Syria

[HairOfTheDog]

That monster has gassed his own people again. trump spoke out about it, he called Assad an animal and for the first time mentioned Putin. Russia has responded - "Military intervention under false & fabricated pretexts in Syria, where Russian servicemen stay at the request of the legitimate government, is absolutely unacceptable and may trigger the gravest consequences."

Russia is basically saying the reporting & video footage is fake news.

'Fake News!' -- it's been a very effective propaganda tool against gullible people, allowing leaders to falsely deny their actions and emboldening them to keep crossing previous humanitarian lines. Fake news is real, but real news is being labeled as fake by those who can't accept inconvenient truths all the time.

Even though ISIS has been greatly weakened in Syria over the last few years, the opposition to the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian controllers continues. The civil war rages on.

It's so fucked up; very disturbing and sad seeing the footage of Syrian civilians (including many children) fighting for life and dying in yet another illegal chemical attack.

McMaster warned during his time as U.S. National Security Advisor (and on his way out the door) about the consequences of idolizing autocrats and dictators by some in the west, including plenty of U.S. citizens and our leadership.

In regards to the latest chemical attack in Syria......John McCain issued a public statement pointing a finger at President Trump's comments last week. The President, who says he never announces military intent publicly, did just that when he said he'd be pulling U.S. troops out of Syria in the next six months. That reportedly took U.S. security and military leaders by surprise.

In McCain's view, Trump's statement emboldened Assad and Putin and Iranian ground forces to step up atrocities against opposition groups and against unaffiliated Syrian citizens unfortunate enough to be living in areas under opposition control.

This weekend's retaliatory missile attacks on Iranian ground troop bases in Syria were originally attributed to the U.S. by Russia. It's now believed they were launched by Israel.

The U.N. Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting today in attempt to determine what really happened and how to respond.

However, any of their recommendations can be vetoed by Russian members, meaning allied countries would need to develop their own game plans. Trump and French PM Macron are already reportedly talking strategy between themselves.

I'm interested in hearing new National Security Advisor Bolton's recommendations and seeing whether Trump listens to him.