What better way to provide an assist to a much unloved and mistrusted candidate than to ramp up the war drumming right before an election? I thought Hillary would have the Donald down for the count by now, but I guess she still needs a little help from our soon to be former POTUS. So guess who's coming to dinner and some war planning?

U.S. President Barack Obama and his top foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider their military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel Aleppo and other targets, U.S. officials said. [...]

One set of options includes direct U.S. military action such as air strikes on Syrian military bases, munitions depots or radar and anti-aircraft bases, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

This official said one danger of such action is that Russian and Syrian forces are often co-mingled, raising the possibility of a direct confrontation with Russia that Obama has been at pains to avoid. [...]

One alternative, U.S. officials said, is allowing allies to provide U.S.-vetted rebels with more sophisticated weapons, although not shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, which Washington fears could be used against Western airliners.

Not sure Russian leaders would see much difference between US warplanes shooting down Russian warplanes, or US supplied "moderate rebels" (yes, I know that's an oxymoron) shooting down Russian planes with sophisticated surface to air missiles provided by the good old USA. I sure don't see much difference between the two. If I were a Russian official I would consider such actions tantamount to a declaration of war.

Unfortunately, I am getting the sinking feeling that whatever choice Obama makes with respect to military action in Syria will be in the best interests of one Hillary Rodham Clinton's election chances and not that of our nation's national security. Then again, I've struggled to find any justification for our intervention in Syria that was based strictly in terms of our national security. I can see how our military intervention/war there may be a benefit for Israel's and the Saudi's security interests, not to mention the interests of numerous American companies with an economic stake in the Middle East. But the American people or the world as a whole? Not so much.

Indeed, I fail to see how our actions regarding Syria are not a direct violation of the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions, which expressly prohibit wars of aggression. Then again, no one seems to give much of a damn in the US high command, the Obama administration or our hyper-nationalistic, flag-waving traditional mainstream media about war crimes our military has committed at the behest of both Republican and Democratic Commanders-in-Chief. It's all about how high we can make the rubble fly, and standing up to that notorious thug, and all around super-villain Vladimer Putin. And the terrorists, of course.

Who would have guessed when this election campaign began in 2014 that the Republican nominee would be viewed by many as less likely to start WWIII, much less that his name would be Donald Trump? In any event, my fellow Americans, stay tuned, as I expect the drum beats for further US military responses that intensify the risk of an actual hot war breaking out between US and Russian forces over the skies of Syria to increase exponentially in the next few weeks, or possibly even the next few days.