Strike against Syria doesnt change the narrative
By Anne Applebaum
April 9 at 3:26 PM
... a love for novelty certainly describes a large part of the American and indeed the international press corps. My .. colleagues and I love news, particularly news that changes the paradigm, news that lets you describe the world in a different way, news that means you can abandon the previous, stale conversation and turn with relief to something fresh.
... it seems that Trump has had an abrupt change of heart ... Relieved to see this American use of military power, pundits and journalists have filled the airwaves with a thousand different speculations. A BBC producer called me to ask whether I thought that this means “a new departure” ...
Really? Look again at what just happened: A president who has told us he believes military intervention happens when “poll numbers are in tailspin” has just intervened while his poll numbers are in a tailspin. A president who is famous for his abrupt pivots from one opinion to another has abruptly pivoted from one opinion to another. A president with no strategic vision makes a gesture that is not part of any strategic vision, instead taking a military decision based on pictures he saw on cable television. Why is any of that new? ...
... It’s time to go back to the original story: a dysfunctional White House, a president who is mixing his business interests with politics, and a campaign whose relationship to Russian trolls and hackers has yet to be elucidated. Let’s get to the bottom of those stories before we move on ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/04/09/trumps-strike-against-syria-doesnt-change-the-narrative/
