President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Link?

 

He needs to appease the bad guys.

 

No, that's not what I meant. It was a good move to inform the Russians. But they probably also informed the Syrians. That's just one of those things. Doesn't mean Trump was wrong, means it's not as big a deal as his friends and foes alike portray it -- unless it keeps on keeping on. As to SnarkShark's post, it's in Assad's interest to say there were losses in the raid. He can play the victim.

 

Isn't the goal to just prevent them from taking off from the airbases?

In a war between Assad and ISIS, a stalemate, with as few civilian deaths as possible, is the best outcome.

 

Fair enough.

 

Stalemates seldom lead to few civilian deaths. Syria's been a stalemate for most of this war.

 

Is this the right move though? I don't pretend to know but is it clear that this was the right move? On the surface it seems like a quick 180 from a couple of days ago when Tillerson said Assad would remain (if my memory is correct).

 

Hence, his qualification of stalemate.

 

We'll see. The international community was clamoring for something to be done. He did something. As an American horrified by what's been happening in Syria, I hope it turns out to be the right thing.

 

I'm not sure I understand the response. It's still pretty much a stalemate except Assad with Russia's help has regained territory he'd lost. But he's Alewite (Shiite sect) and most Syrians are Sunnis and that fact alone will keep the war going even if it's reduced to a lower-grade insurgency like Northern Ireland used to be.

 

Here's the best early conspiracy theory I could find ...

Vladimir Putin knows full well that a gas attack like this was likely to prompt at least some kind U.S. military response against Assad. So Putin wouldn’t have been behind this unless he wanted the U.S. to take military action in Syria. And the only logical reason for Putin to want that is if he was trying to set up a win for Donald Trump, which could boost his historically low approval rating. It would also allow Trump to paint himself as being willing to go against Russian interests, as an argument against the most serious charges in the worsening Trump-Russia scandal.

Syria gas attack and Donald Trump’s military response don’t add up – unless Putin orchestrated it