MOSCOW — If Russia once maintained at least a semblance of distance from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, it rushed to his defense after the American missile strike ordered by President Trump on Thursday. The attack cemented Moscow more closely than ever to the notorious Syrian autocrat.
Even as the United States condemned Mr. Assad for gassing his own citizens and held Russia partly responsible, given its 2013 promise to rid Syria of chemical weapons, the Kremlin kept denying that Syria had any such capability.
By championing Mr. Assad and condemning American "aggression," President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia seemed to be burying the idea that he could somehow cooperate with the Trump administration to end the conflict on his terms.
"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." Attributed to Abraham Maslow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @02:06PM
About the only political figure that has majority support right now is Bernie Sanders, and I think that's in part because a lot of people think the complaint from Democrats that he's "not a real Democrat" is a good start.
Its also in part that nobody has seriously campaigned against him. Yeah there are the hysterical bernie bros who think the DNC conspired against him, but when it comes down to evidence its a bunch of trivial shit that only the delusionally hyper-sensitive would think made much of a difference. Pissy emails and downplayed debates, OMG! Sanders has not been subject to balls-out opposition. For example, nobody has heard about how his wife basically bankrupted Burlington College because of some really bad real-estate deals she initiated while running the school. Whether you think that's fair criticism of Bernie doesn't matter, campaigns aren't about what's fair, they are about what sticks with the public and that story is one that could easily stick if a PAC with a couple of million dollars made the effort.