I'm sorry to disagree. The behavior of the US right now is the behavior of a failing empire. Syria faced a huge threat after 14 years of very cruel sanctions, being attacked by the US, European nations, Turkey, Israel, and a multitude of mercenaries from around the world. The US empire is going to divide up Syria. Turkey will take some, the US will take the oil, Israel will take water, oil, and agricultural land. Eventually, as the US empire begins to fail--the failure will happen fast--and your arguments about taxation and mortgages are not really relevant--and Syrians will mourn the loss of their country which--let's please remember this--"Syria" was created by European mandates. This is a continuation of European colonialism. But the European countries are facing such difficulties they themselves are in danger. The US empire is failing and cannot POSSIBLY continue to fund its current operations.

Governments rise and fall. Revolutions happen. New governments are created. Some "succeed" and others fail. If a group of terrorists, most of which are fighting each other, have ever overthrown a government and succeeded long-term--especially in the Middle East--I would like you to remind me who that might be?

The primary facts remain. Russia and China are far more stable, economically and otherwise, than the US/Europe. These terrorist groups are not native to Syria--most of them are foreigners supported, trained, and funded by the West. How many times has this approach succeeded? Afghanistan, maybe, after the CIA lost control of the Taliban. I don't think Afghanistan is very stable, even now, except to the degree that foreigners will never control it for long.

Russia and Iran play for the long game. It's way too early to make any serious statements about what's going on. Creating chaos is the U S M.O. but it hasn't been very successful for the entire lifetime of the US empire (which hasn't lasted long).

The destruction of Syria has been a very long engagement. It was the last Arab country to fall, if it has indeed fallen, from the rise of Arab nationalist countries fighting against the British empire. Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Jordan and Iran were always jostling for a leadership role. And who destroyed them? Iran is changed and stronger. The rest have been bribed into collaboration and betrayal of their brethren, or destroyed by CIA operations, which this also is.

There are two major elements which the CIA and US government cannot control, apparently. With all these wars, climate change is moving more quickly than necessary. One war jet flight produces as much pollution as a car driven by an excessively consuming American motorist in 100 years. Think about that for a minute. How many sorties are flying over the Middle East and Ukraine? Both Israel and the US rely on jets dropping bombs. Neither country has a military that can fight without jets dropping bombs. The other thing is the failure of the US dollar. World-wide economic stressors are extreme and likely to become much worse. Tax or not. Mortgage or not. Most US income is not taxed due to income inequality. The 12 richest billionaires are worth $2 trillion. And they don't pay tax. The US operations are not funded by taxes. They're funded by the Fed, which is just "accounting"--digitally. Inflation is an indication of how much actual value the US dollar has lost. It's huge. Mind-bogglingly huge already. And likely to increase under Trump. And that loss/income for the rich does not go to very many Americans. The top 10%--that's only 35 million people.

I advise patience. The US has spent 14-15 years trying to destroy Assad, a man who was never raised or prepared to run a country in the crosshairs. As for gas pipelines, where is Cheney's gas pipeline through Afghanistan? This is yet another fiasco Biden can take credit for. The leadership of the DNC are responsible for an amazing amount of destruction, world-wide. Not that the RNC is any better. But it's quite astonishing what they did when they shoved Biden down our throats.

This is a very sad day. And things are about to get much worse. But in the end, the US will lose. It is inevitable. And most of us will witness it, it's coming to us that fast. The world is changing that fast. So this is a warning to us all personally, and it is also yet another harbinger of hope. Ironically.

Capitalism is dead, Chang. It's dead.