrium from Rowan if you carry on using words like obtuse.

[rowan]

Ah, yes, the feces-flinging chimpanzee phase of the degeneration process is always intriguing to observe, if only out of a morbid sense of curiosity . . .

[Donny osmond]

Jeez I’m away for a week and look what this has descended into. It really was all about me. Me me me.

Should I join the resistance now?

[canta_brian]

Ah, yes, the feces-flinging chimpanzee phase of the degeneration process is always intriguing to observe, if only out of a morbid sense of curiosity . . . [emoji38]

Observe?

You utter hypocrite.

[rowan]

Ah, yes, the feces-flinging chimpanzee phase of the degeneration process is always intriguing to observe, if only out of a morbid sense of curiosity . . . [emoji38]

Observe?

You utter hypocrite.

Case in point

[canta_brian]

Ah, yes, the feces-flinging chimpanzee phase of the degeneration process is always intriguing to observe, if only out of a morbid sense of curiosity . . . [emoji38]

Observe?

You utter hypocrite.

Case in point

Correct. But my point not yours.

[rowan]

Our glorious leader is ecstatic today, joining the Saudis and Israelis in gleeful celebration . . .

In a clear violation of international law, these three bloodthirsty partners in crime bombed Syria hours before the OPCW arrived in Douma to investigate an alleged chemical attack

[Digby]

A very limited response so far from USA, UK and France. Clearly inviting Russia, Iran and Syria not to respond in turn leaving the attack as over, and clearly leaving plenty of options to return with more strikes in the face of an unwanted response

[rowan]

A very limited response so far from USA, UK and France. Clearly inviting Russia, Iran and Syria not to respond in turn leaving the attack as over, and clearly leaving plenty of options to return with more strikes in the face of an unwanted response

Looks like they're trying to prove a point, save face and possibly destroy the evidence - or lack of. It's all totally in violation of international law, of course, and if any civilians at all are killed they should be held accountable (but won't be, as usual). No doubt these strikes will also enhance the image and popularity of the embattled leaders responsible.

[kk67]

A very limited response so far from USA, UK and France. Clearly inviting Russia, Iran and Syria not to respond in turn leaving the attack as over, and clearly leaving plenty of options to return with more strikes in the face of an unwanted response

Yeah. Our foreign policy does seem to be made material by a few Playstation bombs.
Should we award some medals...?

[canta_brian]

A very limited response so far from USA, UK and France. Clearly inviting Russia, Iran and Syria not to respond in turn leaving the attack as over, and clearly leaving plenty of options to return with more strikes in the face of an unwanted response

Looks like they're trying to prove a point, save face and possibly destroy the evidence - or lack of. It's all totally in violation of international law, of course, and if any civilians at all are killed they should be held accountable (but won't be, as usual). No doubt these strikes will also enhance the image and popularity of the embattled leaders responsible.

Destroy evidence of chemical attack in Douma by targeting areas in Homs and Central Damascus? Are you sure you are not thinking of Odessa, or maybe Dargaville?

[kk67]

God knows they love a medal.

[rowan]

Jonathan Cook is an award-winning British journalist & author based in Nazareth, Israel, since 2001:

1. The United States, the UK and France launched air strikes on Syria this morning just as inspectors from the UN chemical weapons agency, the OPCW, had arrived to investigate whether a chemical weapons attack – the official justfication for the strikes – had taken place in Douma last week and, if so, who was responsible.

It looks suspiciously like the strikes were timed to pre-empt, and foil, the UN investigation. That has to raise concerns that we are being hoodwinked by our leaders, as we were in Iraq and Libya, as they seek to actively stoke yet another “humanitarian war” whose only beneficiaries will be the west’s military-industrial-security-media elites.

2. Let us not forget, a military attack on a sovereign country without authorisation from the UN Security Council amounts to a war of aggression. That is a crime against humanity – the supreme international crime, in fact – as jurists have repeatedly pointed out.

We have now so inverted the global order that western powers can claim – with a straight face – to attack a country in the name of decency and humanitarianism by breaking the most fundamental tenets of international law, tenets that were developed precisely to prevent last century’s two world wars that laid waste to Europe and beyond.

3. Trump has said: “We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents.” Given that he doesn’t know whether Bashar Assad used chemical weapons, or whether Assad’s jihadist opponents in Douma have access to such agents, his statements can only give Islamic extremists of the headchopping variety a huge incentive to carry out (more?) false-flag attacks – or simply mock up phoney attacks – to intensify western violence that will work in their favour.

4. There is precisely nothing humanitarian about western military attacks. They encourage and strengthen the losing side, Islamic extremists, and further drag out an already protracted proxy war in which Syrian civilians have been paying the main price.

They also risk triggering an escalation and a widening of the fighting that could lead to massive death and destruction in the region and beyond (and that without contemplating the dangers of a nuclear confrontation). We are now dependent not on the good sense of our leaders (they have shown they have none), but on the restraint of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. We must hope he refuses to be baited by our own irresponsible governments.

5. This is not Trump’s fault, bad as he is. There is bipartisan support for this madness. Hilary Clinton and the Democratic leadership in the US, and much of the parliamentary Labour party in the UK, are fully on board with these actions. In fact, they have been goading Trump into launching attacks.

It is hard not to notice a political context in both the US and the UK in which those opposed to escalating tensions with Russia – including Trump when he was a presidential candidate – have been vilified as Kremlin agents and Putin-bots.

Doubtless Trump’s shady global business dealings are worthy of investigation, as they were before he became president. But it is the relentless focus on his ties to Russia alone, on Russia’s supposed interference in the last US elections, on Russia’s supposed role in generating so-called “fake news” on social media, on the assumption of Russian involvement in the poisoning of the Skripals in the UK, and much else, that provides Trump with little choice but to go along with the US security and intelligence establishments.

That is the reason why he is instantly feted by the policy establishment every time he attacks Syria. It will take a brave Trump to resist these pressures in the future – and little so far suggests that he possesses that kind of courage.

https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2018 ... nst-syria/

[kk67]

The target has always been regime change.
The US don't understand that civilian causalities are a factor in their material gain.
They consider them as 'natives' that are stuck in the 16th century...... and the feckwit yanks don't understand 'life' as a concept beyond their own stupid bollocks justifications.


Feckwit Yanks who've never travelled.

[rowan]

Our glorious leader is ecstatic today, joining the Saudis and Israelis in gleeful celebration . . .

Forget to mention ISIS. The head-choppers will be performing the happy dance of celebration today as their American, British and French allies bomb yet another Middle Eastern nation in violation of international law.

[kk67]

It's upsetting that the West has deliberately encouraged and funded an autocratic, feudal society that loves a bit of slavery.
Directly opposed to the feudal society we decapitated a few hundred years ago.

And now our rich kids are exploiting their comfort. Bless them for hiding in a desert.