Really succinct this time. Clear maybe. P-related earnest effort

[Raphael Saltwood]

A) find your own links or trust me

B) US is not without general culpability here, regardless of the details of Douma (see Iraq, bogus WMD claims, ill-advised invasion, civil disruption, formation of Isis)

C) *in this corner the doubters*
*the* Robert Fisk found a Dr claiming fakery
*the* Sy Hersh cites same effect elsewhere from normal damage to chemical plant during battle
RT (grain of salt) cites goat, crater, and OPCW dissidents
Former head of OPCW Bustani joins doubters on a panel led by Wikipedia personage (grain of salt)

* in this corner the believers *
bellingcat (have not yet developed a salt rating for them) shows photos, simulations
Counterpunch (grain of salt) makes reasonable case of difficulty of fakery; mentions that it didn't seem to do much good anyway
US military uses this as justification for bombs

Context:
Syrian government led by Assad not moving fast enough on reform 2000-2010
But he did try
Revolution of rising expectations?
Even though he opened elections 1st time ever,  dissidents boycotted ("we want the world and we want it now")
Under ISIS and other threat, government fights to keep power
No tenable gov't appears among rebels (imho)
Russia reasonably (imho) supports Assad,  although with friends like Putin...
But why doesn't the West?
Maybe unable due to Russian sphere of influence, and/or unwilling due to human rights violations

Chemical warfare is even worse than regular warfare.
Int'l community (some of it) approves forcibly discouraging it
Russia blocks full legitimization by using UN Security Council veto
Pretty good documentation of chlorine attacks - 336 of them
Douma becomes stimulus for bombing response

Question I can't answer: did chemical attacks slow down after the bombing?

Question: was the target in Brazeh legit?

Question: even if this was a fake, how about all the others?

Question about Bustani: if he was bullied by Bolton, could his current position be the result of ramrodding by Russia, pushiness from Putin?

Pynchon connection: Slothrop would have a field day in Syria? Is it more like Blitz London or The Zone? Pig Bodine aboard the ship from which the Tomahawks were fired? Rooney Winsome recording the blasts? Doc Sportello following the money for a minute and making a bargain knowing when to stand down? Scarsdale Vibe paying some proxy to keep him out of this? Compare and contrast the effectiveness of Tomahawk vs V1? And V2?

Humble admission: starting to ramble. I'm annoying myself!

(Come gentle sleep, to knit the ravelled sleave of care.

Wake to clearer thinking.

substantive, readable and brief - pick 2?


Dream of peace.)