Most people here see the conundrum we're facing over Syria in stark terms, almost black or white. Some of the most crucial aspects, what kind of bad precedent the US will for the future present us with an insoluble predicament. You see no matter what the US eventually decides to do it, will set a bad precedent. No matter if the US launches an attack on Assad's military assets, or if the US stands down, we will be setting a dangerous precedent for the future.
If the US attacks Assad's regime we set a bad precedent by ignoring the core principal enshrined 68 years ago in the U.N. Charter outlawing any military action against a sovereign state without the sanction of the UN Security Council. Some people including U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power say the UN is too dysfunctional because a single member of the Security Council can block any action with a veto. But the US has ruthlessly used its veto to block all kinds of measures for the sake of US client states especially Israel. None of us would welcome the prospect of a world where warfare is more commonplace.
If the US stands down it sets a bad precedent that would substantially weaken the international conventions against chemical weapons, and makes chemical weapons a more attractive option for authoritarian governments that may be facing serious civil unrest at some point in the future. Nobody here welcomes the prospect of sorely needed popular movements struggling for social justice being brutally crushed with chemical weapons.
This ugly conundrum is the main reason I remain undecided as to what our country's best course of action should be. Its an impossible position to be in but that's where we find ourselves now.
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I realize there are a multitude of other factors involved in making this decision, but I'd like to leave those aside for the purposes of this discussion, and keep it narrowly focused on these questions of the precedents we'll be setting. .
PLEASE lets treat each-other with the respect fellow Kossacks deserve for expressing their convictions.