Red lines crossing.
U.S. President Donald Trump has done a complete U turn from avoiding foreign conflicts and ordered a missile attack on a Syrian air base in response to a recent chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians. The jury is still out on the ramifications of the strike and, it’s actual effectiveness. Given past history it’s highly likely that the Syrian military were the perpetrators of the chemical attack. Syria and Russia deny it but that’s usually standard rhetoric. Hopefully, an investigation will soon pin the blame. Red lines have been crossed.
Trump has changed his mind and acted decisively, impulsively or even unwisely depending on one’s point of view. The news out from the Whitehouse at the time of writing is that the U.S. attack was a one off but further action has not been ruled out if chemical weapons are used on Syrian civilians again. Meanwhile, I understand that conventional air attacks from the Syrian military continue. Playing Devil’s Advocate here I struggle to understand what the difference is between men, women and children being killed and injured by chemicals compared to men, women and children being killed or injured by bombs and bullets.
The investigation over the Trump campaign and links with Russia grinds on and we may now be entering a kiss and tell stage where people may spill the beans. I believe that the U.S. administration needed a distraction and a quick win to take the attention away and Syria provided the opportunity. Cynically, I don’t think the attention will be away for long. Furthermore, Russia is upset over the missile attack and maybe we might see some incrementing evidence against Trump, true or false, start to surface.
The U.S. missile attack went down during the Chinese President’s visit to Trump, whether this is a message that was intended for him and for North Korea we can only speculate.
Talking of red lines, the European Union (EU) is setting some for the UK for Brexit negotiations. Already a clause about separate agreements with Spain and the UK over Gibraltar has stirred the pot. There were even hints that the UK would apply the same resolve for Gibraltar as for the Falklands. The people of Gibraltar voted over 98 per cent against joint sovereignty with Spain in 2002. I don’t think the mood has changed. I think the EU was shocked at the UK’s response to the Gibraltar clause and I think it would do well to take it off the negotiating list. Again, playing Devil’s Advocate what happens when two NATO members fight each other? Is there a scenario for that? As for the Brexit negotiations, themselves I think the EU will drag them out while the UK will want to resolve them quickly. At the end of the day, I’ve always thought that the UK would have to have a STICKIT option and I also think that it may well be used. There is a lack of understanding about the depth of resolve on both sides of the table here.
And now for some good news. Researchers in the UK have figured out a way to use graphene to filter salt out of seawater to use it for drinking. There is some way to go but if this goes industrial the implications for desalination is enormous. Aside from providing a solution to water shortages for those that are unable to access fresh water there will be industrial applications too especially for cleaning up and recycling brackish water in the energy industry perhaps?