Theresa May, Trump’s Syria war poodle

United States President Donald Trump and British Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Corbyn urges May not to become Trump’s poodle ‘waiting for instructions’

The Labour leader calls on the Prime Minister to step away from the hot headed hawks in Syria row

JEREMY CORBYN accused PM Theresa May today of being on standby to mimic US President Donald Trump and “waiting for instructions” on when to launch war on Syria.

And peace campaigners rallied outside Downing Street calling on the government not to attack the Middle Eastern country, where the Bashar al-Assad government has been at war with jihadist insurgents for seven years. …

Before their talk, she held an emergency meeting with her Cabinet. They agreed to take “action”, while MPs and opposition leaders urged her to recall Parliament early in order to allow a vote before plunging the country into war.

A statement released by Downing Street after the meeting made no direct reference to military action, but it is considered to be a signal that Britain would be prepared to join any US-led air strikes.

The largest US air and naval strike force since the 2003 Iraq war is said to be heading towards Syria, according to reports in The Times, paving the way for strikes within the next three days.

Mr Corbyn said: “Further UK military intervention in Syria’s appalling multisided war risks escalating an already devastating conflict.

“The government appears to be waiting for instructions from President Donald Trump on how to proceed, but the US administration is giving alarmingly contradictory signals.

“Even US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said we ‘don’t have evidence’ and warned further military action could ‘escalate out of control’.”

Campaigners from the Stop the War Coalition handed a letter to Downing Street today, signed by MPs, trade unionists, celebrities and academics, urging Ms May not to take military action. …

A YouGov poll for [Rupert Murdoch-owned] The Times this week showed just 22 per cent of Britons support military action against Syria, as against 43 per cent who are opposed.

The British Defense Ministry says four of its Tornado GR4 warplanes fired missiles at a military facility as part of the tripartite [USA-French-British] attack on Syria: here.

https://twitter.com/emmadentcoad/status/984862664340930560

https://twitter.com/emmadentcoad/status/985131976821755905

Trump’s Rush to Judgment on Syrian Chemical Attack: Illegal and Deadly. Thursday, April 12, 2018. By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout.

The World Socialist Web Site condemns the strikes against Syria carried out Friday night by US, French and British forces. The attack is a flagrant and illegal act of aggression. The administrations of American President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May are guilty of a war crime, which poses the danger of triggering a conflict with nuclear-armed Russia: here.

“Anyone who, at a meeting or through the distribution of writings, incites the crime of aggression will be punished with a custodial sentence of between three months and five years,” states paragraph 80A of Germany’s Criminal Code. The “crime of aggression”—i.e., the conducting of a war of aggression or any other act of aggression—is punishable by life imprisonment according to paragraph 13 of Germany’s International Criminal Code. These paragraphs trace their origins directly to the Nuremberg Trials against the Nazis. If they were taken seriously, numerous German politicians and newspaper editors would be behind bars. The preparation of a military strike against Syria has unleashed war fever among Germany’s political parties and newspapers: here.