There’s a poll up on Infowars at the moment, asking WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TRUMP’S SYRIAN STRIKE? 64% of those polled said it was bad. Only 12% thought it was good. Another 12% weren’t sure.
When I first heard about it, I thought it was very bad news. Trump had been pushed into it by the vocal neocons in the USA. They’d defeated him. They’d turned him into another Obama or Bush or Clinton, and it was going to be business as usual, and some country somewhere was going to be semi-obliterated like Iraq or Libya.The Trump presidency had started with all these high hopes of something different from the last few administrations. But it was not to be. The Deep State had got Trump under their control. He hadn’t drained the swamp at all: he’d been sucked into it.
The Democrat warmongers have been cock-a-hoop. John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi. CNN said Trump had at last become “presidential”. Because you only ever really become presidential when you fire about 60 Tomahawk missiles into some air base somewhere, don’t you?
And Conservatives have been dismayed. Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones have almost been distraught. Trump may as well have announced he was a Democrat.
But not everybody shared the gloom. Steve Pieczenic, on Infowars, took a different view. He pointed out that the Tomahawk strike had been launched pretty much at exactly the same time as Chinese president Xi Jinping was touching down in Florida for a two day state visit. The Tomahawk strikes, he said, were a message to Xi. And the message was that Trump was perfectly prepared to use military force if he had to. Including against North Korea, which has been firing rockets into the sea off Japan.
Scott Adams had a similar view. The Tomahawk strike had stopped Trump looking like a Russian stooge. Putin and Medvedev were outraged by it. And it had also shown that Trump could be decisive and forceful. And, like Pieczenic had said, it had set the table for his meeting with Xi.
And that set me thinking. The way I see it, Trump’s principal enemies aren’t in Russia or China or Syria or even North Korea. His worst enemies are in the USA, in the form of John McCain and Hillary Clinton and all the rest of the Democrat warmongers. He’s almost got an American civil war on his hands. It’s crippling his administration. It’s crippling America. And that’s the biggest problem he’s facing right now.
And maybe he’s just made a move that has turned the tables. It’s a judo move where you use your enemy’s speed and strength to trip them. It’s what general Erich von Manstein did in early 1943, retreating headlong before the pursuing Soviet army after the defeat at Stalingrad, when he suddenly turned back, swung behind the pursuing forces, cut them off from their supply train, captured several hundred thousand prisoners, and effectively stopped the entire Soviet advance for the rest of 1943.
For Trump has pulled off something that I thought was impossible: he’s won the accolades of his US enemies. They think they’ve won. They think they’ve got him on the run. But actually, it’s Trump that’s just won. He’s outmanoeuvred them. He’s wrong-footed them.
There’ll be a lot of threats and warnings from Putin and Russia in the next few days. But that’s part of this particular political game. Putin has to play the part of being the US enemy. Tensions need to rise to near breaking point. And then there’ll be tense meeting between Trump and Putin, perhaps aboard an aircraft carrier bristling with warplanes.
And in this manner Trump will finally get the meeting with Putin that he always wanted. Remember when he was saying he wanted to meet Putin before he took office? It never happened. And for the last few months it’s looked less and less likely to happen. But now that they’ve made Russia into the USA’s principal enemy, it’s become necessary for them to meet, and to meet as soon as possible. It’s only by becoming enemies that they can become friends.
So I expect there to be lots of sabre-rattling for the next few weeks. The neocons and the Democrats will love it. And then there’ll be the big summit meeting on the aircraft carrier. And Putin will say to Trump, “Did I play the part well? Was I threatening enough? Was conducting an atmospheric nuclear test on Sakhalin island a bit too much?” And Trump will reply, “You did great! You even had me fooled at one point! Now let’s get down to talking about what we both always wanted to talk about, which is Islamic terrorism, and how we fight it, together.”
Can Trump pull it off? If there’s anyone in the world that can pull off something like this, it’s Donald Trump. We’ve watched him doing it again and again all through the US presidential election. And now he’s doing it again. Just when you think he’s dead and buried, he pops back up.
And Trump probably explained it all to Xi. And so Xi knows what’s happening. And he knows what part he has to play. And that’s why, sitting next to Trump for the photographers, he had such a beatific smile on his face.
Which is why, in the Infowars poll I cited at the top, I checked the box for Quantum Chess Move.
But then, what do I know?
Frank Davis 
Like you, Frank, my first reaction was that he’s made a huge error of judgement. But then on reflection, I thought that it might turn out to have been a masterstroke, for all the reasons you mention above.
The critical point, however, is whether Trump ordered the strike for the right reasons, or for the wrong reasons. Is he that shrewd?
I suspect he probably is – he’s used to dealing with big issues in his business life and getting what he wants, by devious and roundabout means if necessary, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he is planning his strategy several moves ahead, like a good chess player.
However, he is also a bit of a loose cannon, so it’s possible that he’s been stampeded into the strike by the hawks in his administration, although I hope that’s not the case.
But whatever the reasons, if he’s clever, he can certainly turn it to his advantage without escalating physical hostilities. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.
I think the only question is whether Trump is still the Trump that ran for the presidency, and who didn’t want to get into a war in Syria (or anywhere else). And I think he still is. I haven’t seen anything that says that clearly he isn’t.
I keep hearing people saying that Bannon or Ivanka or Mattis or somebody have got too much influence over Trump, as if Trump didn’t have any views of his own. I think Trump has very clear views on lots of things, and I don’t think he changes his mind. I think the people who surround him have much less influence over him than people imagine.
I think Trump is a very, very tough-minded guy. I don’t think anyone is going to change his mind on the fundamentals. I think he’s the same guy as he was before he got elected. And I think he’s a straight talker. And I think he’s going to get what he wants done, and not what anyone else wants him to do.
But we’ll see.
I think he’s clever, he took action against the gassings speedily, unlike the last time when leaders made a lot of noise and did nothing. and warned the Russians before he did it
He bombed infrastructure not people so theoretically they couldn’t do it again, despite the rumblings, who can really complain about that?
The Russians were given 2 hours warning. Plenty of time in which to get everybody out. Including any aircraft they might have had there
I think there is enormous room for doubt about Trump’s actions, but no doubt at all about the CIA/NATO/Turkey/Saudi motives for this blatantly obvious set-up:
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/fake-news-in-syria-why-this-is-donald-trumps-bay-of-pigs-moment/
“Trump may as well have announced he was a Democrat.” He was one once. Until it suited his agenda to be something different.
Bombing Syria sounds very much like Diversionary War Theory. (“Leaders threatened by domestic turmoil occasionally initiate an international conflict in order to shift the nation’s attention away from internal troubles.”) It seems to have worked. The focus has been diverted from Trump’s policy setbacks, his low approval ratings and the simmering conflict/confusion within his administration.
Slight error Frank John “Insane McCain” is a Republican, but you’re right the warmongers in both parties are cock-a-hoop that Trump is under their control.
Yes, I knew McCain was a Republican. But he might as well be a Democrat for all the support he gives Trump.
Why complicate things?
Perhaps, he is just a moral man that is outraged by the killing of women and children thru chemical warfare and showed his outrage.
He is in a position to do something and he did.
Perhaps, he is just a moral man that is outraged by the killing of women and children thru chemical warfare and showed his outrage.
I wish this was the case.
Both, Putin and Trump are not stupid people. However, both have no problems with throwing people under the bus.
I have to say that’s exactly where I come out, Gary. I don’t think this is Wag The Dog and certainly not Bay of Pigs (which was a totally botched mission) or a hall-of-mirrors prank (either a staged non-event or an ISIS double-play) or an elaborate chess game, all of which were variously suggested above. I also don’t think it’s a prelude to war; I think it was simply a “surgical strike”– an almost friendly reminder that you don’t cross the Red Line of international law against gassing human beings and continue to get away with it. I think it was a fine and necessary blow struck for civilization. As for Russia, she’ll do the understandable posturing but a) she doesn’t want war with us any more than we want war with her, and b) if only for PR purposes, wouldn’t start a war in defense of gassing children. If there was any extra strategy behind the move, and that I don’t doubt, it was to send a message to all the world’s bad actors that America is no longer suppine.
The order of posts here can lead to confusion. I meant I agreed with Gary
That must be the quickest betrayal in history, just 73 days.
If I’d been american I would have voted for him, knowing he’s a clown, but probably a harmless one compared to Clinton, purely because he said he would NOT do shit like this. I thought Blair was a c**t but at least he waited a few years before committing his war crimes. I can well understand why 93 million americans are now disgusted, disappointed and angry, at being duped by this POS. I just hope Farage is not the same.
I don’t think he’s a genius like you claim Frank, I think he’s weak, shallow and easily led. A rational “strong” leader would have insisted on an independant investigation as to who launched the gas attack, they did it in 2013 with UN inspectors, why not now. No, instead we have the stupidity of missile strikes, to show how “tough” he is and appease his domestic enemies. Syrian airspace will now be fully protected with the Russian S400 system, so god help any American or Israeli jet encroaching into Syrian airspace and the russian frigate sent to the Med is an early warning system for any more missile attacks and there will be far more than 36 shot down next time, probably the ship launching them.
On the plus side, this betrayal has completely fucked up the Alt-Right, Alex Jones doing 20 minutes of mental gymnastics to try and justify it is sad. I wonder how long it will be before we start seeing the videos of butt hurt alt-righters crying in the streets.
I think he’s weak, shallow and easily led
I don’t think so at all. I watched him being nuked by the the American MSM for 18 months, and he just kept soldiering on. I don’t think anyone who was weak, shallow, or easily led could have endured that Certainly not someone who was weak, shallow, and easily led.
There’s something else in play here. I’m not writing off Trump just yet.
And in this manner Trump will finally get the meeting with Putin that he always wanted. Remember when he was saying he wanted to meet Putin before he took office? It never happened. And for the last few months it’s looked less and less likely to happen. But now that they’ve made Russia into the USA’s principal enemy, it’s become necessary for them to meet, and to meet as soon as possible. It’s only by becoming enemies that they can become friends.
So I expect there to be lots of sabre-rattling for the next few weeks. The neocons and the Democrats will love it. And then there’ll be the big summit meeting on the aircraft carrier. And Putin will say to Trump, “Did I play the part well? Was I threatening enough? Was conducting an atmospheric nuclear test on Sakhalin island a bit too much?” And Trump will reply, “You did great! You even had me fooled at one point! Now let’s get down to talking about what we both always wanted to talk about, which is Islamic terrorism, and how we fight it, together.”
I do hope there will only be sabre-rattling. I would like to see tobacco control defeated other than by a devastating 3rd world war when no-one gives a flying **** about tobacco control and scared screeching anti-smokers.
“Now let’s get down to talking about what we both always wanted to talk about, which is Islamic terrorism, and how we fight it, together.”
Wouldn’t that be nice? And I do wish for it!
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/attacks.aspx?Yr=2016
[I have to point out that I have no problems with muslims who live as peaceful members of our society]
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I’m as disappointed as hell on the face of it at the action, but there’s one thing that doesn’t ring right and that’s the early warning.
Then you send nigh on 60 missiles to an airfield and there’s almost no damage, few casualties and the hangars are still standing but showing scorch marks, nope it doesn’t add up.
This was a statement, if it was show of force and unleashing of superior power then basically it was a half arsed firework display which wouldn’t impress many.
If the lads from Bomber Command days had dropped 60 bombs on the airfield it would have been reduced to rubble and a construction site for the next two years, so even if only 30 missiles reached their target it should have been reduced to a smoking pile.
Confess i’m at a loss, there’s a lot of games going on, i don’t believe for one second that Assad was idiot enough to use chemical weapons and risk a worldwide backlash.
If Assad gets toppled by the US under Trump’s direction, then we’ll know they’ve got at Trump and it’s all over, and another Iraq/Libya basket case will be the result.
Fwiw, see my earlier posts above. Assad used chemical weapons before, crossing Obama’s Red Line but Obama did nothing. Also, you can’t compare bombers to missiles. They did not want to risk planes getting shot down. But otoh why don’t we all –including me– stop soeculating and just.. wait and see?
No, Assad did not use chemical weapons before. Certain knaves in the media have repeated the, proven false, allegations from 2013. Repeating Western assertions without evidence, given the appalling lies told to justify our belligerence, is disingenuous at best.
Frank, I am coming here via John Ward’s article. Thank you for your thoughts. There are two things that occur to me. Firstly, that this is a crisis of trust between Trump and his supporters – is he a liar: were we right to trust him when he claimed that as essentially a non-politician, he meant what he said, and he said plainly what he meant? I think he may need to address that deep psychological issue, that having been the bearer of a fundamental aspiration to clean things up, we in our turn need to lend him our trust while he does it. The second issue is that you can only analyse reasons and motives so far, before you need access to actual facts. Facts about the event Mr Trump was reacting to, and facts about what he actually did. I am glad that you too have asserted that he notified Russia/Assad in advance of the strike – I don’t know what actual evidence there is for this, but it needs to be found and shown, as it establishes just what Trump actually did. The facts about the original chemical incident itself appear to be being buried under piles of derivative and motivated ‘reporting’ right now, as are all of these ‘bring out the dead babies’ incidents, a long line of historical disinformation stretching back to the Serbian conflict and beyond. Nevertheless, it is important to have verifiable contemporaneous accounts which can be reported synoptically, even if it is only for the purposes of historians far into the future, assuming there are any left.
In short – we must never lose sight of the primary importance of what actually happened; what the actual response was; and that the connexion of trust between a leader and his/her supporters is as important to maintain in office as it is in attaining office.
I think that the problem for us is that we now know so much about our own “social denormalisation” and how it was contrived by organizations we once trusted, that now we take everything we read with a large pinch of salt and look for ulterior motives.
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