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Trump wags the dog

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arirish View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 06 2017 at 7:59pm
Trump launches military strike against Syria

(CNN)The United States launched a military strike Thursday on a Syrian government target in retaliation for their chemical weapons attack on civilians earlier in the week.
On President Donald Trump's orders, US warships launched between 50-60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase where the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks were based, US officials said.
"Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the air field in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched," Trump said during short remarks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago. "It is in this vital national security of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons."

He added: "There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council. Years of previous attempts at changing Assad's behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically."

A US defense official said the strike was targeted on runway, aircraft and fuel points. The missiles were launched from warships in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Strikes are over "until another decision is made," the official said.
The strikes are the first direct military action the US has taken against the leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's six-year civil war and represent a substantial escalation of the US' military campaign in the region, which could be interpreted by the Syrian government as an act of war.

There were Russians at the base that the US struck Thursday night, a US defense official. It was not said what the Russians' role was at the base. In addition, according to the official, the US had multiple conversations with the Russians today to warn them of the coming attack.
Separately, in an effort to tie the US strike to the chemical attack, the US military showed reporters an image of the radar track of a Syrian airplane leaving the airfield and headed to chemical strike area on Tuesday. A second image of bomb damage craters at the airbase was also shown to reporters at the Pentagon.
Lawmakers generally supported Trump's decision to strike back against Assad Thursday night, but cautioned the President against unilaterally starting a war without first consulting Congress.
A pair of defense hawks -- Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham -- who have frequently been critical of Trump, roundly praised his decision Thursday night.
"Acting on the orders of their commander-in-chief, they have sent an important message the United States will no longer stand idly by as Assad, aided and abetted by Putin's Russia, slaughters innocent Syrians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs," McCain and Graham said in a joint statement.
But Sen. Rand Paul called on Trump to consult on Congress.
"While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the US was not attacked," Paul said.
The US began launching airstrikes in Syria in September 2014 under President Barack Obama as part of its coalition campaign against ISIS, but has only targeted the terrorist group and not Syrian government forces.
Trump met with his national security team before his dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago Thursday, where he made the decision to pull the trigger on the biggest military action of his presidency, an administration official says.
He sat through dinner with the President Xi as action was under way.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has been updating Trump about the missile strikes in Syria following his dinner with Xi, according to a US official.
Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump's national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster were with Trump at Mar-a-Lago at the time. Vice President Mike Pence remained in Washington, where he returned to the White House after dinner.
Trump's order to strike the Syrian government targets came a day after he said the chemical attacks -- whose grisly effects were broadcast worldwide where videos captured in the immediate aftermath -- "crossed a lot of lines for me" and said he felt a "responsibility" to respond.

"I will tell you it's already happened that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much," Trump said.
"When you kill innocent children -- innocent babies -- babies -- little babies with a chemical gas that is so lethal, people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines. Beyond a red line, many, many lines," Trump said.
Trump's decision to launch the strikes, the most significant military action of his young presidency, came nearly four years after the US first concluded that Syrian forces had used chemical weapons in Syria. The Obama administration concluded that Syria had violated the "red line" Obama had set a year earlier in discussing the use of chemical weapons, but ultimately decided against military action against Syria in favor of a Russian-brokered deal to extricate the country's chemical weapons stockpile.
Trump at the time said the US should "stay the hell out of Syria" and urged Obama on Twitter to "not attack Syria" in the wake of the 2013 chemical attack.

"There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your 'powder' for another (and more important) day," he tweeted in September 2013.
Trump repeatedly criticized Obama during his presidential campaign for not acting on his "red line" threat, but the real estate mogul also argued against deepening the US' military involvement in Syria, particularly as it related to Assad.
Trump argued last May in a TV interview that he would "go after ISIS big league," but said he did not support targeting Assad's regime, arguing the US has "bigger problems than Assad."
Syria's six-year civil war has claimed the lives of at least 400,000, according to a United Nations estimate released a year ago. More than 5 million Syrians have fled the country and more than 6 million more have been displaced internally, according to UN agencies.
But guided by his "America First" ideology and rejection of the US' propensity for "nation-building," Trump did not argue in favor of stepped-up US intervention during his campaign for president.

Instead, he signaled the opposite: He argued that the US should remain laser-focused on defeating ISIS and vowed to try and partner with Russia, which has heartily backed Assad's regime, in order to defeat ISIS and bring the conflict to an end.
Those views appeared steeped in his longstanding criticism of the Iraq War, which he called a "stupid" decision, lamenting the billions of dollars funneled toward that war effort instead of on domestic programs, like infrastructure spending.
While Trump rejected the isolationist label some placed on him during the campaign, he made clear that his preference was for limiting the US footprint around the world and refocusing US foreign policy around core national security interests.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/donald-trump-syria-military/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2017 at 8:33pm
Can't say I have too much of a problem with this. The gas attack was the action of a brutal dictator that needs to be gone. It's refreshing to see Trump finally realize that Assad's regime should never be considered our ally in any way.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 06 2017 at 9:35pm
JD: This was on 04/04! This is the Russian view point. Trump basically said Do what ever you want!


Trump Takes Smart, Realistic Approach to Mideast by Accepting Assad


US President Donald Trump is taking a realistic approach to the tumultuous Middle East region by accepting President Bashar Assad as Syria’s leader, analysts told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said in a briefing on Friday that the United States should accept the political reality with respect to Assad and focus on eliminating Daesh.

Spicer’s comments reflected one of the most positive decisions Trump had made since taking office more than two months ago, Gulf Affairs Institute Director Ali al-Ahmed told Sputnik.

“[It is] one of his smartest decisions,” al-Ahmed stated.

Historian and international affairs commentator Matthew Dal Santo told Sputnik that Trump is taking a more constructive and realistic approach to ending the Syrian conflict that has cost 500,000 lives and generated millions of refugees since it began six years ago.

Trump needed to do what his predecessor Barack Obama had not been prepared to and take the necessary step of recognizing that Assad remained the effective and lawful ruler of Syria because the US policy of regime change had only brought endless suffering to the Syrian people, Dal Santo said.

“Assad… is head of the only legitimate set of government institutions Syria has,” Dal Santo explained.

Recognizing Assad as the legitimate leader of Syria was also essential so that Syria, the United States and US allies could all be freed up to focus on the primary goal of destroying Daesh, which still is trying to hold on to the Syria city of Raqqa, Dal Santo added.

“Let us hope the Islamic State will now be eliminated — and an end to Syria's civil war reached by diplomacy and compromise,” he said.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Friday that Ankara presented Trump a plan for liberating Raqqa from Daesh.

However, the decision on what force will be used to liberate Raqqa is yet to be made, US Department of Defense spokesperson Eric Pahon told Sputnik on Monday.


https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201704041052262025-trump-smart-accepting-assad/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote CRS, DrPH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 12:14am
Originally posted by jacksdad jacksdad wrote:

Can't say I have too much of a problem with this. The gas attack was the action of a brutal dictator that needs to be gone. It's refreshing to see Trump finally realize that Assad's regime should never be considered our ally in any way.


I agree, and Obama should have done this years ago.  

We should keep in mind that Assad was supposed to have been stripped of all chemical WMD, and he apparently kept quite a stash in reserve, in violation of his agreements. 

I'd worry that he will send agents out into the West to sow mayhem with that stuff.  It is also a consideration if we act against North Korea.  

This is what happens when you wait too long to do the right things.  At least Trump acted, although I can see this having lots of repercussions. 

Be safe.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 12:24am
I see your point, Arirish.

 I am not sure this is the wise thing to do. I am equally unsure that Trump has the restraint to handle what comes next. But, I have to say, I agree with him.  In fact he has risen considerably in my eyes.

It is a bit of a cliche, but "For evil to succeed, good has to do nothing." Go Trump!!!

I wonder if the Russians are having second thoughts about helping him into power.  Be careful what you wish for - you might just get it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 6:56am
Technophobe said: "In fact he has risen considerably in my eyes."
My point exactly! I have no problem with the action, but when you are being investigated for collusion with the enemy what better distraction than attacking that enemy's puppet? In August of 1998 a few days after Bill Clinton admitted his infidelities, He hit Al Qaeda training camps with cruise missiles and was accused of wagging the dog! What Bill Clinton was accused of wasn't right but it wasn't even close to treason! Not saying it's true, just worth looking at!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 8:39am
Yep - smoke and mirrors, arirish. What better way to deflect attention from your problems at home than a military strike like this?

Only days ago, Trump was insisting we aid Assad and Russia in fighting ISIS when he was clearly waging war on his own people in a last ditch attempt to hold on to power. Wonder what caused the penny to finally drop?

I would question how the decision went down. I'm guessing it was on the advice of his generals (didn't he say he knew more than them...?), but I'm betting the surgical strike they advocated became two ships unleashing hell with every Tomahawk to hand thanks to Trump wanting to make a statement. I guess we'll see how that plays out with Russia and Iran in the days and weeks to come.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Satori Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 9:11am
March jobs report out
only 98K jobs created

Trump is in DESPERATE need of distractions for public consumption

the economy is getting ready to do the big swirly
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 9:14am
Comment: I seem to remember Trump slamming Obama for warning people about attacks! 50-60 Tomakawks and they hit nine planes and so far no reported casualties?


The United States warned Russia ahead of a massive military strike on a Syrian regime air base, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line,” Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, referring to a special military hotline.

“US military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the airfield.

Nine Planes Destroyed

Nine planes as well as munition and fuel depots were destroyed in the US strike on Syria’s Shayrat airbase early Friday but the runway was intact, the Russian state channel Rossiya24 reported from the scene.

“According to preliminary information, nine Syrian airplanes were destroyed,” its correspondent said in a report from the base, broadcast hours after the strike at 0040 GMT Friday.

Stores with ammunition and fuel were also targeted, he said, adding that a fire and some explosions were ongoing.

“But not all equipment has been destroyed, there is some that was not impacted by the strike,” the correspondent said.

“The landing strip… is practically not impacted,” he added.

Footage showed the runway intact but covered in debris, as well as two planes sitting in concrete hangars.

The aircraft were apparently not heavily damaged while some other hangars were charred and surrounded by rubble.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 11:47am
Hmmmm!  You sure have a point or two there, Arirish.  However, I did not expect to be told the truth by anyone - neither ours, theirs nor any "unafilliated observers".

Applying our own brains (like you just did) is our only hope of staying half way up on things.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 12:27pm
Techno - Thanks! I try to use the few brains I was given. I also find it strange that hundreds of thousands of sick, starving, shot and bombed civilians is tolerated but gas one hundred and that's going to far! That's where we draw the line? Commit genocide, just don't gas them!    
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Satori Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 1:15pm
reports coming in that the Syrians are launching air strikes using the very same air field
we just hit with 70 million dollars worth of missiles

hmmm
didn't even put it out of commission for 24 hrs
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 1:58pm
30 tons of high explosives to take out 9 planes a couple of hangers and an ammo dump but not the runway? Not really the massive military strike they've talked about all day!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 2:29pm
CBS's White House correspondent, Mark Knoller, is reporting that Tillerson claims they purposely didn't target the runway because it was deemed too thick for a Tomahawk to damage.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Satori Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 2:57pm
70 million dollars worth of ordinance and ya can't take out a runway ?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 3:30pm
why would Assad resort to this type of weapon at this stage in the war ,

earlier yes when it looked like he would lose before the russians came to his aid

but now the rebels are on the run

it makes no sense to me ,

therefore i suspect they hit a rebel stockpile as Assad says ,

i have no like for this war nor Assard but he is fighting Dashe!!!!!!

 and these "REBELS" are Dashe 

the "west" has no part in it 

but we just got 

"SUCKED IN"

as Dashe wanted all along,

 they want the west to fight there battle as they are losing......

the world is shocked by the scenes of kids affected by this gas, 

what about all the dead Yadidis and the rape and murder of Christians done by Dashe 

the world has a very short term memory problem....


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 3:44pm
 and Trump did what all other leaders under pressure do

DEFLECT........wait for the 24 hour newscycle to move on...........

"1984 "GEORGE ORWELL

 "BIG BROTHER" is watching you ......

READ IT NOW........



1984

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The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia" -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time. (less)


Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 07 2017 at 11:08pm

"...As in the past, whether it be a collection of tents in Afghanistan, a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan or a retaliatory strike for a no-fly zone violation in Iraq, the Tomahawk cruise missile has become the punitive weapon of choice. It’s fired from a safe distance, risking no American lives, and presenting the appearance of someone doing something vital.
When you want to do nothing, but look like you are doing something, send a Tomahawk—or 59..."

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/why-firing-tomahawk-missiles-at-syria-was-a-nearly-usel-1794113103





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 09 2017 at 12:18am
The way all this went down, and the timing has me wondering something. Sinking approval ratings, an inability to deliver on key campaign issues, and more and more ties to Russia - lots of things are currently dogging the White House in a big way. Capitalizing on the gas attack by suddenly developing a conscience and making a show of lobbing Tomahawks at expendable targets would potentially make a lot of the current administrations problems go away, don't you think? Putin feigning indignation and rattling a few sabers would be the icing on the cake. I'm beginning to wonder if we're not all getting played, and the endgame is to kill the perception that Putin and Trump are in bed together. Just a thought...






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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 09 2017 at 5:31am
On the same wave lenth jacksdad my

thoughts exactly...we being played like a violin
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 10 2017 at 1:33pm


The US strike on Syria carries convenient victories for both Putin and Trump


The US attack on an airfield believed to have been used by Syrian President Bashar Assad's military to launch a deadly chemical-weapons attack early last week has given Russia a renewed purpose for staying mired in a war that remains popular at home while allowing Moscow to paint itself as a foil to US "aggression."

It has also allowed US President Donald Trump to deflect criticism that he is overly beholden to Russia and insensitive to Assad's brutal, scorched-earth campaign against Syrian civilians and rebel groups.

Both Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, and prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, have doubled down on their support for Assad — condemning US "aggression" against what they view as Assad's "legitimate" government — since the US targeted Shayrat airfield with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles last week.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told reporters last week that it was "indisputable" that the US strike on Syria "was carried out for the benefit of ISIS and other terrorist organizations." Medvedev said on Facebook that Trump "proved" he would "fiercely fight the legitimate Syrian government" instead of against "the biggest enemy, ISIS."

The strike has provided fodder for Moscow, which has been given a clean slate to continue to paint the Syrian conflict as a binary and two-dimensional fight between a legitimate government, supported by Russia, and "terrorists," supported by the US.

(Moscow and Damascus have long used the word "terrorists" to describe a range of actors opposed to Assad, from moderate rebel groups fighting for regime change to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS, whose goal is to establish a pan-Islamist caliphate.)

That narrative, which had been fueled by the Obama administration's limited but overt support for various rebel groups opposed to Assad, has allowed Putin to garner popular domestic support for the war effort. Less than 20% of Russians think the war doesn't make sense, according to The New York Times. And it has provided a distraction from the country's protracted economic stagnation.

As the Associated Press reported last year, Russia's intervention in Syria "at little cost" had "demonstrated Russia's might, turned the course of the war, and made sure that Russia is once again treated as a world power on a par with the United States." Russia's help in winning back Syria's largest city, Aleppo, from the opposition added to Russians' perception of the intervention as one worth their time and money.

Whereas the US was meddling in the affairs of a sovereign state to bolster extremists, the messaging went, Russia was fighting terrorists with Assad's blessing.

As The Guardian's Martin Chulov wrote on Monday, there is still "no mood in Moscow to concede any ground on Syria to the US – and a calculation that Rex Tillerson," the US secretary of state, "won't be pushing too hard anyway."

Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani — also a staunch Assad ally — agreed on "the
inadmissibility of aggressive US actions against a sovereign state in violation of international law" in a call Sunday.

The joint command operation center of Syrian allies, a group that includes Russia and Iran, characterized the US as an "occupying force" in a separate statement later that day.

"Rest assured that we will liberate Syria from all kinds of occupying forces, it does not matter from where they came to the occupied part of Syria," the group warned in a statement. "Russia and Iran will not allow the United States to be the only superpower in world."

The use of the US as a Russian (and Iranian) foil hung in the balance as Trump campaigned on increased cooperation with both Assad and Russia against ISIS. The reality of Trump's presidency, moreover, meant the loss of a known, and convenient, Kremlin adversary in Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

But in launching a military response that would have been unthinkable under Obama, Trump has both renewed and emboldened Putin's sense of purpose in defending Assad and painting the US as the aggressor. It has also allowed Russia to revert to its best-rehearsed, and most well-received, talking point: The US is an imperialistic actor with an impulsive leader whose loyalty lies not to his people but with "the establishment."

"This military action is a clear indication of the US president's extreme dependency on the opinion of the Washington establishment, the one that the new president strongly criticized in his inauguration speech," Medvedev wrote on Facebook.

"Soon after his victory, I noted that everything would depend on how soon Trump's election promises would be broken by the existing power machine. It took only two and a half months," he added.

The attack was ordered as investigations by the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees into Trump's ties to Russia were reaching a boiling point in the media. Those who had been frustrated by the continuing investigations felt vindicated by the strike, which they saw as evidence that Trump was not beholden to Putin or Moscow.


http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-syria-strike-us-russia-relations-ties-2017-4
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CRS, DrPH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 10 2017 at 9:22pm
Originally posted by Satori Satori wrote:

70 million dollars worth of ordinance and ya can't take out a runway ?

That's why they make cluster bombs.  We have those for the cruise missiles, not sure why we didn't deploy them.  Probably not enough time to prepare the warheads is my guess.  

Do it again.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 11 2017 at 9:48am
Or the deal was that after the show, the airstrip would be operational for Syrian and Russian jets again by the following day...


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 11 2017 at 9:32pm
Jacksdad we Deffo on the same wavelength or very very cynical like me 😂
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 13 2017 at 8:45am
Trump allies: Syria strike proves he’s not in bed with Putin


Supporters are looking to change the subject as Trump’s Russia cloud grows.

By Austin Wright
| 04/12/17 06:04 PM EDT


Donald Trump’s allies and aides are so eager to rebuff charges that the president is in Vladimir Putin’s pocket that they’re seizing on last week’s strikes on Syria as the latest proof for their case.

Amid a seemingly never-ending stream of revelations about the Trump campaign’s Russia entanglements, White House boosters are keen to note the bombing of the Bashar Assad regime, for its alleged chemical weapons attack, has fueled a major rift with Russia, a key Syrian ally.


“If Donald Trump is in bed with Putin, why did he just kick him in the balls?” longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone asked in an interview Wednesday — a sentiment echoed in less colorful terms recently by Trump’s son Eric, White House press secretary Sean Spicer and a number of right-wing commentators.

Congressional Democrats and liberal advocates, meanwhile, say the argument is the latest in a string of diversionary tactics meant to distract from Trump’s ballooning Russia scandal, which has already ensnared close advisers, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“I am disturbed that the president’s supporters would distract the American people from what our main focus should be related to Syria — Assad’s six-year long murderous rampage against the Syrian people, supported by President Putin,” Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.

“That they would try and make this false distinction again underscores why we need an independent commission to investigate Russia’s attack on our democracy,” Cardin continued. “The president also must lay out a clear strategy for ending the war in Syria.”

Sabrina Singh, a spokeswoman for the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge, said Trump’s allies are “grasping at straws.”

"If this whole effort was launched to try and create distance between Trump and Russia — as his allies are suggesting — then the president is an even more disgusting person than we previously thought,” Singh said. “And that's saying a lot.”

Since his inauguration, Trump’s White House has been under a growing Russia-related cloud, particularly over allegations that some of his campaign aides may have colluded with Moscow in its campaign to damage Hillary Clinton. Trump’s allies are desperate to change the topic and move on.

“So much for the idea that Vladimir Putin was believed to give Donald Trump the presidency,” CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord declared on Tuesday.

This week, though, has been particularly bad for Trump, with major new reports about two of his campaign advisers’ ties to Moscow.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the FBI got a warrant last summer to monitor former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page because of suspicions he was acting as an agent of Russia. And the Associated Press on Wednesday revealed further evidence that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort received off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are investigating Russia’s meddling in the presidential election, as is the FBI.

The House panel has been in a state of turmoil of late, though some lawmakers are hopeful it can get back on track after embattled Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) announced he would step aside from leading his panel’s probe. Members of both parties have expressed confidence in the Senate investigation, which has begun conducting interviews with the intelligence analysts behind January’s assessment that Russia sought to sway the election for Trump.

But a number of Democrats, including Cardin, are calling for a more independent probe run by an outside commission or a select committee — something Republican leaders have rejected in favor of the investigations run by the secretive intelligence panels.

“In reality,” Singh said, Trump’s decision to bomb the Assad regime “changes nothing with respect to the multiple ongoing investigations of Trump's ties to Russia.”

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly praised Putin and expressed a desire to patch up relations with Russia after ties frayed under the Obama administration.

But in the first few months of Trump’s administration, it has become clear Russia and the United States are moving farther apart on key issues.

Trump’s cruise missile strike — which he said was retribution for Assad’s most recent use of chemical weapons against his own people — represented a major blow to U.S.-Russia relations, with Putin saying in a Russian television interview that under Trump the relationship “has not improved, but rather has deteriorated.”

Rex Tillerson, on his first trip to Russia as secretary of state, told reporters after a meeting with Putin Wednesday, “The current state of U.S.-Russia relations is at a low point.”

Trump’s son Eric has pointed to the deteriorating relationship as evidence that there never was any connection between his father and Russia.

“If there was anything that Syria did, it was to validate the fact that there is no Russia tie,” he told The Daily Telegraph Tuesday.

Asked at the White House about Eric Trump’s remarks, Spicer issued his latest broadside against those who accuse Trump of having nefarious ties to Moscow.

“Respectfully, almost every single day we've been asked about these so-called ties and back channels and whatever,” Spicer said, adding that it was notable the administration did not have a political discussion with Russia about its Syria strike ahead of time. “I think there is an acknowledgement at some point that if that was true, you would have seen some kind of [conversation] that clearly didn't happen.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/donald-trump-russia-ties-syria-237164
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 13 2017 at 10:21am
A MOAB has just been used for the first time in combat in Afghanistan.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/afghanistan-isis-moab-bomb/



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arirish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 13 2017 at 1:31pm


Breaking: Former UK spy chief says Trump likely owes money to Russia



By Leah McElrath   |

April 13, 2017


Donald Trump's relationship with Russia, and the possibility that he is in a compromised position because of his financial ties, "lingers" over his presidency, according to the former head of the Britain's Secret Intelligence Service.

The former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service went on the record saying Donald Trump owes money to Russia, putting Trump in a compromised position that “lingers” over him as president.

Richard Dearlove, who led the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly referred to as MI6, from 1999-2004, stated in an interview with Prospect Magazine:


What lingers for Trump may be what deals—on what terms—he did after the financial crisis of 2008 to borrow Russian money when others in the west apparently would not lend to him.

In other words, deals Trump and his organization made during the 2008 financial crisis with Russian financiers, oligarchs, mobsters, or government entities could be used as a form of leverage over Trump’s actions as president.

With his repeated bankruptcies and business failures, Trump’s organization remains a “medium-to-high credit risk” and is considered “very likely to default” on payments, according to the organization Nav, which scores businesses credit ratings.

While Trump has often claimed to be a multi-billionaire, determining his exact net worth is difficult due to his lack of transparency and unwillingness to provide his tax returns. An evaluation perfumed by the financial giant Deutche Bank as part of a loan underwriting process in 2005 estimated Trump’s worth to be only $788 million.

As the Washington Post reported in July 2016, “There is strong evidence that Trump’s businesses have received significant funding from Russian investors.” In 2007, Trump was working with Mafia-linked Russian businessman Felix Slater to try to develop properties in Moscow. In a sworn deposition that year, Trump said, “Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment. … We will be in Moscow at some point.” In 2008, Trump made over $50 million on a property he sold in Palm Beach to a Russian multi-billionaire. Also in 2008, Donald Trump, Jr., spoke at a real estate conference in New York where he remarked:


Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.

Additionally, Trump has repeatedly bragged about his connections with Russian oligarchs.

As was recently reported, the British intelligence agency was the first to observe Trump’s unusual ties with Russia and to sound the alarm. As former head of MI6, Dearborn is certainly a credible source to provide warning about Trump’s likely debts to Russian entities and the potential compromised position Trump is in as a result. Given Trump’s record of constantly lying, even when faced with evidence that debunks his lies, his own continued assertions that he has “nothing to do with Russia” are suspect:

Calls for Donald Trump to release his tax returns were made over and over again throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, and Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed he could not release them because they were “under audit.”

Now that Trump holds the office of the presidency, and in light of the commentary by the former MI6 head about Trump’s likely Russian debts, it is more important than ever to demand Trump reveal to the American people the extent and nature of his investments and indebtedness to foreign nation states and to people in positions of foreign power.

If Trump is compromised by his foreign financial ties, he is unable to “faithfully execute” his duties as president of the United States.


http://shareblue.com/breaking-former-uk-spy-chief-says-trump-likely-owes-money-to-russia/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 13 2017 at 2:37pm
"USA Russian relation at lowest level ever"........(cuban missile crisis springs to mind)

and the Chump rides to the rescue and everything will be hunky dory.......(we bombed the empty runways......humrarr )

i cant belive they expect people to fall for it ........

but they are 

HOOK LINE AND SINKER........

talk about dumb.........




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 13 2017 at 3:08pm
US
 

Trump says 'things will work out fine' with Russia amid growing tension

United States President Donald Trump conducts a joint press conference with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of NATO at of the White House in Washington, DC on April 12, 2017. (AFP)

United States President Donald Trump conducts a joint press conference with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of NATO at of the White House in Washington, DC on April 12, 2017. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump expressed confidence Thursday that US-Russian relations will "work out fine" after icy bilateral talks in Moscow, as he looked to China to "deal properly" with North Korea.

Mr Trump faces crucial tests in the Middle East and the Korean peninsula, with tensions building on both fronts over a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria and a mounting challenge from North Korea's Kim Jong-il.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Wednesday that relations between Washington and Moscow, a key ally of the Damascus regime, were at a "low point".

"Things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia," Mr Trump wrote in his tweet.

"At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!"

The Russians are backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against US charges that his air force dropped a bomb loaded with the nerve agent sarin on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun on April 4, killing 87 people, many of them children.

Russia on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding that the Syrian government cooperate with an investigation into the attack.

In an exclusive interview with AFP, Mr Assad insisted his army had given up its chemical weapons and called reports of the attack "fabrication".

On North Korea, with Pyongyang reportedly poised to conduct a nuclear test, Mr Trump said he had "great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea".

He however added: "If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A."

A US monitoring group said North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site is "primed and ready" to conduct its sixth nuclear test, possibly to coincide with celebrations Saturday marking the birthdate of regime founder Kim Il-Sung.

The Voice of America, quoting US government and other sources, said North Korea "has apparently placed a nuclear device in a tunnel and it could be detonated Saturday AM Korea time".

Mr Trump has asked his advisers to give him all options for dealing with the nuclear-armed North, and a US carrier strike group has been ordered to the region as a precaution.

© AFP 2017


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/04/14/02/37/trump-says-things-will-work-out-fine-with-russia#MttQdsvtpi34hw7A.99
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