It appears that Trump is preparing a big aerial attack on Syria
in conjunction with the forces of other states like Great Britain, France and
Israel. Ground forces may follow. The reason is that Assad is rapidly closing in on total victory in Syria.
That is the only reason. All talk about chemical weapons and suspected chemical
attacks coming from the White House is lying.
I can’t predict whether this will happen much less the details.
I can’t predict what Russia, Iran and Syria might do to stop it or do
afterward, if it happens. What I can do is say what I think such an attack
means.
What does it mean if Trump attacks Syria? I will paint the worst
possible case, which we hope doesn’t occur; but there are reasons to expect
them to be a result if Trump attacks Syria.
It’s straight out
aggression. This means that the U.S. loses any semblance of moral leadership of
this world. It means the victory of brute force in this country. It means the
end of Washington’s credibility for some time to come. It means the end of the
rule of law here at home. That has widespread ramifications. The glue that
holds the society together dissolves. The country as an exponent of its
long-held values goes down the toilet.
It means the end of the empire. The leadership of the world will
pass to other nations. But the residual power lodged in Washington is so great
that a dangerous period occurs.
The Russians will be forced into much greater armaments to
defend against the U.S., which will be seen as a naked aggressor. The weapons
it builds and readies will seriously be pointed at America as offensive
possibilities. America will become a far less safe place to live in. The whole
world will be much less safe.
Iran will be forced into more armaments. It may attack based on
what it now has. It may even scrap the nuclear agreement and start a rush
program to get nuclear weapons. It will certainly increase its military
capabilities.
The U.S. attack will be comparable to Germany’s attack on Poland
in 1939. The U.S. will be treated with the same contempt with which Germany was
treated on its attack.
The Middle East will be thrown into great confusion. It will
create an environment conducive to both more terrorism and more state-led
force.
The American public will
feel shame and anguish. A movement to impeach Trump will erupt. Street
disturbances will lead to federal guns being pointed at and used against
Americans. Increased arrests and detention will follow. Aggression toward Syria
will inevitably lead to federal government aggression against Americans at
home. Civil rights will take a big hit. So may free speech. Freedom will be
curtailed. The economy will sink, causing no end of budget problems. They’ll be
met by cutbacks. The dollar will sink.
Some parts of government
and the military begin to rebel against other parts. Confusion reigns.
The current chemical weapons false flag is comparable to the
burning of the Reichstag. When America starts to boil as a consequence of the
aggression, Trump will exercise the state of emergency powers option already in
place. That will lead to attempts on his life and other high officials of the
U.S. government, if they do not begin even sooner.
Since there is nothing that
Assad is doing or has done that justifies a U.S. attack on Syria, a U.S. attack
at this time is indeed outright aggression. The hatred of Israel can only
rise steeply if it participates and even if it does not. Israel will be
encouraged to deal with the Palestinians even more harshly. It will be
encouraged to expand.
NATO
will be seen as morally bankrupt, and so will Great Britain and France and any
other government that supports such an attack. The UN will be badly damaged by
such an attack because it shatters international norms.
Trump will be reviled even more than at present. His rule will
be challenged.
All of these consequences are so dire and yet so predictable,
within my very limited powers of analysis and forecasting, that I can only hope
that others in Washington also can foresee such results and can stop Trump from
a big aggression against Syria.
If Trump attacks Syria
and none of this happens in obvious ways, I believe that these kinds of things
are already occurring little by little anyway due to past U.S. and Western
aggression, misuses of power at home and abroad, and dissipation of the moral
franchise of the West’s leaders.
Michael S.
Rozeff [send him
mail] is a retired Professor of Finance living in East Amherst, New
York. He is the author of the free e-book Essays on
American Empire: Liberty vs. Domination and the free
e-book The
U.S. Constitution and Money: Corruption and Decline.
Previous
article by Michael
S. Rozeff: The Washington Post and Gary Webb
