Politics

With Assad on the verge of retaking Aleppo, and with it, regaining full control in the ongoing Syrian proxy war, we asked last week in "With Assad On Verge Of Historic Victory, Syrian Rebels Request A Ceasefire" how long before the US intervenes in an attempt to derail the sudden Syrian (and Russian) momentum.  We got the answer this morning, when US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Saturday that the US is sending 200 additional military personnel to Syria to help drive Islamic State from its de facto capital of Raqqa.

In our initial take on the WaPo report of a "secret" CIA assessment, according to which Russia, without a shred of evidence,  helped Trump win the election (it remains unclear just how Putin "hacked" several hundred thousands Rust Belt workers into believing Hillary Clinton would offshore their jobs), we summarized in five point how this was nothing short of a "soft coup" attempt by leaders of the US Intel community and Obama administration to influence the Electoral College vote. To wit:

Overnight the media propaganda wars escalated after the late Friday release of an article by the Washington Post (which last week admitted to using unverified, or fake, news in an attempt to smear other so-called "fake news" sites) according to which a secret CIA assessment found that Russia sought to tip last month’s U.S. presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor, a conclusion presented without any actual evidence, and which drew an extraordinary, and angry rebuke from the president-elect’s camp.

The United States is sending 200 additional military personnel to Syria to help rebel groups drive ISIS from Raqqa, the US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Saturday. Speaking in Bahrain during talks on Middle East security, Ash Carter said Barack Obama had approved deployment of the extra troops, who would include special forces trainers, advisers and bomb disposal experts, last week.

Congress managed to wrap-up unfinished business on Thursday a day ahead of a government shutdown deadline. Both houses voted to approve a defense policy bill, which includes more than $600 million for missile defense cooperation with Israel. The Senate passed the legislation by a wide margin of 92-7, a week after the House overwhelmingly approved the measure 375-34. It now awaits the president’s signature.