OffGuardian | April 14, 2018 The illegal air strikes on Syria by the coalition of the guilty (US, France, UK) have happened, to no one’s great surprise. As such things go all current indications are that they were more token than anything else. The Russians are saying around 100 missiles were fired at an unclear […]
Feeling that some display of force was needed, US president Donald Trump issued orders on Friday to demonstrate some form of muscle, albeit exercised some thousands of miles away. “A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.” The United Kingdom and France also mucked in.
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.
With U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly mulling his “options” for a military attack on Syria while continuing to issue belligerent threats on Twitter, U.K.
It is disturbing to hear on the news this morning that the Cabinet have agreed in principle to join the US-led coalition for a military attack on Syria and decided Cabinet approval is all that’s necessary.
In other words, parliamentary democracy will be by-passed in a matter with potentially fatal consequences for millions. Blair in 2003 at least was bright enough to get gullible MPs from across the House to give him political cover for his illegal game.
Nothing illustrates better the total collapse not just of constitutional safeguards but of any semblance of critical thinking in the British news media than the fact that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s extraordinary decision to ignore the opinions of the British Parliament on a question of war or peace in Syria is receiving barely any criticism in the media.
On the contrary shrill voices in the media are egging her on to go to war without consulting Parliament.
With the world seemingly spiraling deeper into crisis over an alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria and threats of direct conflict with Russia flying from Donald Trump’s Twitter account, Russia’s disarming but stern foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sat down with the UK’s Sky News for a rare one-on-one interview.
Zakharova spoke in English in the over half an hour exchange, voicing Moscow’s position on US and allied threats of assault on Syria, and the status of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, whom Russia stands blamed by London of poisoning.
Poison gas is not only deadly, it often provokes a slow suffocating death. That, perpetrated on innocent children, is particularly cruel. But when such poison gas attacks are mere false flags, or by the new term, “false news”, and are used to provoke war, perhaps an all annihilating war, then humanity has turned to what it never should have become – a lowly-lowly herd of brainless zombies. Is that what we have become – brainless, greedy, selfish beings, no sense of solidarity, no respect for other beings; I am not even talking about humans, but any living being.
Dear Mrs. Johnson,
This is an open letter that has been copied to the Grantham Journal and the website Dissident Voice.
A reminder to my MP that his party boss Theresa May and her out-of-control foreign secretary Boris Johnson impatiently jumped the gun on Iraq and look like making the same mistake on Syria in an apparent attempt to provoke a wider war.
