Unfortunately, over the weekend the world got the horrific news of yet another gas attack in Syria, presumed to be the work of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump issued angry tweets, even slightly chastising his pal Vladimir Putin for the very first time:
You could understand Assad and Putin thinking that Trump had washed his hands of the matter and was back to his long held belief that strongmen were needed to stabilize the region. Recall that
he made it clear during the campaign that he didn't care at all about using chemical weapons. Of Iran and Iraq he said:
They fight, that’s what they do. They fight…and they were equal, militarily. They go this way, 10 feet, they go this way, 10 feet…then Saddam Hussein throws a little gas, everyone goes crazy 'oh he’s using gas!' They go back, forth, it's the same. And they were stabilized.
CNN
reports that Bolton quietly settled in at the White House already this week-end. He is a rabid Iran hawk and known to favor staying on in Syria to counter their influence.Perhaps he persuaded the president that this is a provocation that requires him to re-evaluate his earlier decision. Maybe they're going to bomb the shit out somebody and take the oil. Who knows? Trump is so volatile and unpredictable at this point that literally anything is possible.
But one thing is certain. Whatever Trump and Bolton decide to do or not do, humanitarian concerns or keeping the world from boiling over into violence and chaos are not going to be factors. Neither one of them care at all about any of that.
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