The Israel-Iran proxy war in Syria has begun

Israel has been bombing Syria for years. They've struck both Syrian and Iranian forces at least 100 times.
During all that time, Iran never struck back.

Then Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement.

Syrian state-run media said Israel struck a military outpost near the capital Damascus on Tuesday, saying its air defenses intercepted and destroyed two of the incoming missiles. The reported attack came an hour after President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, calling Tehran a main exporter of terrorism in the region.
...The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles targeted depots and rocket launchers that likely belonged to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in Kisweh, killing nine people. The group, which closely monitors the Syria war through a network of activists on the ground, said it was not clear whether those killed were Revolutionary Guard members or members of a pro-Iranian militia.

For the first time Iran responded.

Confrontation between Israel and Iranian forces in Syria sharply escalated in the early hours of Thursday as Israel said Iran launched a barrage of 20 missiles toward its positions on the Golan Heights.

Heavy military jet activity, explosions and air-defense fire could be heard throughout the night in the area. An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were fired by Iran’s Quds force, a special forces unit affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, marking the first time that Iranian forces have ever fired directly on the Israeli troops.

Israel responded to Iran's response, who had responded to Israel's provocation.

The scale of Israeli rocket fire appeared to be far higher than in previous incidents and Damascus residents described seeing explosions above the city from air defense systems.

No Israelis were killed. However, Netanyahu finally has his war.
The chances of a Russia-U.S. war just jumped.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

snoopydawg's picture

However, Netanyahu finally has his war.
The chances of a Russia-U.S. war just jumped.

Russia and Iran are in Syria legally and I would think that they would have the right to defend themselves from Israel's attacks. How long are they supposed to sit back and watch as Israel or us do whatever the Hell they want?

Tensions between Israel and Iran have threatened to spill over in Syria, where the Iranian military and allied Shi’ite militia are backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war against rebels seeking to oust him.

Isn't Israel just hoping that if they keep attacking that would provoke a reason for them to get us to help them start a bigger war? Or has Iran been really lobbing bombs into Israel like Bibi has said?

(sorry for the discombobulated comment. My thought processes are on vacation tonite, but I'm curious where this is going)

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

I don't think that I was alone thinking that Russia would respond if we attacked after the false flag in Syria last month after they had warned us not to. Then when they didn't do anything that is when others started questioning what Putin was up to. These 4 articles discus what Putin's plans are. Not only in Syria, but the other countries where we are meddling in. Putin has to be aware that our plans for Russia are regime change and to get back to stealing their resources. This is obvious to most people so why isn't he aware of it? Just want someone to stop our murderous marching to global hegemony.

Why is Putin "Allowing" Israel to Bomb Syria?,

Russia: Washington’s Next Vassal?

Putin Has Shown Weakness in Armenia and Syria - His Credibility Is Collapsing

Medvedev re-nomination: this does not look good

Thoughts?

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

mimi's picture

@snoopydawg
can only be fed by artificial intelligence.

Thank you for your links, snoopydawg. Poor Russians. Cry for me Russia, I hear in my ears.

Well, I never was good in 'thinking'. Complain with God about it. Right now, I don't want even try to think. No popcorn on earth can help me enjoying that at the moment.

up
0 users have voted.

@snoopydawg
President Putin is well aware of the goals of the Deep State in the West. His most irritating problem is NATO on his Western border. Expect him to make this very uncomfortable for the hosting countries. His goal in Syria is to restore stability and remove the terrorists as they are a threat to Russia herself. Expect him to keep his eye on that goal and not be diverted into a petty squabble with other powers. The Syrian Arab Army is thrashing the armed resistance. Putin picked them up from certain defeat to strength, pride, and motivation. Here's an article on a Russian demo of what will happen to US warships if Russian assets are attacked:
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/698720/world-war-3-russia-us...
That isn't even the best of Russia's anti-ship arsenal. Expect the US to work really hard to avoid direct conflict as a sunken navy ship would be disaster as hotheads in Congress demanded retaliation.

Yes there are many hotheads who want Russia to show more backbone, especially here in Moscow. They are a minority and Putin has the discipline to stay focused. I give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that his strategies are working. Syria is moving towards a unified country and no other country has managed to get him to take the bait for diversion. Israel is a problem, but Putin works closely with Netanyahu. He was his guest at the Victory Day Parade yesterday in Red Square. I assume that Israel understands that she can't get in the way of Syrian unification or demand that Assad go. In return, Russia will give her some leeway in attacking Iranian and Hezbollah assets in Syria. I have no idea of where the red lines are. By the way, it was a very impressive parade with tons of new technology hardware. I was impressed with the emphasis on Arctic military tech. The message was clear, Russia dominates the Arctic don't even think of challenging us. I was also extremely moved by the emotional depth of the feelings of patriotism about the national experience of the USSR in WWII, the Great Patriotic War as they call it. It's all about the people and the incredible sacrifices made. It has left a much more indelible mark on Russia than in the US.

up
0 users have voted.

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

mimi's picture

@The Wizard @The Wizard

His most irritating problem is NATO on his Western border.

How likely the "war theatre" will then move to the Western borders of Russia? That's pretty close to me to feel comfortable about.

Isn't the Russian feeling of having been betrayed by the NATO (I don't remember when the promise was made not to expand NATO influence to the East, jeez, I have no knowledge, I am sorry, but I remember there were promises made and they were broken) the real danger in all of it?

up
0 users have voted.

@The Wizard Yah, I was surprised by Netanyahu being prominently shown with Putin at the celebration and laying of wreaths. Who was the tall guy with them? The attacks came immediately after Netanyahu left Russia I believe.

Have to give it to Netanyahu for attending when all Europe is boycotting the celebration with any association with Putin being interpreted as being a vassal state. I don't think either leader wants to get into a shooting match with each other.

There is some WSJ reporter for NPR's business report who claimed that Putin was ginning up WWII as a way of control and propaganda. That memories and feelings about WWII were sorta phony. From what I can tell, at least the BBC mocks the celebrations. But having spoken with Russians who grew up in Soviet times, the memory of the war was seared in the collective memory of the Russians. And this way before Putin.

up
0 users have voted.

Iran and Hezbollah on one side and Israel on the other. It's hard to predict how serious this will become and whether other proxies will jump in. In theory Syria, Turkey and possibly even Iraq will jump in against Israel.

De-confliction with Russia is an extremely high priority for the US, since the Pentagon has seen Russia's state of the art hardware in action. Russia's Kalibr cruise missile shocked the hell out of the Pentagon, for accuracy, range, reliability and the ability to be fired off on almost any naval platform. Then Russia displayed the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missile yesterday at the Victory Day Parade. Yes it's real, in deployment and unstoppable. The entire US navy within a given theater of operation could be sunk in minutes. Then the Russia filmed the sinking of a retired Syrian warship. Two missiles hit the ship and it was completely under water within 60 seconds of the first hit. This video was put online before the last missile attack from the US. Russia then communicated that they will sink any ship that fires missiles at Russian assets. The US fully complied.

Each side of the Iranian-Israeli conflict has been planning for this for a long time. I would not be so confident if I were Netanyahu. Iran has taken considerable abuse and not responded. The obvious reason is that she wanted to respond on her terms, with her timing and when she was ready for open conflict. Do Israel's actions make any sense, unless she wants all-out war with Iran and Hezbollah? Does Israel think that by bombing Iranian assets that Iran will learn her lesson and back off? Has this ever worked?

Could this escalate to open conflict between the US and Russia? Definitely yes, but most likely by a surprise path. The US is undoubtedly supporting Israel with intelligence and perhaps war supplies. The US will also be flying warplanes near the Syrian border. Will Syrian/Russian anti-aircraft facilities target US warplanes, thinking that they are Israeli? Good chance. What would the US do if an F16 were downed? Hmm, interesting question. If the US targets any Russian assets the response will be rapid and deadly. The time frame for escalation will be hours. Should the US stay as far as possible away from this conflict? Yes. Will they, no of course not. War is like catnip to the US.

up
0 users have voted.

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

Sunni, Shiite, Kurd etc. that were exacerbated and exploited with the invasion of Iraq, especially when this is coupled to the moving of the US embassy to Jeruselem. The idiots might get their damned holy war and maybe even get their nuclear armegeddon. Too bad they won't get their paradise because that's all a con job. I'm not so sure that the oil companies will get their oil either. But hey, Trump might get a Nobel Peace Prize.

up
0 users have voted.

Beware the bullshit factories.

CB's picture

@Timmethy2.0
started with the Iraq-Iran War (1980) with the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia exacerbating the situation by supplying weapons and logistics to both sides in order to escalate and extend the conflict in order to weaken both countries.

Everything still going to plan in the ME. Sowing chaos and fomenting religious strife to destroy and dismember Muslim countries along sectarian lines - "A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties".

Fortunately for Syria, Putin stepped in and put a huge crimp in these plans. But it wasn't done just for Syria and Assad. Putin knows the US would have used the Saudi supplied Wahhabi jihadists against Russia should they have been successful in destroying Syria. Russia was to be next in line with renewed attacks on its Southern borders.

Putin is playing the long game. He knows his country's history and understands its adversaries and how they function. This game is centuries old. Afghanistan/Yugoslavia/Chechnya/Georgia/Ukraine are just disposable pawns - the real prize is Russia. Russia is what the neocons masturbate and have wet dreams over. They now have almost full control of the Executive and a large portion of the intelligence and military as well as the Democrat controlled media. We can thank Hillary Clinton for this state of affairs.

Russia is not a pushover. In an open conflict between Russia and the US, I would put my money on Russia. Its people understand war and sacrifice and they are fully behind Putin. Over one million Russia citizens of all ages and background took part in the Victory Day march in Moscow along with Putin.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVWRQcXs81c]

Unlike Americans, Russians understand war. They will fight to the last person for their country.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBjLnTuaDE]

up
0 users have voted.

@CB
any more than they want American imperialism. They want all imperialists out just like anybody else would.

up
0 users have voted.

Beware the bullshit factories.

CB's picture

@Timmethy2.0
against foreign intervention. What evidence can you supply showing Russia has imperialist designs? The USSR is long gone.

up
0 users have voted.

@CB @CB
Any more than the Americans were despite Cheney's prediction. Can't see it, I haven't spent a long time with research on it but I sure know there's a lot of bullshit about it on the internet to which any pre-disposed person is susceptible. Can't see it with the Chinese either, who also want to be imperialists there. I can't wait until we get off oil.

up
0 users have voted.

Beware the bullshit factories.

CB's picture

@Timmethy2.0
in Syria closely.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rNc82fgvz4]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=mNTgL82D4Xo]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBBbikkWk44]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLta60WkueE]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQZbOFrjfTE]

which any pre-disposed person is susceptible

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?? I've been following US global interventions for 5 decades. I posted that the Iraq War was based on false information from day one on newsgroups. I posted hundreds of comments in DKos on the Libyan intervention arguing against it from well before the 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched. The same for Syria. I reported that arms and fighters were being smuggled into Syria from Libya and being used to exacerbate the situation.

I suggest you do more reading.

up
0 users have voted.

@Timmethy2.0
Russia has the reputation as an honest broker in the ME. The US lost that two maybe three decades ago. I hear this equivalency thing all the time from Americans, I just don't believe it. It's hard to rise above your programming.

up
0 users have voted.

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

@Timmethy2.0
Iran was invited too.

Turkey and the U.S. were not invited.
Imperialism implies forcing yourself onto someone.

up
0 users have voted.

@CB It's an unbelievable scene, a forest of people holding up signs with pictures of family members killed by Nazi Germany. The West misinterprets Victory Day as a show of military belligerence. It's not. It's a show of remembrance for The Great Patriotic war and the 27 million who gave their lives, and a show that Russians will defend their beloved country against all foes. They are ready and will always be ready. Russia will always be one country.

As a quick comparison 276,655 US Army were KIA in Europe/North Africa. That's one percent of Russia/USSR loses. Perhaps that's why we in the West have no clue as to what Russians feel about WWII. Three quarters of Hitler's army were destroyed on the Eastern front. That's three times what Eisenhower and the Western allies were able to do. Without the sacrifice of the people of the USSR/Russia all of Europe and North Africa would be speaking German today. It's wonderful to see the appreciation today that the West has for this enormous sacrifice.

up
0 users have voted.

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

CB's picture

@The Wizard
is that even the young people understand, acknowledge and appreciate the great sacrifices their forefathers (and mothers) did to protect Russia from complete annihilation in WWII.

Notice the young people singing along. They still remember (and feel) the songs from the Great Patriotic War.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2W47fpL7pI]

We need a victory

There is no birds to sing
There is no trees to grow.
Just us - growing into the soil side by side
The planet is rotating and burning
Our motherland is covered with smoke.
That means we need one victory
One for all, we're ready to pay the price.
One for all, we're ready to pay the price.

There will be deadly fire, but it can't stop us
Get rid of the doubts, our 10th detached airborne battalion is going into the night.
Our 10th detached airborne battalion.

Once the combat ended, we've received another order and the postman will go insane trying to find us.
The red rocket is flying into the sky.
The tireless machine gun is shooting
That means we need one victory
One for all, we're ready to pay the price.
One for all, we're ready to pay the price.

There will be deadly fire, but it can't stop us
Get rid of the doubts, our 10th detached airborne battalion is going into the night.
Our 10th airborne battalion.

From Kursk and Orel, the war led us to the enemy's gates,
So it goes, brother.
Once we will remember it (not "Arla", it's "Kogda")
And we won't believe it.
But now we need one victory
One for all, we're ready to pay the price.
One for all, we're ready to pay the price.

There will be deadly fire, but it can't stop us
Get rid of the doubts, our 10th detached airborne battalion is going into the night.
Our 10th detached airborne battalion.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

Israel Struck 'All of the Iranian Infrastructure in Syria,' Defense Chief Says

Now how long til 'someone' strikes all the US and Russian infrastructure in Syria and then - because so many will get 'very angry' - as a consequence some important infrastructure 'elsewhere'? Where that might be, I wonder.

Exhaling ...

up
0 users have voted.
boriscleto's picture

begun the proxy war has.

up
0 users have voted.

" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

CB's picture

if Israel attempts another Operation Cyanide. Fortunately, Putin has modern versions of Destroyer 626/4 in the area to help prevent such an event.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
but planned by Israel? Why would it have been?

Ooops, I read this book summary and it explains it.
Operation Cyanide: How the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War Three

Beyond my paygrade and comprehension.

up
0 users have voted.
CB's picture

@mimi

Here's a PDF that points out some of the discrepancies in the official report.

A Report
War Crimes Committed Against US Military Personnel, June 8, 1967

This report of war crimes committed against U.S. military personnel is submitted to the Honorable Secretary of the Army in his capacity as Executive Agent for the Secretary of Defense, pursuant to Department of Defense Directive Number 5810.01B (29 March 2004)

This Report is filed by the USS Liberty Veterans Association, Inc. a California non-profit corporation, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a Section 501(c)(3) tax exempt veterans organization, acting on behalf of the surviving crew-members of USS Liberty.

BACKGROUND

On June 8, 1967 while patrolling in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel.

Congress never investigated this "incident".

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@CB

IIRC. He told our rescue boats to stand down. Plus I don't think anyone called Israel to tell them to back off. This showed how deeply entrenched Israel was in our government. Anyone think any other country would have been able to get away with that?

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

link

While Iran and its partners are staunchly anti-Israel, provoking a military standoff with Israel is not an Iranian priority according to our analysis. Instead, Iran is looking to consolidate its hard-won position in the power competition between the main stakeholders in the Syrian conflict: Turkey, the United States, and the Syrian government, along with their respective allies. Syria provides Iran with vital strategic depth, allowing it to project power through the Levant, and gives it a gateway to Hezbollah, enhancing Iranian deterrence of Israel. The collapse of the Assad regime and the dismemberment of the Syrian state would have dealt a significant blow to Iran with the loss of one of its few key allies in the Arab world.

Accordingly, from Iran’s perspective, it is the party under threat in Syria. This view became entrenched among Iranian elites at the beginning of the Syrian conflict, as Iran was placed on the defensive and the probability of Assad surviving the protests seemed dim. Indeed, Iran’s government believed the uprising against Assad was a foreign conspiracy designed to undermine Iran — a direct threat leading some to even claim that “if we lose Syria, we will not be able to preserve Tehran.”

Iran’s entrance in the war was therefore meant to shore up support for its struggling partner and attempt to cut its losses by strengthening local allied militias within Syria with an eye to post-Assad territorial fragmentation — a rational and limited contingency plan in case Assad fell that has been incorrectly interpreted as Iranian expansionism.

up
0 users have voted.

@gjohnsit

Iran has been fighting ISIS in both Iraq and Syria for years and has lost soldiers throughout the process. ISIS is supposed to be the reason Congress approved funding for our engagement in Syria as well as in the current war in Iraq. Theoretically, we have been allied with Iran. Unless Congress was misled and our real purpose was to attack Assad!

up
0 users have voted.
CB's picture

@gjohnsit

The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.

Trump's Pull Out Of Nuclear Deal Was Planned From The Beginning - One Step Closer To The "Path To Persia," War With Iran

On Tuesday, May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States will be pulling out of the “Iran Nuclear Deal” which was struck under the Obama administration, a deal that he has repeatedly called a “bad deal” and even “the single worst deal I’ve ever seen drawn by anybody.”
...
But while this new move may come as a shock to some, it shouldn’t. After all, the Iran deal itself was nothing more than the first step in the coming war on Iran. This can be seen clearly in the pages of the corporate-financier think tanks who develop and present US foreign and domestic policy. For instance, the Brookings Institution, as Tony Cartalucci writes, “whose corporate-financier sponsors include arms manufacturers Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon, energy giants Exxon Mobil, BP, Aramco, and Chevron, and financiers including Bank of America, Citi, and numerous advisers and trustees provided by Goldman Sachs,” wrote in 2009 of the plan to use just such a “deal” to then justify military action against Iran.
...

The Brookings Institution Report – Which Path To Persia?
...
The plan involves the description of a number of ways the Western oligarchy would be able to destroy Iran including outright military invasion and occupation. However, the report attempts to outline a number of methods that might possibly be implemented before direct military invasion would be necessary. The plan included attempting to foment destabilization inside Iran via the color revolution apparatus, violent unrest, proxy terrorism, and “limited airstrikes” conducted by the US, Israel or both.
...
Why Iran?

There are a number of reasons why the United States and the NATO imperial army would like to see Iran destroyed over the coming years. Geopolitical reasons are, of course, front and center.
...
The United States also sees Iran as an opponent due to Iran’s resistance to the Anglo-American insistence on global hegemony of its “Western” system of financial and corporate overseers in a global plantation owned by a world oligarchy. Iran stands in opposition to the Western system because it refuses to engage in a system private central banking as well as corporate and private financier domination of its society and culture. Maintaining its own national bank has long been a source of irritation for Wall Street and City of London vampires eager to sink their fangs into the blood supply of every nation on earth as has its refusal to knuckle under to the destruction of its culture through insidious methods and its alliance with other opponents of the Western agenda.

Iran also remains a close Russian ally and the last domino that needs to fall before the great Anglo-American army can march forward directly into Russia and break the largest country in the world into “manageable” parts. Once Iran is destroyed, Russia will be largely isolated and left to face the NATO alliance which has been slowly surrounding Russia over the last two decades.
...


For the US and Its Allies, the Road to Tehran Runs Through Damascus and Southern Lebanon

When Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, asserts – as she did recently – that the US is sending “not only Assad” but also “Russia and Iran a message”, and that Washington is putting them “on notice,” she does so as the tribune of a rogue state.
...
With the conflict in Syria entering its post-ISIS stage, the smoke has cleared to reveal that where Washington and its regional allies are concerned the road to Tehran runs through Damascus and southern Lebanon. Thus what we have in the region is the formation of two countervailing blocs – an axis of resistance and non-sectarianism comprising Syria, Hezbollah and Iran, which is supported by Russia, and an axis of regime change and sectarianism comprising Saudi Arabia and Israel, supported by the US. States such as Turkey and Egypt, meanwhile, have been oscillating between both blocs, though their ability to continue doing so as tensions deepen further is doubtful.
...
It bears emphasizing that the biggest danger the world faces today is not Salafi-jihadism or Islamist extremism. The biggest danger the world faces is the entity which gave birth to them – Western imperialism.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
it came to my mind that Netanyahu's desire to somehow get into a situation where Israel can justify to attack and overthrow the current Iranian government goes back to the fact that the US "lost" the Shah in the Iranian Revolution to be replaced by an Islamic Republic. May be they never got over it and were dead mad that they had lost that battle. May be Israel didn't get over it as well.

The people surrounding Trump now are may be of the old guard of hawks, who want to get back at the Iranians. The Iranians calling Israel's "capitulations" - as Iranians called the extension of diplomatic immunity to US government personnel in Iran, was just such an offensive insult to the Americans that they 'never got over it and never forgot it'. So they planned in their heads the events who are now unfolding. Is that possible?

-
Khomeini declared that the Shah had "embarked on the destruction of Islam in Iran"[15] and publicly denounced the Shah as a "wretched miserable man." Following Khomeini's arrest on June 5, 1963, three days of major riots erupted throughout Iran, with Khomeini supporters claiming 15,000 were killed by police fire[16] Khomeini was detained and kept under house arrest for 8 months. After his release he continued his agitation against the Shah, condemning the regimes's close cooperation with Israel and its "capitulations" – the extension of diplomatic immunity to American government personnel in Iran. In November 1964, Khomeini was re-arrested and sent into exile where he remained for 14 years until the revolution.

May be all of it is a revenge-based operation staged by the US and Israel, whereby I wonder, who wants that revenge more, the US or Israel.

(PS: Sorry for the questions, I was just overwhelmed to absorb everything on the Wikipedia page of the Iranian Revolution)

up
0 users have voted.
CB's picture

@mimi
in the ME you have to understand the history of the neocons. Here's a primer:


The history of the Neocon takeover of the USA (a 4 part analysis)

By Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate. (Abandon all hope ye who enter here.)

Here's a YouTube discussion with Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould on their analysis.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO3OvtcZPo8]

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@snoopydawg
later.
@CB
thank you again. So much to learn.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@CB
dig into the content offered at the Invisible History Website. Just to express my thanks for helping me find things out I was not aware of.

up
0 users have voted.

this won't end well

Defense Secretary James Mattis may have come to terms with President Donald Trump's decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal, but he suggested the administration is still grappling with how to define US policy on countering Tehran following public calls for regime change from national security adviser John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani.
Mattis sidestepped questions from lawmakers Wednesday about whether Bolton's and Giuliani's vocal support for regime change in Iran has directly influenced the current US strategy, but offered little indication that Trump and his top advisers have reached a consensus on the administration's long-term vision.
up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

@gjohnsit
it should be the shortest-term administration in power ever. Unbelievable how brutally they get everyone riled up against them - on purpose.

up
0 users have voted.

@gjohnsit

hope and pray that leadership of the American military will prevent the madmen surrounding Trump from committing national suicide. Wouldn't there be a point at which our military would have to step up and prevent nuts like these from destroying us in a nuclear game of chicken?

up
0 users have voted.
detroitmechworks's picture

@Linda Wood Sadly, I know for a fact that the Generals are thinking about how a war could translate into media appearances, book sales and potentially high office AFTER the war.

They're too enmeshed in the system. The system trains for complicity, silence, and the ability to do whatever is asked of you without question.

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

CB's picture

end well for the US. When was the last time America fought against a nation that could fight back? How many wars has America actually won fighting nations with third world military power since WWII? Is the US prepared to pay the financial costs?

@gjohnsit

up
0 users have voted.

for refugees is always under threat. Unlimited funds are available for weapons, chemical weapons, terrorist atrocities as proxies, but funding that is crucial for life has to struggle.

https://theintercept.com/2018/05/10/syria-refugee-medical-aid/

AS MEDICAL AID DWINDLES, SOME SYRIAN REFUGEES MAY BE “TOO EXPENSIVE” TO KEEP ALIVE
Sarah Aziza
May 10 2018, 5:13 a.m.
ABD RAHMAN AL-JEDAN’S life bears little resemblance to most 20-year-olds. As a young boy in Homs, Syria, he grew slowly and was often ill; by adolescence, he’d begun to lose his eyesight. In 2013, at age 16, he was diagnosed with kidney disease caused by uncontrolled diabetes. As the war in Syria intensified, al-Jedan’s kidneys continued to fail, and before his 18th birthday, he’d gone blind. His doctors informed his family that al-Jedan’s kidney’s had given out completely. From now on, the young man would require dialysis to survive. He began spending three days a week at the hospital, using the days in between to recover. “It is painful, and it makes me very tired,” he said of the procedure, “but that is how I stay alive now.”

Soon after beginning his aggressive treatment, al-Jedan’s father was killed by a mortar blast, and his family fled from Homs to Jordan, joining 5 million other Syrian refugees who have made new lives abroad. In a camp outside Amman, the young man’s desperate condition caught the attention of aid workers who helped his widowed mother connect with medical relief workers. “My son was suffering so much, and I felt helpless” said al-Jedan’s mother, Ibtisam Sayar. “When I heard we would be able to get his dialysis treatment in Amman, I couldn’t believe it. It felt like a miracle.”

Al-Jedan is one of roughly 130 Syrian refugees receiving regular, subsidized dialysis in Jordan, placing him in a small and deeply vulnerable population. Not only does his life depend on the specialized treatment that the aid programs provide, but the availability of such treatment for refugees is erratic at best.

At the beginning of May, funding for the Jordan dialysis program ran out completely, with patients in Lebanon facing a similar threat. Partners from the Syrian American Medical Society, a humanitarian aid group, are scrambling to keep up treatment for their most critical patients, said Majd Isreb, a nephrologist working with the group in Jordan, but some patients have already been cut back to twice a week. As a doctor, Isreb is horrified by the prospect of ending the program. “Even a small interruption in care can mean great suffering or even death for a patient.”

THE UNCERTAIN FUTURE of the dialysis program raises further questions about the prospects for long-term medical interventions among the massive Syrian refugee population...

up
0 users have voted.