Truthdig
Trump's Decision to Attack Syria Increases the Risk of World War III
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/russia-baiting_pushes_trump_syria_attack
_risk_of_world_war_iii_20170410/
Posted on Apr 10, 2017
By Norman Solomon
Two nuclear weapons have been used in warfare, both by the United States
against Japan near the end of World War II. Here, a mushroom cloud from the
atomic explosion over Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. (Charles Levy / National
Archives
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_warfare#/media/File:Nagasakibomb.jpg)
)
Vast efforts to portray Donald Trump as Vladimir Putin's flunky have given
Trump huge incentives to prove otherwise. Last Thursday, he began the
process in a big way by ordering a missile attack on Russia's close ally
Syria. In the aftermath of the attack, the cheerleading from U.S. mass media
(http://fair.org/home/the-essential-pundit-take-trump-became-president-by-bo
mbing-syria/) was close to unanimous
(http://fair.org/home/five-top-papers-run-18-opinion-pieces-praising-syria-s
trikes-zero-are-critical/) , and the assault won lots of praise on Capitol
Hill. Finally, the protracted and fervent depictions of Trump as a Kremlin
tool were getting some tangible results.
At this point, the anti-Russia bandwagon has gained so much momentum that a
national frenzy is boosting the odds of unfathomable catastrophe. The
world's two nuclear superpowers are in confrontation mode.
It's urgent to tell ourselves and each other: Wake up!
The dangers of a direct U.S.-Russian military conflict are spiking upward.
After the missile attack, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it was
suspending a memorandum of understanding with the United States to prevent
midair collisions over Syria. And Russia's prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev,
issued a statement
(http://www.towleroad.com/2017/04/russian-prime-minister-dmitry-medvedev/)
referring to "our now completely ruined relations" and declaring that the
United States was "on the verge of a military clash with Russia."
These ominous developments are a longtime dream come true for ultra-hawks
like Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who've gained
leverage in an alliance with numerous congressional Democrats. The neocons
and the "liberal interventionists" really have something going now, after
propagating the meme that Trump is a Putin puppet.
At this perilous moment in human history, the quality of the Democratic
Party leadership was embodied in a tweet
(https://twitter.com/tomperez/status/837699013101105152?lang=en) last month
from the Democratic National Committee's new chair, Tom Perez, who sent out
this message about a weekly address by President Trump: "Translated from the
original Russian and everything."
Such tactics aren't just McCarthyite. They are baiting, goading and
pressurizing Trump to prove that he's willing to clash with Russia after
all.
Those tactics are a far cry from what's actually needed-truly independent
investigations-in order to address the charges that Russia interfered with
the U.S. election last year. We most definitely do not need the kind of
baiting and goading that creates enormous pressure on Trump to show he's
willing and able to go to the brink of war with Russia.
Make no mistake. With 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons at the
ready in the United States and Russia, pushing to heighten tensions between
the two countries is playing with thermonuclear fire.
Early this year, citing the escalation of those tensions, the Bulletin of
the Atomic Scientists moved its "Doomsday Clock" even closer to midnight.
"In 2017, we find the danger to be even greater, the need for action more
urgent," the Bulletin declared (http://thebulletin.org/timeline) . "It is
two and a half minutes to midnight, the Clock is ticking, global danger
looms. Wise public officials should act immediately, guiding humanity away
from the brink. If they do not, wise citizens must step forward and lead the
way."
READ: Noam Chomsky: Why Trump Is Pushing the Doomsday Clock to the Brink of
Midnight
(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/chomsky_why_trump_is_pushing_doomsday_c
lock_to_brink_of_midnight_20170403)
People at the grassroots must lead, pushing and pulling the official leaders
to follow. To stop the current war train-and to quite possibly rescue the
fate of the earth-we must get a grip. If we depend on the "leadership" in
Congress, all that we hold dear will drift into still-greater jeopardy.
With Congress now in recess, most legislators are back home-and they should
hear from us. Pick up the phone, make an appointment to visit their district
offices, or show up without an appointment.
Right now, in one minute, you can send an email to your senators and
representative
(https://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=12831)
with your own message or with this one: "As a constituent, I urge you to
make a public statement that you support a complete cutoff of funds for U.S.
military actions in Syria. This step is vital to prevent our country from
adding to the deadly violence in Syria-and to halt the momentum toward a
military confrontation with Russia that could end with escalation into a
horrific nuclear exchange."
Detente between the United States and Russia will be necessary for bringing
peace to Syria. The same goes for reducing-instead of increasing-the chances
that nuclear weapons will destroy us all.
What passes for leadership on these matters in Congress will not save us.
On the contrary, right now the congressional leaders are serving as enablers
for what Martin Luther King Jr. called "the madness of militarism."
Even the better statements from Capitol Hill about the April 6 missile
attack have been grimly inadequate. So, Senator Chris Murphy warned of "the
potential quagmire of Syria," while Senator Bernie Sanders said: "I'm deeply
concerned that these strikes could lead to the United States once again
being dragged back into the quagmire of long-term military engagement in the
Middle East."
Expressing concern about a "quagmire" is all well and good, but falls far
short of acknowledging what's at stake.
On Sunday, The Washington Post published a sobering-and frightening-article
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/09/what-could-go-w
rong-for-the-u-s-in-syria-war-with-russia/?utm_term=.17ee67745783) by the
person who was the national security adviser for Joe Biden during his last
two years as vice president. "If the Trump administration and the Kremlin
are not able to come to a meeting of the minds on Syria," wrote Colin Kahl,
"it could set the two nuclear powers on a dangerous collision course."
Kahl, now an associate professor in security studies at Georgetown
University, sketched out a plausible scenario: "The Syrian dictator (perhaps
prodded by Russia or Iran) may attempt to test Trump again, hoping to prove
the president is a 'paper tiger.' And Trump, having invested his personal
credibility in standing firm, may find himself psychologically or
politically compelled to respond, despite the very real risks that it could
result in a direct military clash with Russia."
And, Kahl added, "Given Russia's vital interests in Syria, Moscow is not
likely to respond positively to U.S. ultimatums and maximalist positions. If
the administration does not find a way to give the Kremlin a face-saving way
out, conflict is much more likely than accommodation."
Kahl's article concluded: "Sinking into a Syrian quagmire would be bad
enough. World War III would be far worse."
Norman Solomon is the coordinator of the online activist group
RootsAction.org and the executive director of the Institute for Public
Accuracy. He is the author of a dozen books including "War Made Easy: How
Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."
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