Ref Arab Legion redux
The Saudis get a new chance to empty their jails and Uk/Fr find new jobs from the WH who they prefer to see on videos than in their own countries disguised as refugees?

Posted by: Mina | Apr 18 2018 8:18 utc | 104

Re: Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 18, 2018 4:28:52 AM | 102
Russia’s strategy. I’m fairly sure Putin doesn’t want to let down the Russian populace by having a massive World Cup “boycott” or god forbid, cancellation on his hands.
Look for Russia to play “less nice” from July.
There are heavy personal political incentives for Putin to “play for time” at the moment.

Posted by: Julian | Apr 18 2018 8:31 utc | 106

I don’t think its premature to declare game over. Russia won WW3 – there will be a few minor skirmishes, but nothing strategic.
And by continuing to adhere to the legal frameworks Russia has the high moral ground.
The West and Nato is fragmented – witness the last strikes – the UK only managed 6 missiles and the French zero, but the telling thing was the number of countries that declined. Turkey has changed sides. The US is hopelessly bogged down in the ME at huge cost, which cannot be afforded. The Western political systems are in chaos. And the Western economies are bust.
The US dare not confront Russia directly, which has superior arms, and Russia has out-thought the US.
All Russia needs to solve is the demographics, which it will will so many good looking Russian women.
We are witnessing the end of an Empires.

Posted by: cdvision | Apr 18 2018 8:33 utc | 108

Posted by: PavewayIV | Apr 18, 2018 12:19:38 AM | 83
Sadly, I think your assessment is more right than wrong. I happened to read Israel’s Times newspaper yesterday and picked up many of the same messages.
This is not over yet. I feel a land invasion from the south, using proxies, mercenaries, some regular US and ‘allied’ forces, plus Israeli and US air support (or Israeli electronic interference of air defence systems?) is on the cards.
Looks like the UK role might be concurrently to carry out a massive cyber attack on Russia, Syria and Iran. All the signs for the reverse to happen – Russian cyber attack on UK – have been in the newspapers here since first editions Monday. Preparing us for a ‘necessary retaliation’? Lord knows what the French will be doing – diversionary tactics from North (Manjib?) – but we can be sure Macron wants to be in there and doing. See: France is sending troops in Syria
Personally I do not think this looks good whichever way up you hold it.

Posted by: Carrie | Apr 18 2018 11:05 utc | 110

Paveway IV:
Thanks, this info – even if only partially accurate – provides some interesting pieces for the mosaic. The electronic battlefield is largely unseen to the casual observer, but one gets the impression that it seethes and writhes across the landscape. If the advantage ebbs and flows like the tide, I guess my next question is whether the Russians have the appropriate resilience and ECM to prevent themselves from being stranded at the high-water mark?
The United Sates and Israeli’s certainly appear to have pedigree when it comes to electronic warfare. That said, my personal hunch is that the Russians and Iranians are hardly novices themselves.

Posted by: Glossopteris | Apr 18 2018 11:36 utc | 112

EO @78
Thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate them.

Posted by: Castellio | Apr 18 2018 12:03 utc | 114

BZ samples tested at Swiss lab in Skripal case ‘nothing to do’ with Salisbury – OPCW chief
https://www.rt.com/news/424475-opcw-swiss-bz-agent-salisbury/
Read their comments, they make no sense!

Posted by: Anon | Apr 18 2018 13:01 utc | 116

Don Bacon @112
Thanks very much for that. So certain factions within the US Military claim that the US has allowed it’s dominant position in this field atrophy? That certainly puts an interesting spin on things, even if one allows for the usual disinformation and misdirection.

Posted by: Glossopteris | Apr 18 2018 13:03 utc | 118

@115:
It’s more of what product makes it easier for customers to open their wallets.

Posted by: Ian | Apr 18 2018 13:25 utc | 120

A correspondent for US network CBS gained access to the alleged attack site in Douma on Monday. Seth Doane spoke to residents of a building where at least 30 bodies are reported to have been found.
“All of a sudden some gas spread around us,” one man said. “We couldn’t breathe, it smelled like chlorine.”
Another resident, who said many members of his family were among those killed, showed the CBS crew a yellow compressed gas canister that appeared to have punched a hole in the roof of the building. The canister looked similar to others photographed in the wake of other alleged chlorine attacks.
A Swedish journalist who also visited the building in Douma said he had felt a discomfort in his throat and smelled a strong odour as he entered its basement.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43792120

Posted by: ninel | Apr 18 2018 13:33 utc | 122

@119
A CBS reporter backs up the US claims. That’s no surprise.
Anybody remember Dan Rather, the iconic CBS “reporter?”
Dan Rather: “Look I’m an American. I never tried to kid anybody that I’m some internationalist or something. And when my country is at war, I want my country to win, whatever the definition of ‘win’ might be. Now, I can’t and don’t argue that that is coverage without prejudice. About that I am prejudiced.” . — from Norman Solomon’s “War Made Easy” — How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 18 2018 13:49 utc | 124

@119
A CBS reporter backs up the US claims. That’s no surprise.
Anybody remember Dan Rather, the iconic CBS “reporter?”
Dan Rather: “Look I’m an American. I never tried to kid anybody that I’m some internationalist or something. And when my country is at war, I want my country to win, whatever the definition of ‘win’ might be. Now, I can’t and don’t argue that that is coverage without prejudice. About that I am prejudiced.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 18 2018 13:50 utc | 126

WJ
Don Bacon
Mattis said the strike was a “one-off”.
But AFAIK the carrier fleet is still on the way to Syria.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 18 2018 14:12 utc | 128

PavewayIV
Microwaves? OK, maybe. But I think that you may be too decent a chap to strategize in the way that the ’Assad must go’ arseholes do.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 18 2018 14:16 utc | 130

re 124

But AFAIK the carrier fleet is still on the way to Syria.

Before this gas attack thing came up, the Truman was going to the Gulf. Has anyone actually said that the plans have changed?

Posted by: Laguerre | Apr 18 2018 14:33 utc | 132

Bill beat me to it at 127.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 18 2018 14:37 utc | 134

We dont have to rely on seeing missile parts to know the Pentagon is lying about the air strikes. We have high resolution pictures of the target site at the research center and we have the claim that they hit that site with 76 cruise missiles with 1000 lb warheads! The level of damage does not match that claim. Not even close. Carefully examine the photos. One building is still heavily intact…maybe 30-40 %. Only the smaller one is obliterated. But notice, not only are these rather small college campus size buildings, each one is hollow. They all have an open courtyard inside. So they are in fact smaller than they first appear. It would take no more than 3 or 4 missiles to destroy each one, if that. We are looking at a strike from about 10 missiles, not 76. That is an absurd claim, and they were forced into it because that was the only site they could show extensive damage on. The other two shown were much too small to obscure the truth. This claim of an electronic attack and the Syrians firing at phantom targets is also absurd. While Russia certainly networked the Syrian long range radars to tighten up their airspace, most of Syria’s guns and missile systems are elderly.They are not even digital nor can they be slaved to a network. For a buk system, for example, to fire on a target…the operator must acquire that target on his tracking and guidance radar on the launcher. If the target cant be detected (it’s not really there) by the guidance radar, no launch is possible. It doesn’t matter if the networked surveillance radar tells them something is out there, the guidance radar must lock onto something to fire.Even more so for some of their other systems. The only thing they would possibly launch towards a phantom target would be an s 200, on the chance that its semi active homing head would be operational by the time it was near the presumed target…sort of like getting a jump on the target.

Posted by: Indrid Cold | Apr 18 2018 15:06 utc | 136

Indeed Cold
I think maybe you meant to post that comment to the “Syria – Pentagon Hides Attack Failure” Thread, and probabably in response to Just Sayin’ who asserts that he can’t find ANY photo evidence online of US missiles downed/diverted.
It’s best to keep that conversation there.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 18 2018 15:10 utc | 138

@7 Cassandra,
The French “explanation” for a chemical attack (Assad’s ostensible need to create negative PR for himself by sadistically punishing people who did not leave town on the Idlib Express) is literally the only theory true believers can come up with. Because killing and punishing Syrians who chose not to collaborate with the forces fighting the state totally makes sense….if you desperately need a gas attack story to keep your narrative from unraveling. Almost as funny as the Pentagon’s “all 100+ missiles we fired successfully hit their targets” and then showing pictures of the sites with barely any debris visible and no large craters. Must have been brand new super duper nano missiles or something. Sadly the average dimwit will believe it because for him the “news” is a proxy for thinking. Besides( everybody knows the “news” is never wrong.

Posted by: Moshe Mossad Schlomostein | Apr 18 2018 15:26 utc | 140

Don Bacon
Trump’s actions have not matched his election rhetoric. Just like faux populist Obama. Obama also “caved” to pressure, and even set himself up for failure by emphasing “bipartisanship”.
That is how the political mechanism of faux populism works.
Obama: Change you can believe in
Trump: Make America Great Again
Obama: Most transparent administration ever
Trump: Drain the Swamp
Obama: Deceiver: “Man of Peace” engaging in covert ops
Trump: Distractor: twitter, personal vendettas
Weakened by claims of unpatriotic inclinations:
Obama: Birthers (led by Trump who was close to Clinton’s) – “Muslim socialist”!
Trump: Russia influence (pushed by ‘NeverTrump’ Clinton loyalists) – Putin’s bitch!
There’s more but I won’t belabor the point.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 18 2018 15:42 utc | 142

@Financial Matters 125
I totally agree we will be better off once the US dollar is no longer the dominant currency; it’s how to get there that is the trick.

Posted by: Bakerpete | Apr 18 2018 15:56 utc | 144

@131 WJ and 134 Don Bacon
I appreciate this discussion.
On a side note I would add that 3-4 years ago when Ukraine was boiling, much of the discussion by concerned people focused on countries outside of the US, and the damage caused by the US. The US, in this context, was largely regarded as an evil but coherent entity.
But that coherence has now come more and more into question. Discussion shifted gradually, as the US made more and more mistakes and lost battle after battle in so many theaters, and revealed itself as a failing actor. And in the last year or two there’s much more discussion about the US itself, largely trying to pierce the obscurity of how that country is actually run and by whom. This shift was already happening, and Trump of course added to the fascination.
I was glad to see that gradual shift. To me it indicated the war itself was won, while many battles were yet to be fought. I think it’s true that Russia, China, Iran and others are increasingly concerned with curtailing the damage that the US can still inflict. Every day they increase in actual, effective power, and the US decreases in that power. Yesterday’s battle will be fought differently tomorrow, because the balance of that power will have shifted again by then.
Syria has been an enormously useful magnifying glass to show us so much about the relative power balances of many nations. And even as the US lashes out in its death throes, it is increasingly cornered and stymied. The same is true of Israel. It’s reaching the point – if not already there – that every move made by the US will result in clear damage to itself, with no gain, and no damage to its targets.
The other side has had sufficient time to wargame countless contingencies, and think them through and make preparations for them. Increasingly, it gets to choose what damage to allow and what to stop, because the costs of every action have now been calculated – and the passage of time reduces the costs too, so the equation constantly updates.
This is true outside of Syria also, in all theaters and on many planes of activity.

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 18 2018 16:00 utc | 146

Just my few thoughts here.
I actually think that idea of having an Arab force (Egypt, Jordan) as in Syria in place of the US and the mercenaries is not too crazy idea of current US administration.
Also I think that deal of having iran a bit sidestepped right now is good plan for bringing some sort of a stable foundation to negotiate a US pull-out and Israeli agreeing with that.
What is your take there?

Posted by: laserlurk | Apr 18 2018 16:19 utc | 148

Grieved 142
In reading a Reuters article the other day the writer referred to Russia as a super power.
It is the first time I have seen the MSM refer to current Russia as a superpower.
As you say the balance of power is shifting.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Apr 18 2018 16:37 utc | 150

@144 “I actually think that idea of having an Arab force (Egypt, Jordan) as in Syria in place of the US and the mercenaries is not too crazy idea of current US administration.”
And the ‘Arab force’ would do what exactly? Protect the Kurds from Turkey? Deprive Syrians of their oilfields? Stop the SAA from crossing the Euphrates? And who would provide the ‘Arab force’ with air support?

Posted by: dh | Apr 18 2018 16:46 utc | 152

Russians found one of the actors from the Douma chem attack fake – https://www.instagram.com/p/Bht2xhwHTKt/

Posted by: dewn | Apr 18 2018 16:50 utc | 154

@ 149 fastfreddy… yeah, but this will be the ”’moderate”’ version of same, lol… and if anyone believes that, they will believe all the other lies and deceptions regularly manufactured out of washington/telaviv/london…

Posted by: james | Apr 18 2018 17:05 utc | 156

Don Bacon @135
Jackrabbit @141
Grieved @142,
I agree with the assessments of Don Bacon and Grieved that the “US can do nothing [about Syria] on a lasting basis” [Don Bacon] and that the more fundamental “war”–the war premised on the convincing global projection of US financial-military power–has “itself [already been] won.” [Grieved]
But the difference between reality and the perception of reality is real, and it produces real effects. The death throes of a man who is dying might be perceived by him as the sudden return of his virility. We can all agree that he is wrong. But we can also all agree that he is not yet dead. And therein lies the problem.

Posted by: WJ | Apr 18 2018 17:38 utc | 158

The US Zionist Deep State doesn’t want to “conquer” any country. Then they’d have to pay the bill for the destruction they caused… think an actual Marshall Plan, not the Iraq and Afghan Debacles. It is not trying to “win”. It is trying to destroy those countries’ ability to function outside the iron-fist influence of the Rothschild/IMF/BIS/etc. banks/economy. In the Middle East, this means to the ultimate benefit of the Zionist Israel Project, the preeminent Rothschild wet dream since long before the Balfour Declaration and Sykes-Picot. Russia becomes a target as the defender of Syria, Iran etc., and so the Zionist Rothschild MIC/Bretton Woods/IMF/etc. bankster system is brought to bear in the form of Ukraine regime-change, currency wars and trade/economic sanctions. China has allied with Russia, and also has the Rothschilds on a short leash, so the fooferah over the South China Sea and North Korea… which also has no Rothschild-controlled central bank.
As for US operations in Syria being handed off “to others”, i.e. to Prince’s latest iteration of Blackwater/Xi/Academia, the last we heard of Erik was trying to sell a budget airforce/drone system to countries in Africa. What a joke. Not going to happen in Syria, because Russia, Iran, Hezbolla and Syria would have no qualms about directly assaulting Prince’s Kurd/Arab/Wahabbist mercenaries… Eric may be a self-serving parasite, but he’s not stupid enough to directly take on the Russian military, or even the SAA for that matter. Especially with no NATO air cover… Killary is not around to unilaterally impose a Libya-style no-fly-zone.
Trumpty Dumbdy is trapped, just trying to convince his base that he really is getting the US out of being Israel’s and the Rothschilds’ bitch, but that is not a potential reality. It would involve dismantling the FED and cutting off the yearly $multi-billion military aid tap to Israel. I doubt he is smart or informed enough to comprehend the situation he is in. Any sane, intelligent person would walk away and tell the Zionist/Rothschild/Deep State to find another patsy.

Posted by: A P | Apr 18 2018 17:42 utc | 160

“All of a sudden some gas spread around us,” one man said. “We couldn’t breathe, it smelled like chlorine.”
_____________________________________
The videos showing persons (White Helmets?) rushing into the site of the alleged chemical attack and pouring water on the “victims” speak for themselves. Likewise, the ancillary first-person reports by medical personnel: 1) affirming that there were no symptoms of chemical poisoning among the dead or injured, and 2) corroborating the reports of third parties rushing in and clamoring “Gas!”, “Chemical attack!”, etc.
It’s obvious enough to any observer with a modicum of rational skepticism that this is the old “fait accompli” version of the Big Lie: just keep repeatedly and firmly insisting that X took place (or X never happened), until a critical mass of complacent, credulous, and submissive useful idiots accept the assertions as fact.
It wouldn’t surprise me if, along with all that water being thrown around, a few White Helmet-types also poured around, or even boiled, some ordinary household laundry bleach to provide the unmistakable whiff of chlorine gas in the air.
In sleight-of-hand and similar deceptions, once the audience buys into the premise, it only takes minimal cues to reinforce the fake reality projected by the illusion-master.

Posted by: Ort | Apr 18 2018 18:03 utc | 162

Putin bows to Trump, ready for deep Concessions
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-18/putin-reportedly-ready-deep-concessions-seeks-deal-trump

Posted by: Passer by | Apr 18 2018 18:16 utc | 164

@144&148
Remember, this is the Nth attempt by KSA to muster a pan-arabic force to be involved in Syria.
Its a complete sham. Without Egypt it simply isnt credible (Am struggling to find the article I read but first reactions are Egypt wont participate in such an endeavor)..

Posted by: Lozion | Apr 18 2018 18:24 utc | 166

@160 s… that is the same people captured in @150 dewns link…

Posted by: james | Apr 18 2018 18:38 utc | 168

news report
Saudi Arabia is in discussions with the US to send troops into Syria, according to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
This impresses nobody.
from BusinessInsiderMilitary–

Saudi Arabia is the fourth-largest spender on defense products in the world, just behind Russia. But its military has been largely ineffective in Yemen.
Almost three years after Saudi Arabia, supported by other Gulf and Arab states, launched a military intervention to support Yemen’s ousted president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Iran-backed Houthi rebels are still active and continue to hold Yemen’s largest city and capital, Sana’a.
Additionally, the Houthis have proved capable of launching high-profile attacks against the Saudis. Those include multiple cross-border raids into Saudi Arabia, successful attacks on Emirati and Saudi navy ships, and the launching of ballistic missiles into the heartland of the kingdom. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 18 2018 18:53 utc | 170

Many stating the Douma chem attack never happened: Fisk, Rand Paul, Sarah Palin, Peter Ford, that TV fellow Tuckbox, no Tucker – Fox, no doubt many others I forget now, ppl on the ground, doctors, Vanessa Beely, etc. Others saying there is no evidence, such as Mad Dog Mattis, that takes the cake, it does.
Good news in a way, signals breaches in the information stranglehold of USuk-F. Yes. However it can go many ways.
To break the stranglehold of the PTB (USuk-isr with now F, others like KSA not influential in information terms) it is necessary to flip a good part of the 20%. Not the top 20% in economic terms, but what the F call the “intermediary corps”, those who provide the interface between the top echelons and the lowly proles. In other contexts, the cadres of the régime, defined loosely, widely. I.e. ppl / small groups who are positioned at decision nodes (e.g. tech, military) — who possess mega social capital and influence (e.g. media) — experts who make important decisions in the shadows (e.g. health care, big pharma) — gvmt. officials, high security chiefs, etc.
As the US is a corporatist oligarchy possibly the 20% is only 15% or so. It has now (imho) become necessary, for change to occur, for this structure to be liquidated or at least be severely impacted. Is that what is going on? I think not.
The other possible positive outcome is that proposed by Trump the candidate, and mentioned above in comments and all over…: The USA gradually retiring its hegemonic policies, re-trenching at home, and accepting a “”multi-polar”” (double quotes as double-speak) world. I see this happening in a way, in the sense that the latest missile *attacks* on Syria represent a failed sortie, a non-event, a face-saving exercise tolerated by others. Yet, it will be followed by low-level harassment or escalation, who knows…

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 18 2018 19:06 utc | 172

BTW, for those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the full unedited Lavrov’s interview with BBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFhORWVFBUw .

Posted by: S | Apr 18 2018 19:15 utc | 174

Re Yemen,
It would seem that the incessant bombings of the SA and UAE kill very few people.
Why is it that war deaths in Yemen are only given as 10,000? Even on RT this magic
number stays the same year after year after year.
How come nobody dies from cholera? And malnutrition? Aren’t these war deaths?
I am truly baffled.

Posted by: CarlD | Apr 18 2018 20:10 utc | 176

@Passer by | Apr 18, 2018 3:13:15 PM | 173
I lean towards what was hinted in the article. Putin has thrown a piece of red meat in the midst of the Deep State chickenhawks. Let’s see them crawl all over each other trying to chew on it.

Posted by: Bakerpete | Apr 18 2018 20:22 utc | 178

The claim that Russia has never been in Syria for anything other than killing terrorists there to keep them out of Russia seems to be paraded out more and more unquestioningly. It’s patent bs. Yes that is part of Russia’s reason, but anyone not glued to corporate media knows that this war has never been centrally about Syria. It has always been, in a way, more about Iran and Russia.

Posted by: paul | Apr 18 2018 20:39 utc | 180

The claim that Russia has never been in Syria for anything other than killing terrorists there to keep them out of Russia seems to be paraded out more and more unquestioningly. It’s patent bs. Yes that is part of Russia’s reason, but anyone not glued to corporate media knows that this war has never been centrally about Syria. It has always been, in a way, more about Iran and Russia.
Posted by: paul | Apr 18, 2018 4:39:50 PM | 179

this is a pretty stupid distinction to make, even by your already admittedly abysmally low standards, paul.
After all it’s not like the Russkies asked ZATO to make a mess of Syria just so they could rush in to pretend to defend it, now is it?
Syria is where the action’s at, and Russia had a Naval base there, so they obviously considered it worth defending. If ZATO hadn’t attacked then russia would have to defend it [pretend or otherwise]
I bet you’d be the type to blame the woman for being there in the first place, when she claims someone raped her? After all, look what she was wearing. Asking for it obviously.

Posted by: Just Sayin’ | Apr 18 2018 21:08 utc | 182

Noirette @172
Ghostship @176,
These are very helpful comments. I am betting they are in the vicinity of the truth.
I am still wondering about Russia’s promised “consequences” for the FUKUS illegal strike against Syria and whether they might pertain to either or both of the two apparently quixotic diplomatic endeavors Russia has taken on:
the first being to convince the international community that the Skripal hoax was in fact a hoax perpetrated by the U.K;
the second being likewise the public claim that the alleged chemical attack in Douma was not only staged, but was staged by the direct command of certain persons in the U.K. government.
What makes these endeavors seem quixotic is that Russia already knows how this game is played: the UK, US (and its client states) will never admit to either, no matter what evidence Russia supplies, and in any case have already expressed their disdain for international law–which is the presumed context within which both endeavors are being pursued.
So why is Russia investing so much of its energy into these endeavors? They are just as likely to lead to a *worse* result for Russia at this point than simply doing nothing. The U.K. and U.S. are not above inflicting vindictive reprisals for this kind of doggedly annoying diplomatic behavior.
But then I read this–as reported by both the Sunday Times and Sputnik over the past couple days:
“The Sunday Times recalled in this vein that since the alleged poisoning of the Skripals, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has received “intelligence risk assessments” pertaining to Russia’s possible retaliation in the form of releasing “embarrassing material on members of May’s Cabinet as well as highly-placed British ministers and MPs.”
Is this an early attempt by the U.K. to get out ahead of these promised Russian “consequences”?
What *kind* of “embarrassing material on members of May’s Cabinet” might Russia possess? And how do we know that such material would be *only* embarrassing–and not, say, politically catastrophic?
Is Russia planning to reveal the “irrefutable proof” of the U.K. role in staging the Douma chemical attack it claims to possess? Is it this “proof” that lies behind Russia’s dogged diplomacy on these two issues?

Posted by: WJ | Apr 18 2018 21:10 utc | 184

“The bulk of the remaining ISIS fighters are located in two areas: along the Syria-Iraq border around the town of Haijin, in the Euphrates River Valley north of Abu Kamal, and just west of Deir ez-Zoir.
Dillon would provide no figures on the numbers of ISIS fighters remaining in the country.”
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/04/17/us-forces-remain-near-manbij-isis-has-moved-on/#.WtdlNBYQJII.twitter
ISIS mostly remains inside US-controlled territory as confirmed by the US military.

Posted by: Les | Apr 18 2018 21:15 utc | 186

Is anyone having trouble with reaching Elijah Magnier site today?
I am not able fro a while already, but I can see his twitter account….

Posted by: From the resistance trench with love | Apr 18 2018 21:23 utc | 188

@157
Who’s Win-Win? Xie’s wife?
But seriously…..
I don’t think Hannity has had any sort of awakening about the Deep State. He’s just a partisan hack who happens to have come across Deep State related information in pursuit of the Democratic Party. Carlson seems more of a conservative who is puts his intellectual honesty above ideology. The “liberal” neocons who dominate the Democratic Party, bureaucracy, media, and academia lack his degree of openness and honesty. The left-sympathizing diaspora that coalesced around Sanders is completely marginalized unless they’re willing to look outside of their abusive coalition towards paleocons and America-Firsters who have been driven to the margins by “conservative” neocons. But they’ll need to shed their postmodernist baggage to do so or they will forever be chasing the toxic crumbs tossed their way by the “liberals” who hold sway in the power structures that still have their loyalty.

Posted by: Thirdeye | Apr 18 2018 21:47 utc | 190

WJ @183–
I submit that Russia is essentially doing this all for the benefit of the Global Court of Humanity–the actual International Community–to bolster its and China’s drive to re-establish a Rule-of-Law based world order that provides actual consequences for individuals and nations who violate those laws. In other words, Russia is asking the International Community to make a choice as to what sort of world it wants to inhabit–one where all nations have the same standing and are able to freely express their views, or one where they’re enslaved by a single hegemon and restricted to only doing its bidding. When you read Putin’s speeches going back to his meteoric rise in the late 1990s, he keeps this same thread of thinking as he addresses the West–and the rest of the world. There’s a very good reason Putin’s seen as the #1 statesman on the planet. Also, thus the reason for the intensity of the Russophobic anti-Putin campaign being waged. I think Gallup ought to rephrase this query: “Turning to global political leadership, should the USA retain its role as arguably the most powerful state in the world? Or would survey respondents prefer the USA and Russia to exercise global leadership together?” Instead, it ought to ask if people would prefer to live under a Unipolar global dictatorship or retain the sovereignty, dignity and freedom of a Multipolar world. In that regard, it’s very important for Russia and its Multipolar Alliance allies to show/teach the world that the Outlaw US Empire is anything but benevolent and is an Imperialist robber just as its mentor and mother the UK remains.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 18 2018 22:06 utc | 192

@140 MMS “[MSM] ‘news’ is a proxy for thinking” – nicely said – those in the west have abdicated their responsibility to themselves, their families & communities, and outsourced their thinking to various, previously trustworthy (OK maybe only a little) professions, ie. politicians, journalists, teachers, doctors, etc. – only to find, years later, that doing so was to thier own detriment & others as well
@146 Grieved – thanks…

Posted by: xLemming | Apr 18 2018 22:15 utc | 194

@183 wj.. it won’t matter what ”proof” russia provides.. it will be ignored and especially by the msm…
@186 dh… when the saudis get their, isis and them will be able to practice the headchopping wahabbi death cult rituals together.. get the grand mufti from turkey to join in the fun.. offer free holidays in idlib for those especially religious ones..

Posted by: james | Apr 18 2018 22:22 utc | 196

Cherrycoke @192,
My view is that they are trying to bury the whole issue by appeal to crucially important, though highly professionalized, particular technicalities of chemical testing.
One commentator over at Craig Murray’s (4/18 20:29) hypothesizes from the stated facts of the UK ambassador at the UNSC that the TWO biomedical samples were the two samples “spiked” with BZ in control samples, while the TWO environmental samples were not. (The idea is that there were four labs–four controlled samples–in total, only two of which were spiked with BZ.)
Why might it be the two biomedical samples were the two controls that were spiked with BZ? I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious.

Posted by: WJ | Apr 18 2018 22:30 utc | 198

Thanks S@165. Southfront carries the story, too: https://southfront.org/journalists-found-boy-filmed-in-white-helmets-douma-chemial-attack-video-he-did-it-for-food/

Posted by: Maracatu | Apr 18 2018 22:31 utc | 200