If we don’t stop this insanity, then who will?

There are so many things happening on a daily basis, it’s hard to keep up.

First we had the chemical attack in Idlib, Syria, an attack that the US was quick to blame on Syrian President Assad’s army. Of course, Assad denied being involved in the use of chemical weapons being that he destroyed his arsenal, under UN supervision and US satisfaction, in 2013–2014.

Immediately, we had videos available showing the horrors and suffering of those, especially innocent, vulnerable children, who have been contaminated with the chemical sarin. These videos, by the way, were brought to us by that famous group of thespians, the White Helmets, a group supported by and financed by the US and UK. A group that appears to conveniently show up to most events with cameras and white helmets, prepared to film the horrors supposedly imposed by the Assad army on his own people.

The anti-Assad contingent (US, NATO, and the so-called US sponsored “moderates”), immediately, and without proof or verification, held Assad responsible for dropping sarin gas from planes onto the people below.

Sarin gas, is one of the most dangerous and toxic chemicals known. It is a nerve agent. After exposure to sarin, symptoms begin within minutes. If a person survives for a few hours after exposure, he or she will likely recover from the poisoning. The first symptoms of sarin poisoning include a runny nose, blurred vision, sweating, and muscle twitches. Longer exposures result in tightness of the chest, headache, cramps, nausea, vomiting, involuntary defecation and urination, convulsions, coma, and respiratory arrest.

It is understood that for first responders or rescuers responding to a chemical weapons attack, protective clothing is of the utmost importance. The protective clothing against chemical weapons agents consists of rubber clothing which, together with gloves and boots, cover the entire body apart from that protected by the mask. Clothing of this kind is usually characterized as impermeable. This not only refers to the fact that chemical weapons agents cannot pass through the material but also the fact that perspiration released from the skin is also prevented from passing out. Physical contact with the victim is especially dangerous to the rescuer.

Then why, when we view the released videos of the Idlib attack, do we see our white helmet heroes running around with no protective clothing and experiencing no consequences?

Let us now go forward to April 7. The US fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Shayrat, Syrian airbase in retaliation for the so-called chemical weapons attack in Idlib. The Shayrat base was chosen because the Syrian planes accused of carrying the so-called chemical weapons flew out of that air field. Let it be noted that no chemical weapons were found stored in that airfield.

If nothing else, this attack on the Shayrat airbase was a great public relations triumph for Donald Trump. He has gained bi-partisan support. After all who would want to sit by passively while the children of Syria suffered?

But the Donald was not finished. On the evening of April 13, the US exploded a bomb, the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), or popularly called the “Mother of All Bombs”, in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan.

This bomb is supposedly the biggest, most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal. It is said to have an impact radius of one mile, meaning that it has a two-mile impact from the center of the explosion.

Why Afghanistan? The cover story is that the US wanted to destroy the caves and tunnels ISIS was using in Nangarhar. The US military assures us that the site chosen was isolated and the chance for civilian casualties was minimal. Yet, upon further review, we find that there are as many as 95,000 Afghan citizens living in that area and that the military has yet to release a report on the number of civilian casualties resulting from the bombing or videos and photos of children whose bodies have been blown to bits and pieces.

Why now? Timing is everything. At a time when the US and North Korea are headed for a major military confrontation, we see the US experimenting with its new destructive toy, the Mother of All Bombs. Is there a message here for North Korea?

I am reminded of the end of WW2, when the US decided to drop atom bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Not to win the war, but to send the Soviet Union a message. Japan had already signaled its willingness to surrender.

While all this is going on and there is a danger of a major war, the people of the US are silent. The US has done such a great job of demonizing Putin and Russia, Assad and Syria, and Kim Jong-un and North Korea that the people who would ordinarily be in the streets sending an antiwar message to the rest of the country are sitting on their hands.

These are dangerous times. The US is continuing to move forward on its agenda for world dominance. If we don’t wake up soon, there will be no world to dominate. Only we, the people of the US can stop this madness.

Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.