simple
dont target nuthin
[you break it you fix it]

my plan..go in unarmed

just empty trucks..under the medias eyes
truck out the poisen*.[make safe].[scatter it into..some deep sea trench

then get out
using a combined Russian/usa volunteer peace nicks..

ie..true peace keepers
[many such as i will go gladly..just to remove [suck-out]..the poison]

go for the glory..not the gore
stop..ignoring thou shalt not murder*

Sorry, Arjay, it's so hard to tell the difference these days.

I like your fruit-cake argument though, that WW3 is inevitable because of the evil of Western capitalist imperialism - and when it DOESN'T happen, you can claim that it was because of your prescience in warning the people about its dangers and thereby stopping the Evil Empire from doing its will. Win-win !

But how does anyone know that you're not really a left-whinger, even when you claim you're not ?

Hmmmmmm ....

Joe

I'm not sure that Assad has many options. He seems to have been left to try to work out a solution to an insoluble problem that he had no intent to create.

What the US and other forces need to do is give the regime a chance to resolve the issues free of the constant agitation from the insurgents.

I'm sure that Assad is not a stupid person and he is not ignoring the issues at hand.

I can't see what the US gains by an attack on what is a significant moderate influence in this very unstable part of the world. Surely Israel is more seriously threatened by a Syria controlled by extremists?

The USA, did not intervene before the before the gassing occurred? Why is that?

There are several questions:

1 Are we sure that the Syrian government gassed its own people?

The answer is yes, as far as possible considering the restricted access given by the Assad regime.

2 Is a military strike justified? Given that China and Russia are bound to block UN agreement, the question is whether a coalition can legally pursue military action. After the Rwandan genocide where nations sat on their hands, there has been formal agreement that intervention is justified in order to save lives. As with most cases, definitions are flexible, and largely depends on how well the convincing the narrative for action is.

With the death of up to 200 000 Syrians, mostly civilians, and now the use of illegal weapons against unarmed civilians, the justification to take action to deter further crimes against humanity is very strong.

3 Finally, the question is what action is justified?

Given that regime change is not an objective, but the obligation to avoid civilian deaths is paramount, the targets to be sufficiently punitive would tend to focus on military and economic targets important to the regime.

I would guess:

Military aircraft, ships, ports, bases and personnel.

Oil refineries, bridges, power stations and factories especially those used to produce chemical weapons.

Hi Peter,

I think we all need to take a much more analytical and historical look at the Syrian situation, its context to the wider issues in the ME region and the geopolitical posturing by the West and their Russian/Chinese counterweights.

There can be no doubt that the warring factions of Islam have been systematically aligning themselves with the various totalitarian regimes throughout the region. Those same Islamic factions also support the “host” regimes with religious, political and military endorsement. They have become “parasitic” relationships.

Support from either the Western or the Eastern blocks, or from other Islamic factions, can only ever be seen by opposing regimes and Islamic variants as “taking sides” and produce, as always, more international hostilities.

I don’t understand why mass murder of civilians by gun fire, mortars, missiles, assassinations, starvation, and dislocation are any different to chemical weapons? Mass murder is mass murder. Why are chemical weapons such a significant trigger?

External interference will only increase hostilities throughout the region and reinforce the factional polarization.

I’m in no doubt that the USA is itching to have a crack at the Russian S 300 ADS sold to the Syrians. I’m also in no doubt that the Russians are equally desperate to stop the USA demonstrating that the Syrians were sold a dud.

I’m certain that the targeting of airfields, every aircraft the Syrians have, their S300’s, munitions and every single piece of military hardware is already done. Possibly with much current and accrued intelligence from Israel.

Whilst it might make “good” viewing for a couple of days it will only make things worse.

All nations must stay out of it and not be motivated by the pervasive emotion triggers associated with chemical weapons.