This may be tinfoil speculation

[triron]

but suppose the whole thing including the attack by Syrian jets was coordinated by Putin just to give Trump an
opportunity to change the narrative away from the Russia-Trump scandal.

[lapfog_1]

1. I've been thinking this all day, since before the tomahawk strike. - n/t

[uponit7771]

2. DING DING DING !!! Hallie Jackson recently said there were deescalation coordination with Russia

[democratisphere]

3. It is the only reason he did it. Also putting on a show for China's President.

Vulgar.

[triron]

4. Another piece of the puzzle you just revealed.

[malaise]

34. Precisely

[HoneyBadger]

5. Are you calling it a false flag operation?

[triron]

6. I think so. Not sure exactly what that is.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. False flag would be like if 9-11 was a gov. set up attack

so Cheney and Bush would have an excuse to attack some mid-eastern country even if that country was not responsible for the attack, for example.

Classic historical example was when the Germans blew up their own building, the Reichstag, and blamed it on the Jews just before WWII.

Pres. Johnston used the Gulf of Tonkin incident , where Navy ships were supposedly attacked by N. Vietnam, as an excuse to widen the Viet Nam war.
That incident was later proven to be a false flag.

[NanceGreggs]

7. My first thought.

No one in the MSM is talking about the investigation into Trump/Russian-collusion tonight.

[Raster]

8. Yep... the conversation seems to have changed...

...Many of us here at DU have speculated that tRump* and Co* would need some type of military action to change the Russian election interference narrative. Boom, here it is.

[peggysue2]

12. Ding, Ding, Ding!

And how convenient is that? Coincidental, too. Coincidences seems to follow the Trumpster like shadows. No doubt there will be an uptick in the man's approval rating. He gets to show off for the President of China and the narrative veers off all that nasty Trump/Russian collusion chatter.

At least for the moment.

The good news? There are only so many airstrips and proportional strikes one can make before the public gets suspicious. Or unintended consequences strike back with a vengeance. That's what I worry about.

But right now, I'm certain The Donald is very happy with himself. Strongmen have no shame.

[herding cats]

20. That and suddenly he's being taken seriously.

All I keep hearing from my TV is how he was "moved" by those poor dead babies. This about the same man who said he'd look Syrian refugee children in their face and tell them no?!

[Xolodno]

9. Given no Tomahawks were downed when Russia has assets there that can down them....

At the very least Russia was informed in advance and they got their assets out. Personally, I think Assad fucked up royally as this embarrasses Moscow and Tehran. If anything, as I mentioned in another post, the real threat to Assad was from Putin who told him he's going to die from an early cancer death.

[brush]

11. Something's up. First trump and Tillerson say they won't get involved in Syria...

which seems to have given Assad a green light, then after Assad gases his own people, we do the bait and switch.

Did they set him up?

Don't know but they sure warned the Russkies to get out of the way.

[Lotusflower70]

13. Beware of shiny objects

It's all about distraction and boosting approval ratings.

[MedusaX]

14. Yep... just a choreographed distraction

Conveniently timed to coincide with the latest articles discussing the CIA's role in recognizing the purpose of Russian involvement prior to the FBI's investigation.

Just another alternative-reality show tactic ... which will likely become more common the longer this half-assed cartoon regime is allowed to remain in power......

[moondust]

15. Probably not the chemical attack.

I think that's a bridge too far just to change a narrative.

However, I'm cynical enough to not rule out the possibility that Putin and Trump could have planned tonight's attack. It takes the focus off the Russian investigations which may be getting too close to the truth for comfort, maybe even close enough to compromise some of Russia's methods and/or other players like maybe some Republicans messing with voting machines or something at the state level. Etc. Putin and Trump can both now say "See, we're enemies! We'd never even think of working together to rig an election or anything like that!"

[KittyWampus]

19. Why would Putin or Assad care about using chemical weapons. Or Trump, for that matter.

[moondust]

21. They wouldn't.

Though I'm guessing Trump probably wouldn't agree to that if there was a chance of killing kids. But I suppose it's possible.

[dchill]

24. Nobody said Trump had to agree to anything...

Not that he wouldn't.

[moondust]

28. True.

Maybe the scheming didn't start until after the chemical attack: Shock Doctrine.

[sharedvalues]

16. Some on twitter saying the plan is to sacrifice Assad (but not saying it's necessarily true)

Louise Mensch:

Link to tweet

She also says the next plan is for Putin to sacrifice Snowden - give him back to US for prosecution - to further distract from DJT.

Pay attention if that happens.

[HoneyBadger]

26. Hmmm, will Snowden tweet back?

[triron]

17. kick for visibility

[Doodley]

18. He would hate Hillary Clinton to upstage him with her first interview since the election.

That, plus what the opening poster speculates seem quite possible.

[zentrum]

22. Lots of us

...think this.

There's something really fishy about it.

But how did they coordinate it? When Tillerson went to Moscow instead of meeting with members of NATO?

[dchill]

23. When it comes to Trump it in, there IS NO tinfoil!

Trump doesn't care about Syrian babies. Trump only cares about Trump. This alone is bankable.

[Wounded Bear]

25. Now is the wrong time to set aside any cynicism you might have left...

Hold on to your skepticism. Nothing is as it seems.

With this crowd, you scenario is quite believable.

[BadgerMom]

27. Chris Matthews said it tonight

I thought I'd watch Rachel and the missile strike intervened. Rachel was joined by Brian Williams and Matthews was on. At the end of his time on-screen he wondered about orchestration by Russia. All three laughed about skeptical journalists. I was happy to have my own skepticism borne out by others.

[burrowowl]

29. Probably

[mr_lebowski]

30. I should've known my fellow DU'ers were way ahead of me ...

Been super-busy all day hadn't had time to think of much but my little conspiracy theory (nor check GD), fomenting in my brain all day as I worked ...

Looking like everyone else is seeing things the same way ... derp on my part.

[bathroommonkey76]

31. Chris Matthews said the same thing earlier on MSNBC.

[mr_lebowski]

32. REALLY? TWEETY?

What'd he say? Is there a youtube?

[bathroommonkey76]

33. Here ya go.

BTW I love 'The Dude'. lol

Link to tweet