Just a thought, could this all be a massive political theater staged by Trump/Assad/Putin

[Jonny Appleseed]

-Trump is in trouble at home
-He is unable to shift policy in Syria to align with Russian interests without a catalyst
-Putin/Assad/Trump decide to put on a play
-Assad will use chemical weapons (that he doesn't need anymore thanks to Russian arms flowing in)
-Trump will launch missiles at buildings housing said chemical weapons
-Assad uses the U.S. as a demolition crew for illegal weapons that would only serve to hurt his regime internationally
-Assad apologizes: "sorry, I won't do it again. You're so amazing Trump wow"
-Trump is like "darn tootin, look at that folks. Now let's help you clean up ISIS without the use of those nasty gases"
-America's position is now pro-Assad
-Putin has distanced Trump from Russia, while also making him act in a way that benefits Russia

Keep your eyes peeled

[herding cats]

1. The magic 8 ball says...

All signs point to yes.

[dchill]

2. Great minds think alike!

[dchill]

3. Also, the media and the people are distracted...

from the Trump/Russia investigation. That's the real purpose of this exercise.

[triron]

5. yes, part of reason

[Jonny Appleseed]

6. Well the FBI shouldn't be, they're opening a new division aren't they?

chances are we're not getting answers until Comey wants anyways. It's not like they can drag the investigation forever. Not with actual agents actually exclusively devoted to the case.

[dchill]

7. Yes, that's something else to be distracted from.

[snort]

4. Yes

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. It might be an attempt, but like most conspiracies

it won't hold up - especially considering that (a) Trump is an idiot, and (b) Russia is being watched and intercepted. Putin and Assad have their own interests and motives that don't necessarily benefit Trump.

[onecaliberal]

9. Could be. Russia got warning, people and equipment were evacuated and moved.

[MFM008]

10. Y E S

YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. yeah.

[R B Garr]

12. They managed the election meddling over a period

of time, so it's not entirely out of the question it could extend to this.

[grantcart]

13. Don't think it started that way because an attack on Iran would provide better

economic benefit to the group that you indicate.

Militarization of the Straits of Hormuz would impact about one third of the worlds oil trade and increase oil prices by 30%

A more reasonable non conspiratorial explanation is that national security and defense experts told Trump that his weak position in the US would make other powers perceive him as weak and that he should expect all kinds of bad acts by different countries. By taking a quick action in Syria it would send a signal to other countries so that they would be less likely to start problems.

Having said that Putin/Trump will script out a "fake fight" to try and make it look like Trump is not a puppet of Putin. They probably didn't even have to talk about it but understand the up side that

[Sun shadow]

14. Start a war

Watch your poll numbers rise. Right out of the Putin playbook.

[grantcart]

19. Start a ear with Iran and watch price of oil increase.

Rachel pointed out that Russian GDP collapse which is due to collapse of oil prices, an attack on Iran fixes that


Only point is that if it was planned Putin would have picked a different target. Syria use of chemical weapons gave them the opportunity and they are using it.

[Jonny Appleseed]

20. Yeah but Trump laundered money for Iran so they have blackmail material

[mr_lebowski]

15. Wow ... Great Minds all do think alike ...

Just posted a similar theory w/o even looking at GD today ... lol ...

[anneboleyn]

28. Me too! We all agree that this looks fake as hell, and Tillerson goes to Russia next week. You know

he'll smooth everything over -- what heroes /s

[pansypoo53219]

16. SQUIRREL!

[VOX]

17. At the very least, Trump did it to boost his sagging numbers.

Of that much you can be sure. And the rest of the OP's scenario is quite possible; probable, even. Why wouldn't it be? Everything has been pretty damned crazy since last November (or before).

[leftynyc]

18. My take is slightly different

Russia standing down is telling me a lot. ALL russia wants from us is to get rid of sanctions. putin doesn't really care about syria so he may very well throw them under the bus and agree to stop sponsoring them in exchange for the getting rid of sanctions.

[grantcart]

21. The naval base at Tartus is important to Russia.

If ALL Russia cared about was removing sanctions they could leave Crimea tomorrow and sanctions would be over.

Russia just signed a treaty with Syria cedeing sovereignty to Russia at Tartus. Tartus is an important extension of their naval objective of having a warm water port in Crimea (in the same way Hawaii assists in the defense of the West Coast.)

The reason that Russia is conducting a cyber war against us is because they want to keep Crimea AND get rid of sanctions.

[leftynyc]

22. Getting out of Crimea MAY have worked

at one time but not anymore - donnie is ready to cede that to them. I don't trust vlad or donnie and think they conspired this entire thing. They can put the naval base in Iran.

[grantcart]

23. None of your points are on point

1) the embargo is only contingent on their leaving Crimea. The embargo hurts Russia primarily because it is unable to export natural gas and other products to Europe while Europe has had negligible effects. Putin is hoping that he can use Trump to divide Europe. As long as Europe is unified then Russia is stuck. There is no sign of Europe reconsidering the embargo as it has not had any real negative impact on Europe.

http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2015/Russia/sanctions-after-crimea-have-they-worked/EN/index.htm

2) Donnie cannot unilaterally move on the embargo, it is a multilateral agreement.

3) Iran would never cede sovereignty to a foreign power for a base under any circumstances. Syria has only agreed to cede sovereignty because they are so dependent on Russian assistance. They kept pushing the Russians off and only agreed to a 49 year agreement to Russian sovereignty this year.

4) You apparently do not understand the geography of the middle east. The value of Tarus is that it provides an outpost for Russian naval ships so that they don't have to go all the way back to the port in Crimea but can maintain a presence in the Aegean and Mediterranean as a buffer to the port in Crimea. Iran is on the Persian Gulf and is not close to the area surrounding Crimea that Russia is intent on developing.

[shanen]

24. Similar hypotheses from the monetary perspective

I reached similar conclusions, though I came it from a different perspective. This is the way I organized it:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028906783

Remember that Putin is probably the richest guy in the world, and if he also has #PresidentTweety's tiny pecker in his pocket, then he's probably the most powerful, too.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that I started getting some fresh phishing attacks after posting such comments, eh? It's so unlike Putin to support an army of black-hat hackers looking for troublemakers with troublesome ideas.

[yardwork]

25. Yes.

[Sculpin Beauregard]

26. It's painfully obvious that this is exactly

what it is.

[iamateacher]

27. You think???!

[GP6971]

29. Not doubt in my mind

And a prerecorded announcement by 45/140? Give me a frickin break.

[AntiFascist]

30. I think it is more likely...

neoconservatives have gotten through to Trump. Notice that there is also talk of a shakeup in White House staff and Bannon has been removed from the NSC.

[juxtaposed]

31. it sure is just theater

[McCamy Taylor]

32. I think the intention all along was to get the US into war in the middle east

in order to prop up Russia's oil prices. Months ago, I began to suspect that Russia was setting up both Syria and Iran, that it would lure them into doing something that they shouldn't do---and then step aside while Trump invaded. It is playing out just as I thought it would---expect that the Pentagon and the CIA aren't playing along.

I think the chances that Putin will get the Middle East War that he so wants are slim at best. The U.S. press is having too much fun attempting to impeach Trump to bang the oil drums of war for him. The CIA and Pentagon are on t him. And there are a lot of oil companies that will not benefit if the Middle East oil fields are shut down.

[hamsterjill]

33. Ya think???!!!

Scary stuff.

[triron]

34. Lawrence O'Donnell went there tonite.

[tazkcmo]

35. No credibility

He had very little to begin with and is in the deficit column as of before Inauguration Day. I truly believe this was planned and his "anguish" for the poor babies ring false in the face of his hatred of brown people and Muslims. He may as well have gassed those poor people himself. I spit on him.

[rockfordfile]

36. yes. A wag the dog