CBS news yesterday showed a US war room for Syria where they electronically monitor exactly what is going on militarily. There were computer screens. infrared cameras, & control panels of all kinds. They can tell the movement on the ground & in the air & who it is that’s moving; they can target a pimple on the butt of a camel. All you have to recall is Obama, Clinton, & other US officials sitting in the White House watching the assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

So people should ask themselves why US officials are cagey when asked if Russia is bombing hospitals. They know exactly who is doing what & where. They know exactly who is bombing those hospitals. When they dummy up & fumble for words, that is not evidence in Russia’s denial but suggests some kind of US complicity in supporting Assad.

It may sound snotty, but did you ever notice how many people are really eloquent writers but don’t have anything to say & use a lot of words to not say anything well? It gives being a blowhard some style. That’s good.

Whither goeth the left? Syria will decide.

The left has been in sustained crisis for nearly forty years now–since the end of the Vietnam War really. It has long been divided & factional but for nearly 100 years the decisive rifts have always involved war & where you stood. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a crisis is emerging so sharply among progressives about where you stand on Assad, on Syria, & on foreign military intervention.

Partially, the problem is reliable media sources of information in a complex situation; partly it’s the theoretical bankruptcy of celebrity left leaders who appear to be coasting on memes rather than political scholarship; & partly it’s the debating style of leftists who ridicule & taunt opposing views rather than politically anatomize them. Macho one-up–man-ship has replaced sharp, coherent analysis.

Quite frankly, most of us don’t know squat about the organizational & military character of ISIS. It’s very difficult to unravel the political character of the Syrian popular militias & who is arming them. Most of us can’t agree on who is actually bombing Syria or whether those bombers are going after Assad or ISIS of civilians.

But one thing is clear & that is Syria is a watershed moment for progressives–socialist & others. How we are responding, including the theoretical methods we use to understand, are creating rifts & divisions from which there will be no rapprochement–but from which many young people will learn & will emerge as new theoretical & political leaders to replace those veterans who substitute assiduous analysis with strutting. As it stands today, there is no left on Syria but only a cacophony of competing rationalizations depending on which military you support.

What’s going on in Syria is complex & confusing. Antiwar activists need to understand if this is, as some allege, a regime change situation like the US in Iraq & Libya–& if so, what can we do about it without supporting the dictatorship of Assad. There needs to be discussion on this, not snide, smart-aleck repartee where analysis is required.

But there are some red alerts that should be noted in the ongoing cacophony that can hardly be called a debate: If you support the Assad regime & sneer at the popular revolution against him, you might be a redneck. If you support or advocate military intervention by any regime for or against Assad, you might be a redneck. If you take Russian propaganda like RT as the gospel truth & sneer at the testimony of Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, & other Syrian human rights groups, you might be a redneck. If you vilify first responders digging through rubble to rescue civilians & slander them as al-Qaeda, you might be worse than a redneck. If you slander the deceased Jo Cox as al-Qaeda for supporting those first responders, you might as well bend over & kiss your ass good-bye as a progressive.

Photo is (r) Syrian child suffering white phosphorous burns & (l) rain of white phosphorous from Russian bombers from FB wall of Syrian Organization for the Defense of Human Rights.

The historic imperative remains: rebuild the international antiwar movement.

Last Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Drumpf said the US should consider racial profiling of Muslims. “It’s not the worst thing to do,” he said, & cited Israel as a successful model of profiling along with France where police are closing down mosques.

Drumpf reiterated his support for banning Muslims from entering the US, for increased surveillance at mosques, & for enhanced scrutiny of Muslims who purchase weapons. Does that mean there’ll be a religion check now when you buy a gun?

So Cornel West, appointed by Bernie Sanders, talked tough to power at the 2016 Democratic party convention platform drafting committee–a committee stacked with Clinton & pro-Israel supporters.

Apparently nowadays, you become a people’s hero if you recognize the humanity of the Palestinians–which is nothing but a lousy discount on self-determination & justice. Why should they settle for ceremonial rhetoric & political chump change & who in the hell do we think we are in brokering the discounts?

In case anyone missed it, the petition circulated by Bhopal justice activists gathered 122,727 signatures in 30 days. It demands the US government stop obstructing justice by shielding Dow Chemical from accountability in the 1984 toxic gas release in Bhopal, India. Up to 10,000 people were killed instantly, 500,000 maimed, & it has left a legacy of second & third generation neurological health problems, serious disabilities, & environmental ruin. What kind of criminality allows a corporation to walk away from justice for such immense wreckage!?

My friend arranged for four of my rescue girls to get spayed through a free community program, including the full Monty of treatments for a dog–even a microchip. We took three of them yesterday. They were taken away in a van in their own little kennels looking very sad. I have a philosophy that doesn’t allow animals to be caged so maybe it was just me projecting.

When she brought them back to me they were wearing those plastic gizmos to keep them from licking their wounds & were all disoriented, doped up with pain meds, & miserable. It was an up-close & personal reminder of why I oppose testing of any kind on living animals, including mice.