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On 2017-04-05 20:25, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote:
https://louisproyect.org/2017/04/05/sarin-gas-deaths-in-khan-sheikhoun-separating-fact-from-fiction/
I also awoke to find in my inbox the latest Information Clearing House article (originally published by Al-Masdar News) explaining away the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. After the last high profile chemical attack in 2013 it took the Assad supporters a few days to come up with various stories blaming the rebel side for their own deaths. This time they could skip the learning curve and started writing the same script as soon as they heard of the event. If you can stomach it, you might read that filthy article just so you're prepared for what will be thrown at us during the days to come.
I'm sure that Assad expected and planned for the UN SC "emergency" meeting in response. In an actual emergency response you do something to address the emergency. But it's a foregone conclusion that nothing will result since Russia's veto is assured. So just as was probably the case in 2013, this move was a test by the regime to verify that there would be no real consequences for using what is generally considered a prohibited weapon. Now that most of Syria's organized revolutionaries have been corralled into Idlib, their plan is to essentially exterminate them. After succeeding in Aleppo and now using this deadly weapon also with no effective international response, the road is open for them to so precede.
Of course I hope I turn out to be completely wrong. One twist would be if Trump sees this as an opportunity to prove his credentials as a militarist and hatches some unilateral action (he wouldn't want credit to be taken by other countries!). Of course the eventual outcome of that wouldn't be good even if it were seen by some as some immediate relief (but most rebels already wrote off the US and know that Trump is generally friendly to Assad and explicitly in favor of keeping his regime in power).
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