dagblog - Comments for "McCain: Trump's Cut and Run Talk Emboldened Assad"

Israel Is Waging a Growing

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 05:08:45 +0000

In reply to must admit I was thinking

Israel Is Waging a Growing War in Syria

By Robin Wright @ News Desk @ NewYorker.com, April 9

from tonight:

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 04:22:22 +0000

In reply to must admit I was thinking

from tonight:

Iran-Israel Conflict Escalates in Shadow of Syrian Civil War

By BEN HUBBARD and DAVID M. HALBFINGER @ NYTimes.com, 9:58 PM ET

Airstrikes on a Syrian military base killed four Iranian advisers, part of the Iranian military presence in Syria that Israel is trying to block.

must admit I was thinking

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 03:54:16 +0000

In reply to Another way to express

must admit I was thinking along those lines when I saw this news yesterday :

Israel accused of deadly Syria airfield bombing

Russia says the raid - thought to be a response to an alleged regime gas attack - is a "dangerous development" and blames Israel.

[....] The airfield strike came soon after US President Donald Trump warned Damascus and its allies that there would be a "big price to pay" after Saturday's alleged chlorine gas attack in the rebel holdout of Douma, in eastern Ghouta.[....]

Another way to express

moat — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 02:36:58 +0000

In reply to Security Council urged to

Another way to express Mistura's warning is to say that the overlapping presence of multiple simultaneous proxy wars, without any of the parties involved demonstrating a capacity or interest in "conflict resolution", could lead to a total clusterfuck.

Security Council urged to

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 01:01:06 +0000

In reply to McCain: Trump's Cut and Run Talk Emboldened Assad

Security Council urged to prevent ‘uncontrollable escalation’ in Syria

@ UN News Service, April 9

The recent escalating violence across Syria, including allegations of chemical weapons use in a Damascus suburb, could have consequences so devastating they are “difficult to even imagine,” a United Nations envoy warned Monday, calling for unity among global powers to prevent a chain of events that could draw in actors far beyond the region.

“Recent developments carry more than ever before the dangers that the Secretary-General has warned about,” Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

“[Dangers] of different Middle East fault lines completely crossing each other and interconnected, of conflicting interests – of both global and regional powers, and forms of escalation that can have absolutely devastating consequences that is difficult for us to even imagine.”

In sounding the alarm, Mr. de Mistura reiterated that is it the first time since his appointment (in July 2014), that he has issued such a warning.

“The Council cannot allow a situation of uncontrollable escalation to develop in Syria, on any front,” he said [....]

He also called for complete respect for Security Council resolution 2401, in which the body demanded an immediate cease in hostilities and conditions that to enable humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations of those in need.

The Security Council’s emergency meeting was convened amid sharp deterioration in the situation in the war-torn country with reports of dozens killed in an alleged chemical weapons attack as well as heightened conflict across Syria.

Also briefing the Council today, Thomas Markram, the Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said [....]

Julian Borger on the U.N..

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 00:57:13 +0000

In reply to McCain: Trump's Cut and Run Talk Emboldened Assad

Julian Borger on the U.N.. for TheGuardian.com, April 9, 20:38 EDT, in Trump says Syria decision imminent as Russia warns of 'grave repercussions'

[.....] Before meeting the generals, Trump called Macron, who has also threatened military action if the Syrian regime is proven to have carried out a chemical weapons attack. The White House issued a statement saying the US and French presidents would “continue their coordination on responding to Syria’s atrocious use of chemical weapons on April 7”.

The sharply escalating tensions between the US and Russia boiled over at an angry session of the UN security council session on Monday.

The French UN envoy, Francois Delattre, said the symptoms of the victims suggested that they had been exposed to “a powerful neurotoxic agent, combined with chlorine to enhance its lethal effect”. Delattre added that only Syrian forces had the means and the motive to make such weapons and carry out such an attempt.

The US ambassador, Nikki Haley, lashed out at Moscow for its unstinting backing of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader. She referred to Moscow as the “Russian regime, whose hands are all covered in the blood of Syrian children”.

Haley’s Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, complained that “Russia is being unpardonably threatened” and claimed both that Russian investigators had found no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma, and that it had been staged by rebels, trained in carrying out false-flag provocations by US special forces.

“There was no chemical weapons attack,” Nebenzia told the council. “Through the relevant channels we already conveyed to the US that armed forces under mendacious pretext against Syria – where, at the request of the legitimate government of a country, Russian troops have been deployed – could lead to grave repercussions.” [....]

The incident with the Russian

Peter — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 14:15:06 +0000

In reply to There have been reports of

The incident with the Russian mercs probably won't be repeated unless they want more punishment. I don't know what it was but it wasn't part of Russian or Syrian troops attacking the US proxy forces. Most of the US troops on the ground in Syria are trainers and spotters with some special ops follks who's leaving will change little because US air power has been and will remain the deciding force along with the Kurds against the IS. These Assad gas attacks are another seperate crisis that Trump will have to address and soon for Putin may block any action from the UN.

There have been reports of

moat — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 12:44:21 +0000

In reply to I don't want to pick on

There have been reports of the Assad regime using chlorine from the beginning of the year. Here is a search page of the reports for your perusal

Whatever the strategic goals involved, there have been clashes between U.S and Assad forces, like this one in February.

It is this background that undercuts McCain's statement more than anything else. McCain certainly is highlighting how Trump reneged on his election vow not to tell the enemy what he will be doing.

I don't want to pick on

Peter — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 03:39:21 +0000

In reply to Whoa. Chicken Hawk eaten by

I don't want to pick on McCain he hasn't much time left but he was never CiC and never will hold that responsibility. His comment is confused because the troops Trump plans to bring home are not involved in the conflict with Assad or the Russians but with the IS. This attack if verified will probably have been planned weeks ago with little if any connection to the announced withdrawal.

Whoa. Chicken Hawk eaten by

moat — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 22:18:16 +0000

In reply to McCain: Trump's Cut and Run Talk Emboldened Assad

Whoa. Chicken Hawk eaten by an actual one.