On Syria

image from here: [Link]

Something to Keep in Mind As We Discuss Syria: The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still My Enemy | Mike the Mad Biologist:

Yes, we might be sending a message that using chemical weapons is unacceptable. But we will also be sending this message: 

You can be a hardcore militant whose goal is to set up a fiefdom in an unstable neighboring country (Syria) to serve as a base of operations for destabilizing a fragile government that we have spent lives and treasure supporting, and we will attack the government that would oppose you. 

That, too, is a statement. A fucking stupid statement. I understand why people want to do something–chemical weapons are awful (though when the U.S. used phosphorus–also a violation of chemical weapons treaties–in 2005 in Falluja, I think, at least, some of those calling Syria’s action unconscionable were quiet then). But we have little ability, short of a full-scale invasion, to do something about the situation, except possibly make it worse in ways we can’t even understand:

'via Blog this'