DON' MESS WITH THE U.S.

An interesting and I believe quite logical opinion on the Trump military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan:

This week’s raids on Syria and on Isis in Afghanistan have been framed by the media as Trump swinging wildly from isolationism to hyper-interventionism. Not so.
The point about the Syria raid which has barely been mentioned (but was pointed out here by America’s former ambassador to the UN, John Bolton) is that Syria was in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention – to which Russia and Iran along with the US, UK and others are also signatories, as well as being members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Any violation of an international agreement designed to eliminate chemical weapons directly threatens anyone targeted by state or other actors who may ever get their hands on such weapons. America, along with everyone else, is therefore threatened by Syria’s use of chemical weapons. Russia, however, vetoed America’s attempt to bring this violation to the UN Security Council. By striking the Syrian air base, Trump was not only defending American interests but also upholding international order.

and..........

The benefits of this extend far beyond damaging the capacity of Isis to carry out more attacks. It also sends a crucial signal to Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and anyone else who may want to attack America that, after years of supine surrender by the Obama administration to the enemies of the free world, the US will now actively defend itself once again – and will furthermore hit such aggressors harder than they can ever hit America.

This is neither liberal interventionism nor pull-up-the-drawbridge isolationism. It is the necessary defence of the national interest by military means where that is required to preserve life and liberty. The willed erosion of that fundamental doctrine of national survival has empowered the enemies of the free world to run rampant during the past decade.

This was the week in which that lethal erosion was ended. [M Phillips]

http://melaniephillips.com/trump-never-isolationist-patriot/