Over the weekend, the US shot down a Syrian Jet, Iran launched missiles into Syria, and the US killed large numbers of Syrian civilians in a raid in Raqqa.
With tensions escalating, Russia Warns US its Fighter Jets are Now Potential Targets in Syria.
The threat of direct Russian-American confrontation in Syria escalated on Monday after Moscow said it will treat any plane from the US-led coalition flying west of the Euphrates river as a potential target.
Russia said it was responding to US planes shooting down a Syrian air force jet on Sunday. The US said its planes had acted to defend US-backed forces seeking to capture the Islamic State capital of Raqqa in north-east Syria.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said the US strike “has to be seen as a continuation of America’s line to disregard the norms of international law.
“What is this if not an act of aggression? It is, if you like, help to those terrorists that the US is fighting against, declaring they are carrying out an anti-terrorism policy.”
The Russian ministry also said it would respond to the attack by suspending its communications channel with Washington, which is designed to prevent collisions and dangerous incidents in Syrian airspace.
The prime minister, Theresa May, intervened on Monday, urging Russia not to end the “deconfliction arrangements” since it increases the risk of an air fight breaking out inadvertently between Russian warplanes and US-led coalition warplanes.
Responding to Russian announcements, Marine Corps general Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US would “work diplomatically and military in the coming hours to reestablish deconfliction”.
The growing risk of a direct confrontation between the US and Russia follows a decision by US president Donald Trump to grant his military chiefs untrammelled control of he US military strategy in Syria.
Senior US lawmakers have been voicing concern at the lack of a declared Trump administration strategy for Syria beyond the crushing of Isis. Democratic senator Chris Murphy warned on Twitter: “Four direct engagements with Syria/Iran/Russia in 45 days. Trump is quietly starting a new war that Congress has not declared. Red alert.”
In a sign of how complex the Syrian peace process has become, Russian-sponsored peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, are scheduled to resume on the same day – 10 July – as talks convened by the UN in Geneva.
UN Investigates US War Crimes for 300 Civilian Deaths
Every time Russia does anything in Syria that accidentally causes the deaths of civilians, the US plasters pictures of dead babies on the internet that soon go viral.
When the US is responsible for civilian deaths, even huge numbers of them, the US press responds with mass silence and US generals pooh-pooh everything as acceptable collateral damage.
US disregard for civilians is now so bad the UN in investigating.
Please consider ‘Staggering’ loss of civilian life from US-led airstrikes in Raqqa, says UN.
UN war crimes investigators have denounced a “staggering loss of civilian life” caused by the US-backed campaign to reclaim Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State.
The independent commission of inquiry tasked with investigating violations of international law, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria said the intensification of airstrikes by the US-led coalition had led to the deaths of at least 300 civilians in the city.
“We note in particular that the intensification of airstrikes, which have paved the ground for an SDF advance in Raqqa, has resulted not only in staggering loss of civilian life, but has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes and becoming internally displaced,” Paulo Pinheiro, the chairman of the UN commission of inquiry, told the human rights council in Geneva.
Karen Abuzayd, an American commissioner on the independent panel, said: “We have documented the deaths caused by the coalition airstrikes only and we have about 300 deaths – 200 in one place, in al-Mansoura, one village.”
The civilian cost of the campaign was highlighted last week when footage emerged of coalition planes deploying white phosphorus in the city, which is home to tens of thousands of civilians, prisoners of war, enslaved Yazidi women, and a few thousand Isis militants.
Human Rights Watch urged the coalition separately on Wednesday to exercise great caution when using white phosphorus, saying it could cause “horrific and long-lasting harm” in crowded cities such as Raqqa, and that such powerful incendiary munitions should never be used in populated areas.
The use of white phosphorus drew strong condemnation last week, and raised concerns that the coalition was not taking adequate precautions to protect civilian lives.
Blatant US Hypocrisy
Somehow it is OK for the US to use phosphorous bombs but no one else can use any other chemicals. What a sorry joke.
The US is the biggest user and seller of weapons of mass destruction on the planet.
Here are a few questions to ponder.
- Of those 160,000 Syrians who were forced to flee the US assault, how many of them will now become ISIS sympathizers?
- How many others will simply want revenge?
- Of the rest, how many simply want the US to F off and get the hell out of their country?
Meanwhile, odds of direct US confrontation with Russia are very high and rising with the US, Russia, and Iran All Drawing New Red Lines.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Willy Pete? WP? White Phosphorus bombs? Maybe, maybe not…??I didn’t know we had any of them left after Vietnam?
How sure are the reporters that it IS WP, and that they came from US airplanes? Maybe. Maybe not? I surely would like someone who has some military knowledge of WP look at this – rather than some CNN reporter like Amanpour Whatshername?
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Regardless, the US has killed many thousands of civilians in Syria, and in the cause of helping ISIS, for which people like McCain should be shot….
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Well, the report makes so much about WP – just want to know if anyone over there knows WTH it is – and IF it REALLY is…..
…other STFU about WP. We can be blamed for lotsa stuff. Just TRY to get some of the facts straight – and stop sensationalizing it. It’s bad enuff all by itself….
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http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/06/13/532809626/u-s-led-coalition-has-used-white-phosphorous-in-fight-for-mosul-general-says
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@ bbt – the above link was only posted to narrow the argument down, not to provide sentence.
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Now, you STFU.
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How does the link to the story of using WP for smoke screens – with a picture from 2004, suddenly turn into a “…White Phosphorous Bomb..” as stated by Mish?
I’m not saying WP is not some bad shit – and certainly shouldn’t be used on/near civilians…..but didn’t the link say that 28,000 civilians were able to get away behind the WP smoke screen….? And no where else – except Mish’s hyperbole – has stated BOMBS…….
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@BillyBob Texas
Use or not of WP is secondary to the fact the US has no business being there in the first place.
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Well…. I AGREE WITH THAT !!
My original complaint was the escalation in the term WP – which IS a NASTY weapon being used …IF I think really wasn’t.
It would be nice to be able to believe what you read from report…….
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Been a long time since I was in the military, but we trained with WP in the 90s. Not something that went away after Vietnam.
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From Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie
===========
And I walked in, I sat down, they gave me a piece of paper that said: “Kid,
See the psychiatrist in room 604.”
I went up there, I said, “Shrink, I want to kill. I want to kill! I want to see
Blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth! Eat dead, burnt bodies! I
Mean: Kill. Kill!”
And I started jumpin’ up and down, yellin’ “KILL! KILL!” and he started
Jumpin’ up and down with me, and we was both jumpin’ up and down, yellin’,
“KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!” and the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me,
Sent me down the hall, said “You’re our boy”. Didn’t feel too good about it.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/arlo+guthrie/alices+restaurant_20518619.html
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yellin’ “KILL! KILL!” and he started
Jumpin’ up and down with me, and we was both jumpin’ up and down, yellin’,
“KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!”
John McCain – Every year he’s been in office.
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Lets face it both the US and Russia want higher oil prices. Waiting for the military accident on some significant oil field….
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Saudis Foil Iranian Terror Attack On Major Offshore Oil Field
19 Jun 2017
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-19/saudis-foil-iranian-terror-attack-major-offshore-oilfield
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Let’s face it, the US is allied with ISIS, Al Nusra, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to take out Assad and build a pipeline….The people responsible in the US, like McCain, should be tried for treason.
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Qatar wants friendly relations with Iran in the face of pressure from the KSA.
Not just McCain, go after all of them.
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Get our boys and girls home – WTF are we doing in the Middle East?? And esp. Syria.
IF you really want to change things, kill President Bashar al-Assad – anything else is just financial support for the US military-industrial complex.
Remember who killed Osama bin Laden? Not the current party in charge of Washington.
Anyhow – GET OUT OF THE MIDDLE-EAST. 16 years and counting wasting my tax$$$ in Afghanistan….
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but but Cheney’s energy maps …
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and you think killing Assad would fix things?
Wow.
I expect a lot of UN whining since they are now expected to pull more of their own weight. They are dead wood, and always have been. I already saw that negotiations with Russia are ongoing. What a lot of drama queens we have out there, or maybe just people hoping for war.
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RIIIIIGHT !! GTFO !!
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This mindset is the reason we have these global problems. Kill (whomever)! We don’t like their policy!
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Too much information. Please take me back to the time of ignorance when I believed everything Walter Cronkite told us on TV. Now all I see is the hypocrisy of our government and media. I have lost my innocence. Oh yea. It’s the Russians fault.
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You’ve posted what I’ve been thinking for a long while.
Ignorance can be bliss, the past is like another country, simpler and more innocent.
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“the past is like another country, simpler and more innocent.”
Yeah, but is this unique to the 1950-1970 generation, or does every generation feel the same way, but we self centered baby boomers always think it happened to us first.
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TAKE THE BLUE PILL BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! 🙂
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One just hopes US military do not think Russia is bluffing.
It is one thing to run around the corridors in Congress looking for reds under the bed; it is quite another to carry this puerile mindset over to the battlefield.
The irony is that Trump really didn’t have this animus towards Russia on the stomp and has since been forced to seem that he is more McCain than McCain.
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“One just hopes US military do not think Russia is bluffing.”
I’ve read that the AP pointed out that this same threat was made after the cruise missile attack.
The Ruskies said in this instance that all US coalition aircraft would be tracked as targets. That doesn’t mean they’d be fired upon, just that they’d be tracked using the targeting radar of surface-to-air missile batteries and, perhaps, air-to-air targeting radars on Ruskie aircraft. What it does mean is that these Ruskie assets would be primed and ready to fire at any instant.
In any case, MAD will continue to serve its purpose. Even with an accidental shoot-down by either side, nuclear war is definitely OUT.
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I’m not so sure. It could no had to head nuclear in a 3rd country. Syria is as bad or good a place as any.
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“….Syrian peace process….”
Newspeak phrase of the year! Ending the half century reign of the “,…..Palestinian peace process…”
“Of those 160,000 Syrians who were forced to flee the US assault, how many of them will now become ISIS sympathizers?”
From what I gather, ISIS squandered their credibility as soon as they “won” their little piece of territory; by proving once and for all, to those they claimed to rule, that it takes more than just guns and religious fervor, to keep water running, sewers functional and markets stocked with essentials. The Middle East is not Afghanistan, where such things have never existed, and the population probably wouldn’t want them even if they did. ISIS’ recruiting, both locally and in Europe, is supposedly way down. Left alone, like all unsustainable regimes, they would just crumble, until falling prey to internal strife and an overthrow by either their own population, or neighbors.
But less historically encumbered Jihadi movements, will undoubtedly benefit massively from the West demonstrating so clearly that; they are indeed both an enemy, and an out of control cancer with little other purpose than attempting to disguise the fact that it is eating it’s own, by eating all those around it, as well.
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Thank you Mish for highlighting these atrocious crimes and rank hypocrisy of the US.
It is beyond appalling that so few Americans could care a hoot about this – even if they were made aware of it.
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Absolutely true … the only question now … how long till TPTB labels this site a purveyor of “fake news” and should be avoided?
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According to some sources such as PartisanGirl, US commanders in the ME are in the process of signing an agreement with Kurds to turn over large parts of Syria to them once ISIS leaves. In the mean time, ISIS forces were allowed free passage from Raqqa.
http://theantimedia.org/video-us-allowing-isis-escape-syria/
Trump’s hands are tied – if he does anything that suggests collaboration with Russia, well we know the answer to that. But if Trump lets these generals do what they want, Washington could be turned into radioactive ash. And, right now I’m only 12 miles from the DC line. Russia, whose population is less than 1/2 ours and whose economy is 1/9 ours (not counting NATO), cannot risk conventional war with the West, especially after losing 10 million and 20 million in WWI and WWII, respectively.
The safest thing for Trump to do is to get out of Syria NOW. Let the Russians and Syrians clean up the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama. The generals have had their chance. Syria has not attacked any USG ally except ISIS an alQaida.
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“But if Trump lets these generals do what they want, Washington could be turned into radioactive ash.”
Nope. MAD will continue to prevent any such conflict just as its has through far, FAR worse times for over 60 years.
You kids really should have been around in the 60s. The “Great Social Media Political War of 2017” and a few “antifa” fascists breaking a few windows in few places are absolutely -NOTHING- by comparison! Everyone just needs to calm the F down…
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MAD does not apply anymore, Winston. Gadaffi didn’t have nukes and look what happened to him – rear-ended with a bayonet from an alQaida mob. With Putin it would be a Chechen mob. With conventional warfare, once Russia’s air defenses were gone, NATO bombers would have field day after field laying waste to Russian cities for Russia’s internal terrorists to scavenge. Putin and other Russian leaders won’t let that happen to them without resorting to ‘unthinkable’ . 30 million deaths in two world wars 20 years apart is just as bad or worse than nukes, especially if they get to do it to US. How many million lives would you bet against it?
Moreover, NATO military planners would not take a chance on Russia not using nukes. They would try to take them out as soon as hostilities start – and the Russians know it. With nukes, it’s use ’em or lose ’em but use ’em quickly.
BTW, I hope you don’t admire Churchill.
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MAD, LOL. Not a chance.
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Make sure you vote your incumbent Congressmen back into power. It’s the only way to solve this.
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You losers near San Fransisco have re-elected Nancy Pelosi every time… how did her crimes help the country? How did her stupidity help the country?
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It isn’t “near” SF, it is SF – the whole city basically.
Nancy works SF – let’s face it, it is SF so you’re not getting Paul Ryan voted in. She can only be attacked from the left in a very safe Democratic seat. I’m stunned she isn’t wearing a Che T-Shirt 😉
Her people like her. Just like Ted Cruz’s like him.
Amazing, isn’t it?
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whoever replaces them is corrupted on the first day with offers of money and threats of death.
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Then search youtube for “impeach Trump” and see the difference. This is how much power the
media has.
I think Europeans actually are tired of the US causing a flood of migrants from Syria.
This alliance is breaking apart too.
I pray for Trump.
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The neocon and the dems and quite a few rinos all want war with Russia, why, beats the hell out of me. the Arabs want to conquer each other because they others believe the wrong way and, well, they need the money as well. Then the EU thinks it’s the next coming of the Grande Armee, the next global Reich, the new champions of the world. And the UN runs aroung making the case for everyone being a war criminal while their peacekeeping troops engage in the rape of locals all without consequences. I forgot, what was the question?,
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With regard to Russia, You need to read up on Sir Halford John Mackinder’s “Heartland Theory”.
The Syria crime is all about the Israeli theft of the Golan
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The idea of geography as determination has not been a great success since it has limiting factors. Thus while Heartland theory offers a nice interpretation of geopolitical factors, it presumes, like most social sciences, a reliance on mathematical like equations for solutions to problems. Unfortunately, people rarely perform like mathematical equations.
As for Syria crime,, it is not about Israel’s theft of the Golan Heights, that is a side issue. Syria’s crime, like so many other Mideast states is about tribalism and the need for patriarchal domination under the aegis of religion. the mix of Shia and Sunni in the region means that there is a great deal of underlying violence in the population. Mix in the Kurds, of which there are different sects of Islam, christian, and even old Jewish faiths, and what are we to expect? The current question is who gets to build the new natural gas pipeline, the Saudis or the Iranians? The Syrians are merely in the way.
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The reason is the Khazarian blood feud with Russia.
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I’m sure there are blood feuds all over the Middle East. Russia has been part of many such adventures ever since the Mongols pushed west and then south. We often forget that it was of the Khan’s four sons who pushed his way into Iran and on to Baghdad and parts west. The “Great Game didn’t originate with Russia, Britain, China, and a few more interlopers.
Now we had added more players to the game to the point where there is seemingly neither goal nor point left. One can only wonder what’s next.
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As far as I am concerned, the muslims can kill each other as much as they want. I DO have questions about the “civilians” killed as the soldiers of the enemy and the so-called civilians look exactly the same.
I do feel it’s time to get out, and let the arabs kill each other until there is just one left. Then take him out…
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“…….until there is just one left. Then take him out…”
GREAT Plan !! We need to make your our new Secretary of Defense. !!!!!
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I bet you’re very proud of that simpleton brain of yours.
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The murderous insolence of the NATO terrorists and their Israeli masters knows no bounds, does it?
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It’s also OK for Israel to use phosphorus bombs.
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Obama commits troops/support for ISIS…and funds many terrorists.
Trump is accused of being in the control/employ of the Russians.
Can you imagine the media if he (rightfully ) was to withdraw from Syria, essentially ceding the action to RUSSIA?
Frankly, I think this is WHY the media continues to make false allegations of Russia’s involvement in our elections.
Frankly, Trump would make HUGE points with Americans by declaring we are done in Syria and that the previous admin was backing ISIS.
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The article failed to mention that the US FAILED to use the ‘red line’ prior to the shootdown. So, the US didn’t use the phone. Don’t try and make it appear that the Russians are not being cooperative.
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Americans and Europeans sleep peacefully because the dogs of war are busy killing. Hypocrites complain about who gets killed, how many are killed, and how they are killed.
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soon, they will burn into ashes in their sleep.
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Don’t bet your life on it.
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Ike warned us about the Military Industrial Complex.
If we required a specific tax to pay for each conflict we fought since WWII, we would have had few or none of these losing wars that only enrich Big Oil and Big Banks.
There would be no national debt, no EU and NATO would be funded by all members rather than be on the backs of only U.S. and U.K. taxpayers.
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White Phosperous (“wllie pete”) is the chemical in the warhead in a small air-to-ground missle used to mark bombing targets. Nothing new about it. Used in Vietnam by American forward air control planes and in all wars since.
Regarding the Russians and their threats in Seria: Call their bluff and send the F-22 and the F-35 against their planes and SA 400 and we will see what they have. Better now than later.
The Russians are very good, but it’s the Chicoms I worry about. We need 1,000 F-22’s.
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Irondoor, I hope you have an iron bunker as well for those incoming nukes..
Idiot.
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I was just thinking about the early days of petroleum development. In the US people were able to own mineral rights, and sell whatever came out of the ground as they wished. A lot of this came from the gold rush, but also because Pennsylvania was one of the original 13 colonies and where the oil industry was established. I wonder what might have happened had the gold rush not occurred and the oil industry developed on Indian territory (Texas and Oklahoma) instead? Would the oil be declared “sovereign” property and a public good? How would have western north America developed? Would the various tribes have set establish state-owned monopolies over the oil? I hate to think it would look like the middle east, but you never know.
In my mind the fundamental problem of the middle east is that there’s no way for anyone but the state to own the oil. Oh sure, some states like UAE distribute a dividend to everyone, but still the lack of private ownership of the primary economic engine means no one has any real opportunity. Don’t know what the answer is, we’re too far along now to try to change the system. Just wondering why.
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WW3, coming up!
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Or has it already started and just isn’t being called that yet, just as the war to end all wars was not called that, until millions had been killed, already.
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We need more white helmets – but errr!…. they seem to have disappeared.
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Time to play that same song again > Eve of Destruction.
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we’ve always been at war with east asia
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