Unlike the famous chemical weapons “attack” portrayed by the BBC in Saving Syria’s Children, it does appear that in the latest incident at Idlib there was real horror inflicted by chemical attack of some kind. The question is who did it and why?
I am no fan of the Assad regime, and I have no problem using the word “regime” to describe it. Dictators do hold and win elections. I have lived in severe dictatorships and seen from the inside how they do it. The human rights abuses of the Assad regime have been well documented for decades.
But Bashar al Assad is neither stupid nor unsophisticated. Aided by Putin, he outwitted Obama by quickly giving up his chemical weapons to be destroyed and accepting transparency in verification. There is no justification for the destruction of Iraq, but if Saddam Hussein had been able to swallow pride as completely as Assad, he too could have had a very good chance of averting disaster.
Assad had seen his position go from strength to strength, thanks to Putin’s astute deployment of Russia’s limited military power. Militarily the balance had swung dramatically in Assad’s favour, while Trump had said the unsayable and acknowledged that putting Syria into the hands of Wahabbist crazies was not in the United States interest.
So I cannot conceive that Assad would risk throwing all of this away for the sake of a militarily insignificant small chemical weapons attack. It would be an act of the most extreme folly. It is not impossible – hubris is a great temptation to dictators – but given how Assad has played it so far, it seems out of character and extremely improbable. What is less improbable is a local battlefield decision by pro-Assad forces. In my close observation of dictatorial regimes, a fascinating feature is that they operate an image of the perfection of the state. They are highly adverse to admitting mistakes.
What did happen I do not profess to know. There are at least eleven major identifiable state and non-state forces involved in the fighting around Idlib. In going through them all and considering opportunity and motive for each, I continually find that those whose motive would be false flag stand to benefit a great deal more than those who might have been seeking military advantage.
I am therefore for now unconvinced that this was a deliberate use of chemical weapons by Assad forces. I do not rule it out, but it would take much more concrete evidence than currently offered to prove they did something so strongly and obviously against their own interest. But western governments and media have determined to make that the narrative, so the truth is, as so often in modern geo-politics, entirely incidental to the course of future events.
Putin is not claiming it as a false flag, clearly he needs to consult the world-renowned experts on this blog. The Russian explanation is that the Syrian plane bombed a terrorist stockpile of sarin which is improbable for a number of reasons, not least that because of it’s short shelf life it’s usual to stockpile precursor chemicals and only mix them into sarin shortly before use.
Cui bono is not the acid test truthers believe. Assad has Vladimir backing him and probably believes himself to be untouchable, after all what is the rest of the world going to do? Invade? Or just impose more sanctions and issue a strongly worded resolution from the UN?
Where is Anon1 to give us a more balanced view, bwahahahaha ! Assad will be around LONG after yer bibi satanyahu is GONE !!
Most likely is that in the wake of a bombing attack on an Al Qaeda base the White Helmets used stocks of sarin gas, which they have employed on several previous occasions, to kill a few of their imprisoned victims-Christians, Shia, supporters of the government, enemies of NATO.
They then, using the sophisticated communications facilities supplied to them by the “west” supplied video to Washington’s order.
You left out MOSSAD, the BBC and the lizards.
“it’s usual to stockpile precursor chemicals and only mix them into sarin ”
This may be usual in the sense that it is best practice in the massacring community, but it is not what happens in Syria and Iraq where the gas is transported to Al Qaeda from distant laboratories, many of them in Turkey, others, one supposes in Israel and Iraq.
Happens in Syria especially as they lack the means to purify the stuff so it degrades even quicker!
Assad has Vladimir backing him and probably believes himself to be untouchable, after all what is the rest of the world going to do? Invade?
Are you implying that Assad used poison gas just because he could get away with it. That’s the sort of simplistic smear that politicians are allowed to make unchallenged, but you don’t get off with it on this blog. If you believe Assad was responsible, please spell out what you believe were his motives.
Was that sarcasm?
Was that sarcasm?
No. Was that evasion on your part?
I cannot think of any credible reason why Assad would use poison gas in these circumstances. You apparently disagree, therefore I am asking you to explain WHY you think he did it.
No it was the synagogue of satan trying to fool the goyim? Not anymore and they have begun to plant boxtrees knowing what comes now. Giyane can explain.
“please spell out what you believe were his motives.”
Recognising that he done it cos he wants to be attacked, is not a very believable position, msm have invented another argument, just in case.
Turns out, it’s a sign of weakness.
So we got, for motives:
Hubris
Stupidity
Weakness.
That’s the kinda spectrum of possibility they’re working with.
A full spectrum of possibility.
They’re that focussed.
In a Western laboratory or arsenal perhaps but among the US head-chopping, heart-eating rapers? Pull the other one.
“Assad probably believes himself ..”
not as untouchable as a GCHQ, pseudo psychologist internet troll …
Still no mention in these comments (unless I’ve missed it) about why the USA has caused the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.
The craven cowards won’t even mention it.
Now you come to mention it… when Trump handed Merkel a bill for the supposed amount Germany owed NATO, she should have handed Trump a bill for the cost of Europe of dealing with the refugees Amerika has created.
glenn_uk, you really couldn’t make this stuff up. Merkel took in a million refugees, fundamentally changing the dynamics of Germany.
This all came about because of the US bombing of Syria, which started in September 2014, and by the summer of 2015 showed us Biblical images of refugees coming into Europe.
These people are war criminals. Plain and simple.
Here’s one for you Rob: Clear up any hard feelings…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3aWlt81EwU
A very good link, glenn_uk, but you could try the real deal…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2kkr0e_dTQ
Oh, very good Rob – Jacques Brel eh? First time I actually got his name.
I still think Caro Emerald is better looking though… off to see her next week as it happens. You might like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUV2GPas4aY
The refugees are entirely a problem for Europe.
All European politicians are owned by the US. If Europeans are too spineless and too weak to demand politicians represent their interests and not the interests of the US then that is a problem for the European citizenry. Suck it up losers!
But hey I like the EU because it is so Kultural with a capital K – but man I have never heard of Goethe “There a re none so firmly enslaved as those who falsely believe themselves to be free”
Like the man said – Suck it up losers
Not a bit soft on Trump, Glenn. I simply ‘speak as I find’. The idea that Trump is a Russian agent or even that Russia wanted him to win the election, was ludicrous and I said so. It ought now to be evident that Russia, whose government is in the hands of rational actors, was almost certainly indifferent to which of the two candidates won.
At the same time it was clear that the careerist conservative bureaucracy in the US, from the military through the civil service to the media, wanted the devil it knew to win.
They, as current events re Syria make clear, are the people that count: they make the decisions. It has taken them a few weeks but it now looks as of Trump is following in the long line of Presidents, since Reagan, who have done as Tel Aviv tells them to do.
Why? Because Tel Aviv has ideas, Washington doesn’t. Tel Aviv has interests, it imagines that it wants the best for its people, Washington hates the American people, they frighten it and disgust it.
Bevin: The idea that Trump is a Russian agent is ludicrous, and also a straw man. He might well be compromised by Russia, however. They made no secret of the fact that Trump was their preferred agent, sorry, candidate by a considerable margin.
Agreed, the US Establishment wanted Clinton to win.
Can’t argue with the rest of what you’ve written, but please note something – Trump’s regime has undertaken more bombing (in Yemen in particular) in less than three months than Obama’s did in his last term. Trump is not the isolationist that many of us would like to see from Amerika – indeed, when he talked about “bombing the crap” out of ISIS (and anyone else unfortunate enough to be near them), he wasn’t kidding.
About the opinion of Washington of the Amerikan people – Trump is on the record as saying how much he despises the ordinary working man. He looks on them the way we might regard something unpleasant stuck to the bottom of our shoe. I still don’t understand your fondness for this miserable thug.
“Trump is not the isolationist that many of us would like to see…”
“To the victor belong the spoils” Donald trump.
Here he is channelling Jon Voight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saqkQU5anI0
She should have demanded the gold back as well….
As a matter of fact, it’s in the process of being repatriated!
This describes when it was started: https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/01/16/germany-repatriating-gold-from-ny-paris-in-case-of-a-currency-crisis/#43aee1c82e3e
Was reading in the NYT (paper edition) the other day that the last big returns are underway.
One of the most worrying aspects of this issue is the media’s failure to question the mainstream narrative – that evil Assad, assisted by demonic Putin – was responsible for a chemical attack. An article in the Guardian today takes as read the fact that Assad was responsible – no evidence, no debate. The US mainstream media were blaming Assad from the outset before the facts could possibly be known. Like Craig I think Assad had nothing to gain and everything to lose in employing chemical weapons. When something like this happens you have to ask “who might benefit?”. Since Assad and his allies were making good progress on a military front then the terrorists – or the US interests who are still wedded to the mantra that “Assad must go” – might be those whose interests are best served by re-identifying Assad as a war criminal whom the West has a moral duty to remove. This particular cry of wolf against Assad was made before and is now recognised to have been false.
Robert Parry has a great comentary
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/05/another-dangerous-rush-to-judgment-in-syria/
The mainstream media’s willingness to simply parrot what they are told without challenge is unconsionable. Politicians lie. We KNOW this – this is one thing that is not in doubt. Remember Iraq. Remember how the press went along with the lies and on their watch hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died.
If certain factions persuade Trump to confront Assad because of an unproven chemical attack then the US and Russia are in conflict. Both nuclear powers and the war zone is on Europe’s borders. Is no-one in the media aware of this? Do they think it isn’t their responsibility?
BabsP, they’re all complete psychopaths and war criminals.
The sad fact is that many people still buy into the bullshit.
good points.
QT came from Gillingham tonight. It was one of the worst editions of the programme I have seen. The combined intelligence of the panel was dire and the poor level of knowledge in the audience was evident.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08lqddh/question-time-06042017
11 mins in
Q2. from Natasha Khan ‘What action can we take to prevent the Assad regime executing another chemical attack on their own people (sic)’
It was taken as fact by the panel that the chemical attack was perpetrated by President Assad. No questions asked. It was like a repeat of the discussions that took place when military action against Syria was planned by Cameron.
‘David Dimbleby chairs topical debate from Gillingham. On the panel are Conservative MP Suella Fernandes, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, co-leader of the Green Party Jonathan Bartley, businesswoman and broadcaster Michelle Dewberry, and Gerard Coyne, the West Midlands secretary of the Unite union who is a candidate in the election for general secretary.’
Sharp Ears,
It was noted on a number of the ‘Ultra Left’ FB Groups I belong too that this weeks edition of QT was going to be one of the most dire examples of ‘ill-informed debate’ the BBC had to offer since its Scottish Ref. output in the third quarter of 2014 – indeed, the programme has stooped so low that they now advertise the winner of ‘The Apprentice’ as being some kind of authoritative person on any, and all, issues. To put it bluntly, my daughter aged nine and her peer group have a more informed dialogue than this group of ‘piss poor’ representatives of multicultural Rightwing Britain.
You never seem to learn.
The BBC is a world leader in the dissemination of fake news. Your watching this bilge and then disseminating the garbage they produce simply assists them in their role as cheerleaders for global war.
Worse still you almost certainly finance these morons through the acquisition of a TV licence. It would be a more productive and valuable use of your money to simply burn it rather than hand it over to the BBC.
Yeah. They used to make an attempt at some semblance of balance.
Now it’s all full gungho.
I suppose you can date the change to the Iraq war.
Prior to that there was some debate.
Now all mainstream media are full on for every bit of Globalist propaganda.
It isn’t just you’re with us or agin us.
It’s that the stakes are so high.
And for journo and expert jobs too.
Won’t need so many of these fabricators when things return to a natural course.
And anyway.
Anyone notticed it’s mostly thickos on the telly these days.
Used to be there were people worth listening to, had things to say, smart clever people.
Now it’s all dopes.
I think that may suggest a more managed outcome than I’d expect yer natural organic evolution to deliver.
Like, I mean.
How come we’ve gone from the nuanced intellectualism of the !950s, say, to the chimps throwing shit stuff we see today.
Used to be called dumbing-down.
But that’s an understatement.
Anyway.
Who, or what, is responsible for it?
And why?
Have you noticed that most adverts portray people (particularly men) as complete idiots?
These are supposed to be people we can identify with, feel ourselves in the same situation as, so want to avail ourselves of the same solutions that satisfied them. Yet the characters used in ads are invariably complete morons. Often you’ll get a reasonably sophisticated woman, with a total idiot as a partner (who she is wearily, but indulgently, amused by) with whom _we_ are supposed to empathise as a product marketed towards men.
Even on Classic-FM, the adverts feature shouty morons, annoying enough to switch off altogether. Don’t these stations realise the damage this crap does? The advertisers have long decided that even if their ad is highly annoying, you’ll remember it, so that’s good – it’s working. But the stations?
It’s all down to highly discredited, flawed research from the 1970s apparently, which badly misjudged the attention span of people. I’m not sure now… perhaps those researchers were just ahead of their time.
Ever watched Idiocracy?
http://www.craveonline.com/mandatory/1045965-10-things-idiocracy-predicted-would-happen-and-sadly-already
While on the EU mainland recently, I saw an endorsement for some film – it said at the top of the poster “What The Fuck” – just that – with the author of this esteemed review named immediately below. I rest my case.
Isn’t it a cardinal rule of manipulation to flatter your audience?
Flatter? Maybe. A portrayal of a fairly stupid fellow, even more stupid than myself, yet he’s got a decent home/car, a stonking wife and so on… isn’t that flattery? Telling you – the viewer – that this is what you deserve?
This is what advertising does.
You are fat – you deserve to be slimmer. You deserve to eat better food, drink better beer, have better dressed and more exciting friends. Your woman should be very desirable – hey, yours is ugly, didn’t you know? You deserve to drive a very special, brand new car. Don’t you realise how disrespected you are, driving that piece of junk you’re in now?
You’re insulted. But told how you can be flattered, as you deserve. It happens hundreds of times a day. Your life sucks, but here’s the solution – over and over.
Yes they flatter, but only if you deserve the flattery through buying the product. If you don’t, you’re obviously a chump!
Yes, of course.
I agree entirely.
But why.
Why is our whole way of being, political, economic, social, cultural, in such decline.
Is it some sort of natural organic decay.
Or is it a managed thing.
Is it in the interests of a well padded Establishment to have enquiring masses probing into the inequities, rather than satisfying themselves with the trivial and inconsequential?
Another line of thought is that we never heard the messages between and for the masses on such a level, and the tone of communication is set for the lowest common denominator, when mass appeal is required.
It’s not sheer stupidity on behalf of the purveyors of these cultural messages. They sit around in offices, consulting psychologists, culturalists, anyone steeped in the art of propaganda and manipulation, all with a fairly analytical bent – this is what works. This is worth many billions a year, after all.
Look at the Sun, Express and so on – a rabble-rousing, reactionary right-wing drip-feed to get the poorly educated to vote against their own best interests, while pandering to the prejudices of the owners of these rags. Not to mention appealing to and justifying the prejudices of the socially lower end of the scale readers, who are the target market. And also make up the majority of the population.
We’re more aware of it, because it’s more in our face – as advertisers and marketeers get better at it. It’s not sophisticated or clever (except in the niche areas where it pays to be so), because it isn’t needed for the primary audience.
—
This isn’t to say that people in general are not capable of being interested, educated, and sophisticated. It’s simply very much in the Establishment’s interests to ensure that they are not.
“It was taken as fact by the panel that the chemical attack was perpetrated by President Assad”
A pre-selected panel with pre-selected questions.
Here is Peter Hitchens In fine form:
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2017/04/its-wmd-all-over-again-why-dont-you-see-it-.html
Thing is.
Why is the Conservative Hitchens so much more with truth and reality than the Socialist Hitchens who supported the NWO and Globalism.
There’s your faultline right there.
Maybe because the once socialist Hitchens is dead-and therefore no longer learning from experience- whereas the conservative Hitchens-formerly socialist too- is alive and honest enough to allow himself to be influenced by the unfolding reality.
But does it matter?
What matters is what the truth is, those who speak it will find it reflects well upon them, those who don’t will be found out.
Problem is though that the Socialist Hitchens was completely and utterly gungho for everything the NWO and Globalism stood for, including the destruction of those of a more traditional mind.
A secular extremist.
At least.
He didn’t need longer living or more experience to know where his views led. He saw them in action. And delighted in them.
Peter seems to have sussed out the problems with “one size fits all” systems at a young age.
And fair play to him.
We are all idealistic in youth.
Then come practicalities.
Anyway.
Real Conservatism is quite radical and dangerous these days.
More likely to get you locked up than Leftist causes.
And there’ll be a reason for that.
Called;
Humanity versus Scientism.
Then there is this, maybe more to the point:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/04/04/boomerang-russia-gate-turns-into-spy-gate/
Has anyone encountered a definitive description of when exactly this gas attack happened? An American economist is claiming that the attack was denounced nearly a day before it happened by Arabic social media. I’m having trouble identifying when exactly it is alleged to have occurred in any media coverage at all.
Help is appreciated!
” If there is a US war on Syria, the entire Western media spectrum (from Democracy Now to Nation Magazine to the Guardian to NYT and WP to Weekly Standards) is complicit in this war criminal act. They have been edging and pushing for war for the entire span of this war, and they have exclusively been citing and promoting individuals who have been pushing for a US war–and most if not all of those individuals are affiliated with Gulf regimes and their propaganda outlets in the East and West. ..” Asad Abu Khalil
‘MIT Researcher: Syria WMD ‘Facts’ Were Manufactured to Fit U.S. Conclusion for Ghouta in 2013’:
http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/04/06/mit-researcher-syria-wmd-facts-were-manufactured-to-fit-us-conclusion-for-ghouta-in-2013/
Pity Chumsky doesn’t check it out!
Seymour Hersh, in the LRB of all places.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
It appears Trump has fallen for this rather blatant false flag. Missiles raining down.
I suppose we should wait to see exactly which group was being bombed – may not be the Syrian Army, perhaps it’s one of the head-choppers. It’s not looking good though. I do hope Trump has actual evidence, rather than neocon lies, to go on.
A plan drafted before the alleged ‘attack’ to ‘respond’ to the alleged perpetrator? Same story, same deep state, different lying bastards.
https://theintercept.com/2017/04/06/u-s-weighs-saturation-strike-on-syrian-government-in-response-to-chemical-attack/
“According to both U.S. military officials, the current proposal would likely result in Russian military deaths and mark a drastic escalation of U.S. force in Syria.”
Looking forward to the Haberdasher condemning this unprovoked act of aggression, war and a violation of international law in contravention of the UN Security Council. Trump calls on “all civilised nations” to blah blah blah.
Well it’s official folks, new puppet, same as the old puppet.
Trump, still channelling Jon Voight, looks and sounds like a man who knows that he’s lying though his teeth.
Oh dear, the Australian PM has already offered to bomb the fuck out of something or other, in order to prove his worth as a puppet. Dance my puppet, dance! These people are just worms. I’ve been vaguely, and surprisingly, supportive of Trump, but he’s being an idiot, and has just fallen right into the trap of the neocon slime paedo’s currently running the show. A sad day.
Doubtless at some point, it will ‘come out’ that the evidence wasn’t clear, and, in fact, Assad did jack shit. All too late; always, all too late.
Shayrat, seems to have fifty hardened fighter aircraft bunkers.
Hence, 50 + missiles.
This airfield, is not far from Israel, about 125 miles.
Remember Israel bombed Syria, recently.
http://www.herald.co.zw/israel-bombs-syria/
This, probably has nothing whatsoever to do with any gas attack.
This is a follow up, of the Israeli air /missile attacks on Syria and the response of Syria, to those attacks.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/damascus-airbase-said-bombed-by-israeli-planes/
It would seem that over recent times there have been several Israeli attacks on Syrian air bases, even from
The Golan, which is Syrian land, stolen by Israel
Perhaps the United Nations could
discuss?
The Us military fired more than 50 tomahawk missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield at 8.45pm EDT Thursday
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4388834/America-launches-airstrikes-Syria.html#ixzz4dXDeHZof
‘We’ve laid down a marker. No more chemical weapons attacks, period. There will be consequences. Our president is showing his American conscience, and if anyone provokes him they will regret it.’
I suggest that it is possible that Israel persuaded
The Pentagon
to undertake the destruction of this Syrian Military facility, 125 miles from Israel.
Turnbull is a “chuck todd” if you know what I mean, like a morris cerullo fooling the dumb southern baptist rednecks. The Oz lack conviction to identify the devils in their midst.
How Pre-Arranged was this new illegal attack on Syria.. All planned. More Dead Children
There are of course other “The Balance of Probabilities”
1) Chinese leader staying with The Scottish Donald in Florida,
gets to see Trump play the hardman, under the same roof, lesson for China for North Korea
2) lesson for Vlad Putin, Trump can and will do what he is told, leave The Ukraine alone.
3) lesson for Frau Merkel, wind your neck in and pay up multiple billions to NATO
40 lesson for The Philipines or anyone else watching, hey world, we are bat shit crazy, so watch out.
Yes. These do seem to be the lessons.
Ok there we have it. Trump is another neoconservative warlover that feels free to attack any country illegally, he doesnt show any proof, he just claims, thats the same fake claim that US used in 911 beginning the war in the middle east.
Now we see that Trump is no better, its such a disgrace because many people had hopes and voted for him for him to stop these illegal, useless wars.
After all after the anti-russian hatred going on, NOW no one can use that against him ever, after bombing Russia’s partner Syria.
Look also how all the EU support Trump not to speak about the mainstream media, doing everything to cover up criticism with the classic propaganda and bias for war. Shameful!
S. N. P. TAX GRAB: SCOTLAND
from TODAY is now the HIGHEST taxed part of the United Kingdom
PEOPLE could be deterred from moving to work in Scotland after the S. N. P. made the country the highest taxed part of the U.K.
experts warned today.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/788821/scotland-tax-snp-highest-part-of-uk
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay was today forced to defend the £107 million raid as he again ducked responsibility for Scotland’s ailing economy.
In a stumbling radio interview the Nationalist minister repeatedly blamed June’s Brexit vote for plummeting consumer confidence as he was pressed on why the country is on the brink of recession.
But critics have hit out at his party’s “high tax agenda” and for creating uncertainty with demands for another independence referendum.
These clowns are running Scotland into the ground
” …the Scottish Donald…” You mean like the Yankee Winston?
The only “clowns” running Scotland into the ground are the Westminster Clowns of whatever Unionist colour their false noses exhibit.
Follow the money Norton and get some true perspective. SNPBAAD is old hat.
Carefull you don’t slip on a Brexit banana.
59 Tomahawk missiles….
As John Pilger said, the Americans always choose North American Indian names for their C20 and C21 weapons of death.
What follows?
He was dead right.
‘The missile is named after the Tomahawk, a one-handed axe used as a tool and a weapon by pre-contact Native Americans in the United States.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_(missile)
A snip @ “$1.59m a pop. Therefore Trump’s show last night cost $93.8m + +
The shares of Raytheon/McDonnell will rise. Hurray!
I heard a few words from the blond property magnate – weeping for children in Idlib. None were killed in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. How many have been exterminated or maimed by the Israeli outpost of North ‘America’ since WW11 never ended?
OMG did Trump do another version of the sarkozy “netanyahu is a liar” con trick? It appears all that initial talk about no assad regime change etc was all mic, they had this chemical false flag and the extensive bombing that has followed PLANNED all along.
This is sad news
Westminster attack: Andreea Cristea who fell into Thames dies in hospital
http://news.sky.com/story/westminster-attack-andreea-cristea-who-fell-into-thames-dies-in-hospital-10828091
So that probably means five victims have now died from
The Westminster Attack
Humphreys’ questioning of Fallon interesting. Were we asked to participate? Fallon says that is a hypothetical question. Huh?
At end of interview Fallon says Let me clarify we were not asked.
According to article in London Review of Books uvol 39 no 7 there was an attack against Syria on 12 Jan, which may have been by two F-35s and we do not know if it was by US or Israel. Article doubts Israel as they only took delivery of F-35s in December.
The apratheid state of Israel is the command centre for all the evil happening in the Middle East. There is a solution.
What would that be?
The solution is not to do the dirty work of Israel. I don’t think the solution is easy. Neither do I expect western countries to go for it. Israel is the master mover of false flag incidents. Its aims are globalisation and the theft of minerals. Its method is chequebook diplomacy.
Ha, ha. He’s a prize dickhead. All of them are: Fallon, Hammond, Johnson.
Sadly logic has died. We are now guided by alternative realities according to the predominant narrative.
Perhaps the Syrian “civil” war could have been avoided completely if
President Assad had allowed the Turkish/Jordanian/Saudi/Qatari pipeline across their land?
Yer right, a cacophony of harps rules the day. They even found East Indian sikh lady to wave pictures at the UNSC instead of the notorious East Indian bihari jamaican waving vials of anthrax. At this rate the cacophony of gays in the media will soon be rewarded with a national gay pride holiday by the janners controlling Western legislatures, after gay marriage and trans toilets.
We just don’t know, do we ? I tend to listen to Peter Ford on issues like this, his knowledge of the area is more current than my own. I could not find the original but here’s an edited mirror….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS6Oa_aDS6E
The price of oil briefly rose over 2% following the airstrikes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Shayrat_airstrike
Apparently, The Scottish Donald informed Vlad Putin, more than an hour before the multi-missile-strikes
perhaps Vlad Putin, then telephoned his chum President Assad, to get his aircraft out of the way?
The Saudis will be delighted
The price of Brent crude surged above $56 a barrel before easing slightly.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39525315
Oil price jumps after US strike on Syria
If I were a cynic, ……oh wait…
When will journalists in the MSM stop espousing propaganda and start doing their job, namely questioning authority and digging deep to find the real story based on facts, rather than BS TPTB want us to eat continually?
Whilst the likes of Habbabkuk are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of Regime Change in Syria, which means war and probably war with Russia, more circumspect persons are collating information, sifting through the BS and providing valuable information for honest folk to dwell on. As ever, Sic Semper Tyrannis is putting out decent information all can understand, and that means no ‘SARIN’ attack has been undertaken by anyone, perhaps a chemical release has occurred via a known bombing of an ammunitions dump which the USA was actually briefed on. As such Trumps actions by launching missile attacks on a strategically non-important Syrian airbase is theatre, illegal theatre that will come back and bite him and the West in the arse. Latest SST update, I urge all to read and all to pay particular attention to BTL comments: http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/04/donald-trump-is-an-international-law-breaker.html
Chris
“When will journalists in the MSM stop espousing propaganda and start doing their job”
And there’s the misunderstanding that leads to this place repeatedly and endlessly despairing at the same old lies, unable to imagine a path to a solution. In centralised nation states in a capitalist world the journalists job will always be to produce propaganda that sustains their paymasters along with their own, relatively small, privilege. Do you think a corporation will pay to agitate for it’s demise?
Thank you.
Your question is rhetorical sad to say.
Trump waited 72 hours before ordering the airstrike.
Hilary Clinton, if she’d become President, would have waited 72 seconds before ordering an airstrike.
That I suppose was the difference between the two candidates in the election.
Funny and true.
Completely not true.
This was a limited surgical strike. The Bitch would’ve gone in without measure, all guns blazing. AND made you suffer a 72-minute ‘speech’.
The trolls seem to have withdrawn. Probably at a champagne party celebrating the good news.
Do you mean RoS
why don’t they reply to the extreme downturn in the Scottish Economy compared to the vibrant economy of England?
Could the answer be that the continuing uncertainty over more than one Independence Referendum is scarring off investors?
Frightening the horses.
And helping tight Scotsmen to keep their purses locked up, for when the rainy days come?
There is no extreme downturn. All wishful thinking on your part and supplied by your febrile imagination.
Nicola Sturgeon is doing things to boost the Scottish economy. Doing her very best to keep Scotland in the single market. Going on trade missions to the US and Germany.
What’s Theresa May doing for Scotland’s economy? Dictating to us that we’re leaving the EU with no separate deal with Brussels. Planning to give priority to fracking in England and neglecting the Scottish renewables sector. Planning to allow more asset stripping. Enthusiastically following Boris Johnson’s dictum that a pound spent in Croydon is worth more than a pound spent in Strathclyde.
The extreme downturn you talk of will be the result of brexit but will only be for those parts of the current UK that are not going to be in the single market.
The Scottish Economy has been FLATLINING since Indyfef1,
while the economy of the rest of the U.K. has been growing?
The Scottish Conservatives said the country was now “on the path to recession” under the SNP.
Finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish government must take responsibility for this mess.
“She has made Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK and created more instability and uncertainty with her threat of a second referendum.
“Now we see the real-life impact of her mismanagement.
“These figures also smash the SNP’s claim that Brexit is to blame for a slowdown.
“If that was the case, why is the rest of the UK powering ahead, while Scotland comes to a standstill?”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-39501748
Murdo Fraser says
Murdo Fraser says
Michael Norton says
Murdo Fraser says
https://www.strath.ac.uk/media/1newwebsite/departmentsubject/economics/fraser/Fraser_Allander_Booklet.pdf
“The SNP should take a second referendum off the table and get back to governing the country.”
‘Deeply disappointing’
Fraser of Allander Institute director Prof Graeme Roy said the latest figures were “deeply disappointing” and confirmed a more general slowdown in Scotland’s economy.
He said: “With the Scottish economy shrinking in the final quarter of 2016, this means that the Scottish economy did not grow at all through 2016.
“At a time when the UK economy grew at 1.8% over the same period, this is a serious cause for concern.
Michael
Norway is about to start construction of the Stad Ship Tunnel. A canal tunnel for ships that will mean vessels can avoid the dangerous waters around the Stad Peninsula.
Norway can make these decisions because London doesn’t stop them. They can afford these projects because they’ve long had an oil fund that London didn’t stop them from setting up.
Norway spends loads on oil exploration and reaps the benefits because London doesn’t stop them. They are world leaders in renewable energy because London doesn’t stop them.
Boris Johnson doesn’t come along to tell them that a pound spent in Croydon is worth more than a Krone spent in Stavanger.
Norton, you pontificate regarding all kinds of global matters on this blog but you regurgitate only drivel when it comes to Scotland. Extreme recession? Really? Murdo Fraser? BBC Scotland? The Scottish Conservatives? Fraser of Allander Institute? These “usual suspects” are weel kent in Scotland.
Nicola Sturgeon talking to the U.N. etc. The usual suspects above twittering and twattering.
The last time habba had champagne and matzo crepes was in that notorious sofa party overlooking Gaza, watching the poor Palestinians being phosphored by satanyahu.
Syria was attacked on the balance of probabilities that a chemical attack, reported by the white helmets, off course, could have come from Assads legitimate Government.
Who manufactured this Sarin and how did the rebels got their hands on it in the last incident two years ago?
What is the chemical footprint? who has sold it to whom? and and and
Not one media bot is asking questions….Who is investigating in ‘moderate’ rebel Idlib?
What is a fact now is that Trump can be persuaded to act violently at the snip of a finger, he’ll be a war puppet for the industrial military mongers world wide.
His actions are arbitrary and only supported by noises from the ‘moderate’ western fake news merchants.
Forget the Paris agreement folks, the oil, gas and arms merchants are running the show in the west and they could not care less about the climate, the future of their very own children or the planet.
Read this article and you will know who was responsible for the chemical attack in Idlib (if there was one) and how the US tries to get the rest of the world to back Israeli ambitions for the Middle East and its oilfields.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130129213824/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html
Trump is a madman. There was a call to impeach him before he had done anything to warrant impeachment. Now he has. He has attacked a foreign country without approval from Congress which is a violation of the US constitution. Impeach him now. Before things get even worse or out of control.
Hi John, hope you are well
You have fallen for this just as Craig and the US taxpayer.
US intelligence on CW attacks in Syria have been proved wrong before on more than one occasion,US WMD intelligence in the region has not just been a mistake it has been deliberately false to create the mayhem that still allows undeterred oil to bale out the lunatics in Washington. And what do you know? Hey oil prices have rebounded as a direct result of the US attack (not the CW attack).
But lets suppose Assad had a Trump moment and ordered the gassing of his own people. How many died? How many have the US killed? Non-combatants, women and Children since 2003?.
CW is bad, Tomahawks are good! Barrel bombs are bad, Hellfire missiles are good” IED’s are bad, US mines are good!
Russia helping Assad to kill the terrorists to bring about peace (at Assad’s request) is bad, US illegal funding, arming , training and air support of terrorists in pursuit of perpetual war is good!
CW was never the issue, never will be! Unless of course you think being incinerated is far preferable to being gassed.
Peter Beswick,
You are absolutely spot on, lets reiterate for the record: THERE HAS BEEN NO CHEMICAL WEAPON OR NERVE AGENT ATTACK IN SYRIA.
The actuality, the details of which have been outlined by the Russian, and said details relayed to the Yanks via to the attack, is that a warehouse thought to contain munitions for the hand choppers was targeted in an arial bombing exercise. Inadvertently, rather than a large horde of munitions being destroyed – the intent of the bombing – it now transpires the hand choppers were utilising the warehouse to store chemical agents that when combined could form the basis of an actual chemical munition, one that it seems the hand choppers were supplying to hand choppers in Iraq.
As a result of the bombing we have had a release of chemical agents that drifted with prevailing wind directions and regrettably resulted to injury and death in a village close by to the original strike. No SARIN gas was released, we know this fact because SARIN hangs around and any contact with it causes instant convulsions – first responders to the scene wore no protective clothing to protect against SARIN, which rules SARIN out.
Neither the Russians or Syrian government are disputing an accidental chemical release as a result of an actual bombing of a supposed weapons storage dumb (the warehouse), further, an in accordance with agreements struck between the US military and Russian military that has been ongoing since Trump was inaugurated, the USA was made aware in advance of the bombing to ensure no accidental flight accidents or incidents would occur.
Obviously none of these known facts appease the warmongers who desire to initiate WWWIII with Russia & Trump has now managed not only to be captured by the Borg in DC, but conduct an illegal action that pisses off everyone with the exception of the Borg, the Borg being US neoconservatives and their neoliberal fan club.
Hi Peter,
Hope you are well too.
I don’t think we are at odds on this. I am still not convinced there has been a chemical attack. With the oscar-winning White Helmets are directing the drama and the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights providing the stories anything could have happened.
The Daily Mail article from 2013 just shows the deviousness of western governments in funding false-flag affairs. I fail to see what I have fallen for. Please explain.
Perhaps Idlib will turn out to have been the ‘Liberal Id’ all along.
So now many here are withdrawing their support from Trump. I am amazed any of you fell for his shit in the first place. Yet you carry on. You still cannot imagine anything except chosing between horrendous, murderous choices. Christ, we even have some fucking prick here calling themselves an Assad fan.
You have to give support to Trump before you can remove it and as far as I’m aware, once Sanders was kneecapped by the Clinton-run DNC quite a number considered it a better bet to avoid WWWIII by a few months by issuing support for Trump – the lesser Evil – rather than Hilary, who’s Syrian plans were well advanced and would have been deployed upon her inauguration, that is ‘No Fly Zones’ that the Russian’s would ignore and if the US tried to impose them their aircraft would have been neutralised in a hail of advanced surface to air missiles deployed in several Syrian locations at the behest of the Syrian government.
Chris
It is precisely the mentality of lesser evilism that I rail against. Even you claim your motivation was to delay ww3 by a few months. Of course, that is just wild speculation. Bullshit. A guess that simply rationalises the despair that leads you to support another sociopath drunk on greed and destruction.
FFS, don’t play the game. Don’t accept the false choices offered to you. Resting your hope for peace on having a nice leader (and administration) is folly. Even if they are sincere they will be turned or paralsed but mostly they are just saying what you want to hear. Surely you have noticed?
Don’t focus on the personality traits of individuals operating in a framework that can only allow the narrowest of possibilities. Look at the framework.
Phil,
As a British citizen who does not live in the USA please explain how I can vote for Trump?
Further, all I expressed was an understanding why some on the Left of the US political spectrum, given the shit on offer, decided to vote for Trump – to denigrate them, many of whom actually pushed for Sanders does a great disservice to all those who desire to live in peace, if only for 90 days longer than under Ms, Hilary Clinton.
It’s not a choice I’d have liked to have made and thank god I did not have to make it.
not many here supported Trump, Phil, they merely cheered his right wing actions, which are so outrageous that we are prepared to go through hell and high water for this idiot.
this morning they were discussing on Radio 4 whether to join in the bombing of Syria, remove Assad, and steal some more of the countries gas and oil wealth.
nevermind
“not many here supported Trump, Phil, they merely cheered ”
I’m pretty sure cheering can be counted as support.
You think he’s for real? I’m surprised at you.
J
Sorry not sure what you’re getting at.
Phil,
——————
Christ, we even have some fucking prick here calling themselves an Assad fan.
——————
That’s probably Habbabk stirring the pot.
Ball
Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know. However, this place, and lots of other places, is plagued with smug lefties defending oppressors like Assad and Putin.
However, this place, and lots of other places, is plagued with smug lefties defending oppressors like Assad and Putin.
Well, you and haberdasher keep claiming that, certainly.
Phil,
————–
Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know. However, this place, and lots of other places, is plagued with smug lefties defending oppressors like Assad and Putin
————-
‘Smug lefties’? The fact, and this is a indisputable fact, is that you have no clue who is defending or attacking anyone’s perspective anomalously online. ‘Smug lefties’ could just as easily be £3 Tories.
The left was recently blamed for an avalanche on alleged anti-semitism online in the UK and the only person ever prosecuted was a loner far right daily troll –
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/10/internet-troll-who-sent-labour-mp-antisemitic-messages-is-jailed
See also –
————————–
Alt-right retaliates against Twitter ban by creating ‘fake black accounts’
White supremacist website the Daily Stormer claims that it has already created thousand of what it refers to as “fake black person” accounts to troll Twitter and confuse its users. It is now urging its readers to do the same in retaliation for Twitter suspending high-profile rightwing users.
We’ve got a big campaign coming up,” said Andrew Anglin, the founder of the Daily Stormer, in a post. “Twitter is about to learn what happens when you mess with Republicans.”
——————
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/17/alt-right-fake-black-twitter-accounts-hate-speech-ban
Or maybe they are just trying to make the republicans look bad…………………..
Nope, that would be ‘English Knight’, who has the record for the most aliases on this blog.
The runner-up is Sharp Ears, also known as Bright Eyes, April Showers, May Day, Flaming June, Hotter-than-July and August Troll. Though I like to respectfully just call her Mary. She objects.
That above is a good example of Hasbara at work for new readers on here.
I posted as Mary for many years until I became ill. The Hasbara trolls made my life a misery through my surgery, radiotherapy and radioactive iodine treatment. In an attempt to evade them, I did use other names. I came back here after an absence as Sharp Ears and previously Bright Eyes. Dreoilin who the trolls miss used to suss me out and tell them publicly.
Alcyone aka Villager, dislikes Muslims intensely whereas I am very much pro the Palestinians. Alcyone with his spiteful comments often copies and pastes long tracts from the Indian guru, Krishnamurti. Quite a dichotomy there as Krisnamurti preaches sweetness and light AFAIK.
Yesterday, I received a one word comment from Habbabkuk just saying Trollfu..er. Nice people.
I was April Showers, May Flowers and. Flaming June. I was never Hotter than July or August Troll. That is very silly of you Alcyone/Villager.
PS I am not going anywhere.
Silly, no, actually they are the funniest parts! And the last one most befitting!
They sound like pieces of fucking filth to me Sharp Ears. Keep up the fighting and thanks for highlighting these degenerates.