While admitting he shares some blame for the widening partisan divide during his term in office, President Obama dismissed the notion that he's responsible for the rise of Donald Trump, who has harnessed voter anger during his presidential run, urging GOP elites to do some "introspection" about the how "the politics they've engaged in allows the circus we've been seeing to transpire."
Authorities in the US hope to retain the Syrian opposition or so called rebels even though there is a ceasefire in place and despite their abysmal failure before. Top US commander, General Lloyd Austin said that Pentagon has requested permission to resurrect an effort to train Syrian opposition fighters for battles against ISIS, but on a smaller scale than a previous program that failed and was scrapped last year. Washington previously struggled to define which fighters ‘deserved’ to get US funds and equipment, which often end up in the hands of the terrorists.
There’s a very revealing quote from Hillary Clinton in the Atlantic article on Obama’s foreign policy:
Right after Obama’s reversal [on attacking Syria], Hillary Clinton said privately, “If you say you’re going to strike, you have to strike. There’s no choice.”
The Islamic State terrorist group released a video on Wednesday claiming responsibility for the slaughter of dozens of Syrian journalists and media activists labelling them as spies of the ‘crusader coalition’. ABNA 24 reports: The ISIS-linked Al-Khair Media Center in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province released a short film documenting the execution of more than 100 Syrian media workers at the hands of ISIS fighters.
Obama reportedly rejects the bogus “credibility” argument related to threats and use of force:
Obama generally believes that the Washington foreign-policy establishment, which he secretly disdains, makes a fetish of “credibility”—particularly the sort of credibility purchased with force. The preservation of credibility, he says, led to Vietnam. Within the White House, Obama would argue that “dropping bombs on someone to prove that you’re willing to drop bombs on someone is just about the worst reason to use force.”