Trump and the U.S. military/security powers-that-be appear to be allying most closely with France and Macron instead of the U.K. because there is concern the British Parliament would again vote against military intervention without solid proof that the chemical weapons were unleashed by the hands of the Assad regime. That's what happened when Obama asked Congress and the U.K. to authorize force against the Assad regime back in 2013.

Trust in the U.S.'s claims about adversary regimes was seriously compromised after the U.S. government lied or misled our allies in regards to Saddam supporting al-Qaeda and stockpiling WMDs after 9 / 11.

Anyway, France's President Macron released a public statement claiming he has proof that it was Assad's military that released the chemical weapons in order to take back one of the last rebel-held areas in Syria (which Assad now claims is back under governmental control).

Meanwhile, Putin and Assad claim that the U.S. and its allies are lying about the chemical attack, it's 'fake news', and it's a 'hoax'. Sound familiar?

(04-10-2018, 11:29 AM)Jimbone Wrote:

(04-10-2018, 04:52 AM)Duchess Wrote:

Is there a republican anywhere that doesn't play whataboutism? It must be fun, so I'll start playing too. With this administration I'll have a shit ton to work with.

Actually it's a fun game that can be played on both sides of the aisle. You can do it at every change in administration!

Most recently, Bush blamed Clinton... then Obama blamed Bush... now Trump blames Obama. And the beat goes on and on and on and on...

And it goes back as far as you care to look.

I would not put it past any group is Syria to toss chemicals at their own people to make it look like it was Assad. Not that that is what happened but before things go South fast it is something that should be looked at. Why would Assad pick now to do a chemical attack. It seems strange.

(04-12-2018, 01:46 PM)Maggot Wrote: Why would Assad pick now to do a chemical attack. It seems strange.

I don't find it strange at all. It's the 8^th chemical attack since trump took office.

(04-12-2018, 01:57 PM)Duchess Wrote:

(04-12-2018, 01:46 PM)Maggot Wrote: Why would Assad pick now to do a chemical attack. It seems strange.

I don't find it strange at all. It's the 8^th chemical attack since trump took office.

It's the first time I've heard of it. I should watch the BBC more often.

(04-12-2018, 02:01 PM)Maggot Wrote: It's the first time I've heard of it. I should watch the BBC more often.

Probably because we are overwhelmed with news. Every. Fucking. Day.

I was watching the BBC 2 days ago and they really have a good reporting method. They just report the news without any smirks or digs or opinions. Unlike the American news.

The latest:

--U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to launch airstrikes after the latest Syrian chemical attack.

--French President Emmanuel Macron said he would respond to poison gas 'proof' at 'a time of our choosing'.

--Military chiefs are drawing up a list of potential targets in the country.



--The UN has warned world powers against letting the crisis 'spiral out of control'.

--Russian officials claim a hotline between the U.S. and Russia is being used to avoid accidental clashes.

--Today, in his senate confirmation hearing to move from head of the CIA to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo revealed that the U.S. “killed a couple hundred Russians” in Syria via U.S. warplanes after Syrian fighters backed by Washington came under attack in February.

Refs:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmakers-t...1523525400
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z5CUfeTWsZ

(04-12-2018, 02:07 PM)Maggot Wrote: I was watching the BBC 2 days ago and they really have a good reporting method. They just report the news without any smirks or digs or opinions. Unlike the American news.

Crazy isn't it?

They talked about the violence in Mexico and reported that there have been over 30,000 murders in a one year period. None of the media in the U.S. says anything derogatory about Mexico its always political posturing and opinion based headlines about immigration.

(04-13-2018, 04:37 PM)Maggot Wrote: They talked about the violence in Mexico and reported that there have been over 30,000 murders in a one year period. None of the media in the U.S. says anything derogatory about Mexico its always political posturing and opinion based headlines about immigration.

30,000 is a conservative estimate.
http://www.dw.com/en/mexico-posts-record...a-42247749

Hey! Let's have a war to knock Comey's book out of the headlines!

I don't think we should be spending a hundreds of a million dollars to prove a point for other peoples proxy wars.

I can't even find out what last night's mission was supposed to accomplish. Assad wasn't targeted, his air force remains intact. I don't know why an effort was made. Nothing has changed and I've read that the distraction cost close to a quarter billion dollars. There's smarter people than me in here, maybe they know.

No matter what Trump does or doesn't do it will be wrong somehow. #nevertrump

I'm not one of those #nevertrump people. They are Republican.

(04-14-2018, 10:18 AM)Duchess Wrote:
I can't even find out what last night's mission was supposed to accomplish. Assad wasn't targeted, his air force remains intact. I don't know why an effort was made. Nothing has changed and I've read that the distraction cost close to a quarter billion dollars. There's smarter people than me in here, maybe they know.

I'm not smarter than you, but here's my thinking as to the possible motives behind the strikes last night:

1. Wipe out some of Assad's chemical weapons production facilities for humanitarian reasons.

2. Send a strong message to Putin, who guaranteed the world that he'd prevent Assad from producing more chemical weapons after the 2013 agreement.

3. Give the impression to U.S. citizens that Trump is not beholden-to or in awe-of Putin.

4. Take the focus off of Trump's domestic dramas (the Cohen criminal investigation, the hush money/NDAs, the flip-flopping on tariffs and TPP participation...).

5. Save face -- Trump drew a red line and made public threats over the last week without consent of his security and military advisors and had to follow through, lest be weakened and guilty of what he repeatedly hammered Obama about.

6. A combination of some or all of the above -- this is most likely, in my opinion.

The use of chemical weapons is in violation of international law, no doubt.

But, they've been used frequently on Syrian civilians many many times since Trump took office and way more civilians have been killed and displaced by conventional weapons without any retaliatory action from the U.S. (or France or the U.K.). I think that's one reason a lot of people, including Trump supporters, are questioning Trump's true motives for last night's strikes.

Trump has publicly proclaimed many times that Obama never should have gotten involved in Syria at all, and he and his spokespeople are emphasizing now that last night's strikes were aimed at Assad, Putin, and Iran only (not an attempt to intervene in the country's civil war or to force regime change). Macron and May are echoing the same. Trump didn't get authorization from Congress to take military action and I don't believe Macron or May went through formal channels in France or Britain either.

Thanks, HotD.

It was so much money! I wanted something to be done but I had hoped it would be something heavy handed like taking out his planes. I've already seen some journalists talking about Putin warning Assad about targets and I've seen it said the bombers encountered no resistance.

Did you see any news clips of Alex Jones' meltdown after the strikes were announced Duchess?

"How could Trump violate his campaign promise; he's Putin's fucking butt buddy; fuck globalist Trump!!!!"

Here's just a bit of his profanity-laden, tear-filled rant.



It boggles my mind that there are millions of Americans who follow Jones religiously, believe his inane bullshit and conspiracy theories, and buy the 'end of days' products he peddles.

He's clearly an effin' lowlife con artist and a despicable dipshit.

No, I hadn't seen that! "I'm going to try and control myself". Ahahahaha!

It is unnerving to know that so many Americans buy into that crap. I don't care about their beliefs, they are entitled, I care about how dumb they are. Dumb is dangerous! I laughed as I typed that.

I had my speakers turned up and when he slapped the desk I did a lil' hop in my chair.