Syria Missile Attack Supports Trump under Russian Control

The brutal dictator Bashar al Assad gassed his own people about two years ago; using internationally forbidden sarin nerve gas, he created a world-wide spectacle of abject cruelty. It was a war crime by one of the world’s most open and notorious war criminals.  The awful spectacle of a government killing women and infants  to get at the opposition pro-democracy groups attracted worldwide attention. In April, 2017 Assad did it again.  In the time between the gassing of innocent Syrians, millions fled his murderous rule and have clogged the refugee system with an unmanageable demand for refuge, food, and safety. The US  government, under President Obama, maintained its opposition to Assad’s government and continued to demand regime change. The policy had to balance to the possible fall of Assad with the imminent movement of ISIS to fill a vast power vacuum in Syria and make it a permanent part of its Caliphate. It is a disturbing reality that behind nearly every foreseeable Syrian scenario for change is the possibility of something even worse than Assad.

Russian Embrace of Assad’s Syrian Tyranny

 During the time between the gassing, Putin and Russia not only maintained their national friendship, Putin even committed his sparse military resources to bomb the pro-democracy opposition. They launched cruise missiles, aerial bombings, and supported Syrian ground troops in combat operations. Of course, this was done under cover of an agreement with the West to fight ISIS.

Trump Embraced Assad and the Illegal Syrian Dictatorship

Trump threw away the idea of regime change- perhaps because it was part of Obama’s Syria Doctrine- and embraced the Syrian Government as if to align with Russia on the subject. We shall call it DAY ONE, when from the State department to the UN, The US government announced that we no longer sought regime change in Syria. This was Putin’s position agreed by few other leaders, and it was a poison antidote to US interests in peace, resettlement of refugees, and regional stability.  DAY ONE was remarkable, astonishing in its suddenness and depth of damage to innocent people in the region.  Day ONE reminded us of the GOP convention when Trump suddenly announced his support for the Russian Occupation of Crimea, its invasion of Ukraine, and the cessation of the Obama sanctions that have savaged the Russian economy.

Why the US Suddenly Opposes its interests?

There is no easy explanation for this polar change on Syria.  The Obama Administration felt the deep frustration of the knot of opposition groups that included ISIS affiliates and other with similar histories. Yet, the embrace of the Assad regime reverses a deeply held US policy to oppose brutal dictators that prey upon the lives of their citizenry. The US has stood for democracy and the basic rights of people everywhere to life without fear of government oppression. It has fueled Americanism and or Pro-democracy foreign policy well before we opposed Hitler and the Nazis that flung the world into war with two hundred million combatants and ended with more than 80 million deaths and the nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From the Korean conflict to Vietnam, Pol Pot to Idi Amin, from the Baltic ethnic cleansing to the petty power-mad leaders of Panama and Ukraine, the US has opposed undemocratic governments that make use of deadly force to control their populations. Well, until Trump decided that the US would accept the murder and war crimes of Assad in Syria.

Day TWO, The Assad regime found new support from the US and less to fear in retaliation. No longer worried about sanctions or military countermeasures, Assad launched an attack using the same types of weapons that he had used two years earlier. He launched the gas attack one day after the Trump Administration signaled that it would no longer seek to change the brutal Syrian regime. In essence, they would- like Russia - work with the Syrian government. The following day Assad launched the gas attack.

DAY THREE Trump watched TV and made a statement is  in reaction to the grisly sights that he had been revulsed by the sight of choking infants. Just as in the earlier attacks, Assad used indiscriminate nerve gets in airborne form. Trump behaved as though this was a matter of first impression; the world’s memory was thankfully not as short. Predictably, the gas attacks renewed dread fear among Syria's civilian population, caused horrific physical injury, and indiscriminate death. 

DAY FOUR the US press goes wild in appreciation as missiles flew from US warships and hit the airfield that facilitated the attack. This was not Obama taking out bin Laden, or even Bush sending ICBMs to get Saddam. This was a fake attack.  The enemy got a warning—by the US Military. This demonstration merely blasted cement on an airfield that had been emptied of personnel, planes, equipment.  Given notice of the scheduled action, the Syrians preserved their valuable property and the field was operational about 12 hours after the attack. While the press clippings were still extolling the courage of Trump, the results were a sad spectacle. It demonstrated the high likelihood of Putin’s control over the US government in both its military conduct and foreign policy.

Russia is Complicit

Russian military and economic support have been the linchpin for the survival of the Syrian government. They were in nearly full retreat when Russia entered the war and immediately turned the tide with cruise missiles, bombers, and fighter jets. Russia has stood by ever since providing technical support and military muscle. They have also entered a diplomatic program to resurrect the Syrian government as an alternative to ISIS control over the territory.

Trump is also Complicit

There seems to be no reasonable explanation for the turn of US policy to favor Bashir al Assad We and the rest of the world know this man. He is ruthless, destructive, and locked in a life and death combat with democracy seeking citizens of Syria. By honoring his administration's safe exemption from removal by America’s considerable economic and military means, Trump gave support and license to Assad. Assad acted quickly and lethally, he gave us more choking women and infants. The difference this time is the US President was complicit in the crime. He told Assad that there was less to fear from the US and Assad took bold advantage. If words of a President were to have positive value in Syria, then they would be threats to that criminal enterprise rather than tolerance of it, Putin style.

Complexity that Continues

The US and western allies had already determined that Assad had to go.  The situation was complicated by scores of opposition groups, and a throng of outside supporters including Russia, Iran, and Turkey. President Obama created a situation in which Russia helped remove a part of the Syrian government’s supply of nerve gas. As new developments unfold, the consistent strands remain- Russia offers unwavering support and assistance, Assad continues to kill, terrorize and disband the opposition population- a majority of Syrians. Trump stumbles blindly as if led by the puppet strings. He endorsed Erdogan’s plebiscite to impose a dictatorship in Turkey, a position refused or avoided by the western allies. A day later, Erdogan launched a military strike in Syria. The latest Trump blunder is an attempt to arm, yet somehow limit the impact of arming, the Kurdish resistance. There are military gains in arming the group and risks in the ability to limit the use of those arms. It requires a balance of military and diplomatic advantages which do not currently exist. Yet, the policy proceeds without due consideration.

 Abandoning Global Democracy

When the US Foreign policy erupts from the visceral reactions of a single person and they consistently favor the parties that broke laws to aid his improbable election, there is both smoke and fire. The support and acceptance of Russian theft of land from a sovereign neighbor and fomenting the breakup of that same sovereign neighbor are unthinkable. They are daggers in the heart of US interests and our ongoing efforts to promote democracy and freedom around the world.  The weakening or removing the economic sanctions imposed to punish Russian illegal acts and military aggression follows the same illogical path. None of these things hold to any logic more than that it is an agreement to accept Russian priorities, to do as Russia wishes with US military, economic power, and foreign policy. There are similar signs in the embrace of the rush to dictatorship in Turkey- destabilizing an important NATO ally in the Middle East.

Impossibly Flexible

To say that Trump has changed his military and foreign policies would be a misstatement. It appears he has no military or foreign policy and simply moves to advance personal and group economic agendas that favor huge returns for oil, finance, and the Defense production sector. The strategic choices so far clearly fit within the Russian agenda and fall outside of policies favorable to the US. Flexibility may be a virtue but when one stands by nothing, then is no flexibility. One is a tool of outside interests.

Sources

The NY Times 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/middleeast/syria-gas-attack.html?_r=0 

News Coverage

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/middleeast/idlib-syria-atta

Syrian War Crimes

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/world/middleeast/un-syria-war-crimes.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FAssad%2C%20Bashar%20al-&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection

The Washington Post  found hard evidence of possible collusion on the sanctions,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html?utm_term=.062d3a5fecd8

            

Another Breath

Another Breath

( An account of one man’s journey among the healing arts and a vital organ transplant)

It was in the heat of the summer that my world took a sudden turn. I prepared for a trip to Istanbul and the east of Europe.  Prior to leaving, my family urged me to take care of some troublesome problems with breathing and swelling in my lower limbs. I resisted, as usual, until I could not. I was slowly falling into a state of dysfunction that seemed like an aggravated case of so many little things that had crept into my physical state over the years. I simply never gave in and they went away.

 Photo in Kyiv, Ukraine Independence Day

 

The Long Road to the back of the line

I was hospitalized for a week for evaluation in late August; I spent my birthday there. My first time in a hospital. Instead of the jet to crosscurrent of Asia and Europe, I was in a hospital bed with constant pokes and examinations.

Doctors assess and recommend. Often, there were conflicting opinions and opposite suggestions. By  faith and divination, it all seemed to coalesce into risk parameters. Some things can be done now that cannot be done later. Some courses carry a risk of failure despite meeting every medical mark. This situation had no positive side simply a reckoning of risks and probabilities. There were calls from the heart to the heavens.

Warming to the Transplant

Of all the options, that which seemed least appealing was the drastic step of replacing my compromised lungs through a transplant. It is more common than I’d realized, and more difficult to get than I had imagined. But in saying yes to considering this option, I chose the Henry Ford Institute and submitted an application for the procedure.  Even in so doing, I did not feel that sick; I did not agree that my situation was so drastic.  I had to use oxygen tanks to provide better breathing. At first, I used very little and often none at all.  Then in a mere matter of weeks, I used increasingly to the point that exertion was difficult and require many liters of oxygen flow. A gradual realization grew that I had to find a long-term solution or the path of my life would be decidedly downhill.

The transplant suggested earlier seemed more welcome; yet, it was not guaranteed. The sudden realization came into a concrete form when I considered that I would have to pass a rigorous, month-long assessment. Then, if I passed the top-to-bottom assessment, my reward was a place at the end of a very long line. There are far more in need of transplants than the supply of donated organs. I thought with some pride that I am a registered donor.

Counting the freckles

To say the assessment was rigorous would be a disservice. It took many weeks and involved teams of medical personnel and experts. By the end, I felt that they could tell me the number of freckles on my back. The end of the assessment did not really come, it seemed more like it petered out. I got a phone call and had a meeting that informed of the positive outcome of the assessment. I was a qualified candidate.

Now, to the Back of the Line

Transplants have a selection protocol based on the individual’s need for action. However, in reality, there is far more chance than suggested. Some things offer advantages such as being tall or short, living in a major metropolitan area, and the odd chance of things like blood types and chemical factors. I got the news on a Saturday, that my name had been posted to the transplant list for a lung transplant. I expected to be there for a number of months and an indefinite waiting period.  I planned to explore other ways to improve my condition; I was to diet, exercise, and get stronger for starts.

An Odd Way to End the Next Day

Sunday was a day to relax; I had completed the assessment. The long wait had begun.  I relaxed mentally, in a certainty that I would do all I could to heal and get stronger. Then, the phone rang.

It was the institute coordinator and he asked “ when did you last eat?” 

I was in a mental swirl but somehow managed to recall two hours earlier a sandwich. 

“We have a lung for you.”

“ You have to come in, can you get here within the next 45 minutes?”

One Day Wonder

I spent the next hour in a mental uproar and managed somehow to look calm. I arranged my support system- my incredibly supportive daughter- and packed my bags.  I was at the Henry Ford Hospital within an hour of the call, admitted and being prepped for surgery. Some things suggest luck or good fortune; other things suggest the hand of Providence. One day on the waiting list, well, it seemed then to now as slightly miraculous. It is what I was taught to believe was a blessing.

Arduous Process and then breath…

In two short days, I was transformed from someone needing an oxygen tank to walk to the corner, to someone breathing with ease and with the highest possible oxygenation. Medicine too has its miracles and it can provide blessings. The impressive skills and dedication of the Henry Ford Hospital Transplant Institute team was on a remarkable display in my case. It involved surgical experts, multidisciplinary approaches, medications, and a complex balancing to keep a transplanted organ from rejection.

I must remark on the exceptional skills and knowledge displayed by the nursing and technical staff in the Intensive Care Unit. I was a helpless mess for about two days and recovered quickly thereafter. These dedicated staff were a big part of the reason for my rapid improvement. They cared for me, taught me, and encouraged every effort at progress. They were somewhat amazing, the grasp and facility of working with so much technical equipment and technical information.

I owe a great deal to those skilled team members, and I owe thanks to so many who watched and prayed for me. This includes my family in the US and my dear ones in the Ukraine. But standing out above all, I will not understand the devotion of my child. She worked tirelessly and with personal sacrifice.  There is much about goodness that cannot be understood. Sometimes, we can only stand and watch it unfold, blossom into being like a flower in the arid sands.

Acknowledgements:  The Henry Ford Hospital Transplant Institute, Dr. Lisa Allenspach, Dr. Lisa Stagner, Dr.  Borgi ( surgeon), Dr. Pinto, and the entire Transplant team with special mention to Aron Zdanowski and Nurse Rachel Henderson.

Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth… (Syria, Russia, and the US)

The Obama Doctrine is in full display against Russia in the international conflict over Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. The international coalition of many barely willing members nonetheless has delivered a blow to Russian economy felt in every sector and a weight that has dragged Russian aggression to a near standstill.  While many in the US conservative wings still trumpet Putin’s instincts and aggressiveness, the result in Syria shows that it takes strength to truly be strong, and that under Putin Russia has fallen from heights he imagined for it. Russia can inject in bursts against selected targets but would be hard pressed to sustain a vigorous level of action against a competitive enemy force.

Putin’s Syria Card

 The hard focus on Syria caused by unfathomable death and destruction caused a tidal wave of forced immigration into Europe. The Russian intervention in Syria came under the guise of attacking DAESH but was always an effort to degrade the military opposition to the Assad Regime.  Assad asked and got more time to recover from the devastation brought on by the US supported opposition and other anti-Assad groups.  The US effort intended a political solution to an unpopular leader who resorted to murderous tactics against his own population. There being no US interest superior to the lives of Syrian population and particularly the vulnerable populations of civilian women and children that fell to Assad regime attacks that included poison gas.

US Policy: Coherence amidst Chaos
The US has maintained a steady and productive course despite the alarming number of players and changes in the field.  Iran was the latest to jump in on the side of Assad’s brutal government; as Russia’s intervention gave Assad new life, Iran offers a path for the future of Assad.  The Iranians can continue Assad’s tyranny. The US sponsored international peace process is the engine for beneficial change for the Syrian people. Many refugees would rather be in Syria and live in a land of stable peace with a democratic form of government.  Russia now realizes this is the affordable option for its interests too. The Russians have military bases and a combat military presence in Syria that they would prefer not to use. They do not seek a conflict with Turkey; they simply cannot be seen to back away from it either.

Russian Influence and Russian Pain

The pain of economic contraction, diminished oil revenues, and the burden of an enormous military budget, has exposed potential weaknesses in the Russian body politic. There are limits to that which Russian citizens will easily endure. The Syria intervention created a new stream of fresh victories which unlike Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk did not come with crippling economic sanctions. Russia has rejoined the privy council of leading world nations that must agree on lasting solutions to geopolitical conflicts. The US, Western Europe, Turkey, and Iran will also play important roles. Syria is the key to Middle East stability and to stopping the advance of DAESH.  While it is true that Russia has secured its military bases in Syria and added a potentially important air base, the costs have stretched its resources beyond a comfortable limit.  If peace talks proceed to the point of resolution, Russia will have to begin again with a new Syrian Leader and an elected Syrian government that will remember how little Russia cared for the loss of Syrian life.