A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Last Thursday's cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airfield - in which two U.S. warships launched 59 Tomahawk land attack missiles (TLAM) allegedly in retaliation for a deadly chemical attack that killed "dozens of civilians" may have been aimed at Syrian dictator Bashir Assad's military forces. But the real target was the credulity of the American public and the mainstream media as the unpopular President tries to deflect attention from investigations into Russia's alleged interference with the 2016 election - and his campaign's possible collusion with Moscow. According to CNN.com, the April 6 missile strike against " the airbase that was home to the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks" was ordered by the President to, as Mr. Trump said, " to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons." Per the official version of why Mr. Trump ordered the TLAM strikes last week, the President was shocked by media f...

When Libyan rebels ousted the late Muammar Khaddafy's dictatorial regime in the late fall of 2011, their difficult task was made easier by the international community's timely declaration of a "No Fly Zone" enforced not only by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) but also by various members of the Arab League. Carried out by military aircraft from France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Canada, Qatar, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, and Norway, Operation Freedom Falcon and several supporting naval missions helped keep Khaddafy's forces from achieving air supremacy, prevented massive civilian losses from loyalist air strikes on rebel-held cities and degraded the regime's capacity to carry out successful ground counteroffensives against the Free Libyan forces. Back in 2011, the anti-Khaddafy coalition could count on the West, particularly the United States and her allies, to provide military assistance that would assist...