TRUMP 2016

[Lewkowski]

Watching the America First Trump supporters trying to wrap their head around on how to support this has been god damn popcorn worthy. Yesterday it was all false flags and shit, to the point that even Lewk tried that shit on these boards. The backwater subreddits are still infighting over it. Paranoia about paid shills coming from both sides of the argument. Even /r/the_donald/ are posting Trump's own tweets against action in Syria.

Eh? There are always possibilities and in the first 24-48 hours a lot of things will be theorized. If you were Assad and your goal was to remain in power - would you use chemical weapons like this? Especially when it seems like it would obviously backfire. Dictators can of course be stupid, their military can be stupid and people aren't always fully rational about things.

Syria is a mess - I'm in support of drawing clear lines and then fully enforcing them. If chemical weapons is a line we draw than we continue to escalate force response until it deters that behavior.

[Loki]

Eh? There are always possibilities and in the first 24-48 hours a lot of things will be theorized. If you were Assad and your goal was to remain in power - would you use chemical weapons like this? Especially when it seems like it would obviously backfire. Dictators can of course be stupid, their military can be stupid and people aren't always fully rational about things.

Syria is a mess - I'm in support of drawing clear lines and then fully enforcing them. If chemical weapons is a line we draw than we continue to escalate force response until it deters that behavior.

Theorized by Russia, copied by their fans in America. It was pretty clear almost immediately what happened.

What's the purpose of drawing a line on an issue that doesn't affect America?

[Lewkowski]

Theorized by Russia, copied by their fans in America. It was pretty clear almost immediately what happened.

What's the purpose of drawing a line on an issue that doesn't affect America?

You know very well what happens in Syria impacts America. From Refugees to proliferation of certain types of weapons to ISIS there are impacts. What the right call to make is not always clear (in fact I started a thread about it awhile back where Wiggin provided a lot of interesting context succinctly).

[Loki]

You know very well what happens in Syria impacts America. From Refugees to proliferation of certain types of weapons to ISIS there are impacts. What the right call to make is not always clear (in fact I started a thread about it awhile back where Wiggin provided a lot of interesting context succinctly).

Remind me why America should care what kind of chemical weapons Syria has or uses except to the extent it violates international law? Were those weapons going to be used against Americans?

[Lewkowski]

Remind me why America should care what kind of chemical weapons Syria has or uses except to the extent it violates international law? Were those weapons going to be used against Americans?

It is in the world's interest that chemical weapons not be used with frequency. Ultimately what I am more concerned about is America's reputation and ability to force other countries to compliance via said reputation. I can see value in America drawing the line and saying 'cross it and you fucked.' That was a major problem I had with Obama's actions in Syria. They were tepid and when lines were crossed he didn't effectively deter Syria's defiance.

Either America says "We don't like chemical weapons but not our business" or "We don't tolerate chemical weapons." One could argue what is the appropriate response A or B. However no one can justify declaring B and then not enforcing it.