fahrenheit451:113

The following is gleaned from the 1965- Cold War era -popular hit single by Barry MacGuire

"The eastern world, it is explodin',
Violence flarin', bullets loadin',
You're old enough to kill but not for votin',
You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin',
And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin',
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
And can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,...  "

 

Yesterday, Monday 19th December the Russian ambassador to Turkey,Andrei Karlov was gunned down whilst attending a gallery viewing. The murderer,a serving Turkish police officer was himself despatched in the immediate aftermath. Then almost as a kind of corollary to the slaying of the Russian diplomat, hours later in Berlin, a traditional and well attended Christmas market was subjected to an islamic terrorist atrocity where a  hijacked goods lorry was used as the weapon.The death toll was at least 12 with scores more injured. The term Casus belli  springs immediately to mind ; the term refers to an incident or an act of provocation which the offended side uses subsequently to undertake military action usually with a formal decleration of war against the perceived offending party. Killing ambassadors counts as  Casus belli.  As you can, but need not overly, imagine, MSM as well as social media went into hyperdrive at the conjunction of these two separate acts of terrorism. The proverbial button really got pushed this time around. Fortunately, Presidents Putin and Erdogan are both committed to playing the long game diplomatically and strategically. And that's more than the world can expect from the stupid Yanks however.You can imagine it being the US ambassador getting gunned down ; Washington DC would've ordered massive instant retaliation, probably aimed at the entirely wrong target in Afghanistan as a result. Whichever way this does pan out, the Merde that the great powers and their various recalitrant satrapies are mired deep within just got deeper and messier.