Leid Stories—Make No Mistake, We’re Still on the Brink of War—04.16.18

At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, proudly relayed a message from President Donald Trump: U.S., British and French forces earlier that morning had launched airstrikes that “crippled Syria’s chemical-weapons program,” and the U.S was “locked and loaded” to strike again.

The Security Council was meeting to de-escalate a situation that had become a crisis. The early-morning strikes were in retaliation for an April 7 chemical attack in Douma, a city outside Damascus, in which more than 40 people were killed. But Trump and his allies say Syria illegally maintains a chemical-weapons program as a hedge against rebel groups in the war-torn country.

The airstrikes over the weekend have broadened and deepened East-West tensions, and most particularly with Russia, which has shown extraordinary restraint. But make no mistake about it, we’re still on the brink of war.