Society's Child
RT correspondent Igor Zhdanov scrutinized the inconvenient details surrounding the latest missile strike on Syria, which took place early on Saturday. His report will touch upon how the Trump administration used questionable "open sources" while preparing the air invasion, and why most of America's closest allies preferred to distance themselves from the military action while formally supporting it.
The blunder occurred on Sunday following reports that the health of Mrs Bush, wife of former US President George H W Bush, is failing. It's understood she has declined further medical care. Bush served as the 37th first lady of the US from 1989 until 1993.
CBS News appears to have accidentally published an obituary article prepared for when 92-year-old first lady does pass away. According to reports in the US, the first lines of the article described Bush as a "witty, gregarious matriarch" before informing readers of her mistaken death.
Barbara Bush, the witty, gregarious matriarch of a political dynasty that propelled two of its members to the White House and dominated Republican politics for decades, has died after a series of recent hospitalizations. She was 92. A Bush family spokesperson said Bush passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by loved ones," the CBS News article reportedly said.

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles after his meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 16, 2017.
The poll revealed that 39 percent of likely American voters "strongly disapprove" of the way Trump is performing, while 35 percent "strongly approve" of the job he is doing.
The research, released on Monday morning, comes in the aftermath of military action taken by the Trump administration in Syria late last Friday. The US, along with the United Kingdom and France, launched strikes against Syrian government positions in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack in the city of Douma.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that law-enforcement units dispersed rioters 'with stun grenades' after four policemen sustained minor injuries in clashes.

The Iranian intelligence ministry announced in a statement on Monday that the country's security forces have discovered and seized a large cargo of explosives along Iran's Eastern borders
A sum of 580kg of narcotics have also been seized from the terrorists, it added.
In a relevant development earlier this month, Iranian border guards in Sistan and Balouchestan confiscated a consignment of explosives which were smuggled into the country in preparation for terrorist attacks.
Comment: The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said in a Monday statement that security forces in the eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan confiscated the consignment, which was due to be smuggled into the country.
The forces thwarted terrorist groups' plots to transfer 80 kilograms of composite explosives, 17 booby traps, 28 pistols with 2,100 bullets, 35 hand grenades, tens of electronic detonators and other explosive equipment through technical and intelligence operations, the statement added.Police and security forces in Sistan and Balouchestan have been quite successful in ensuring security despite its long borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, harsh weather and vast desert areas.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.About 10,000 militants, most of whom are Daesh members are currently in Afghanistan, commander of Russian Central Military District troops Lt. Gen. Alexander Lapin said at a meeting with students and employees of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) on Monday.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.
"After the defeat of ISIL, members of gangs from Syria and Iraq are moving to other regions. The group's leaders pay special attention to Central Asian countries... According to our estimate, about 10,000 militants, most of whom are members of ISIL... are concentrated on Afghanistan's territory," Lapin said.
According to the Iranian Al-Alam TV channel, a massive demonstration is taking place in the central street of Raqqa, where "hundreds of Raqqa residents" holding national Syrian flags are advocating the expulsion of the US military presence. According to the media platform, inhabitants are demanding that the US withdraw from the north-eastern parts of Syria and slamming the airstrikes, conducted by the US, UK and France on April 14. They also urged the speedy return of the legitimate Syrian government to the city and the start of restoration work in Raqqa.

London, UK. 13th April 2018. A police officer appears to conduct the sit-down on Whitehall.
Some outright condemned the strikes and advocated diplomacy. One man told RT: "I think it's completely wrong, they needed to wait for more evidence." He added: "I don't quite understand why they couldn't just wait a couple of days and just get all the evidence [...] and they would at least have a better mandate."
Another passerby said striking Syria could be "understandable," but added: "But unfortunately I am growing less automatically likely to believe what I'm told by the media."
One woman hit out at the prime minister for failing to address MPs. "I don't think the PM should have attacked Syria because she did not consult Parliament and there is no real evidence of who has done it."
In a searing opinion piece, where he shared his reflections on the balance of genders and the way it affects society, Danish psychologist and therapist Finn Korsaa has compared the #MeToo movement with the Nazi Gestapo in a way that it helps to enforce a certain ideology.
"The issue of women's quotas in corporate boards has long been like a hot potato. But how come no one insists on changing the significant overrepresentation of female psychologists? And why do we never ever hear demands for more men in the role of nurses?" Korsaa wrote in the Berlingske daily, suggesting that the so-called "equality efforts" go deeper than balancing the gender situation in the labor market and government bodies.
Comment: As Pierre Lescaudron said in The Health & Wellness Show: Toxic Feminism and the War on Men:
At the core of these revolutionary doctrines, there is no beneficiary. Ultimately, everybody is a victim. The revolution is aimed towards children. In a revolutionary process, you see a perpetual radicalization of ideas. The revolutionary of yesterday is a martyr today and tomorrow is going to be a counter-revolutionary that will go through the guillotine. And I think Feminism is not different from that. You see all those waves, first waves and second waves, always more radical then the last. You see feminists from the 70s and 80s that are appalled by Feminism today and say it went way too far. And the feminists of today will be appalled by Feminism in 5 years and say it went way too far.See also:
Because, at the core of those doctrines there is a quest for power through victimhood - alleged victimhood. It's a competition for power and the ultimate winner is the ultimate victim - alleged victim. There cannot be any winner. It's a never ending race where you sacrifice, step-by-step, portions of the population.
- Five Feminist Lies We Take For Granted
- Is America waking up to the farce that is feminism?
- Behind the Headlines: Weinstein's Weinergate Goes Nuclear: Where is society at with #MeToo?

Police officers inspecting documents of alcohol-containing products in a shop in Omsk
The press service of the Rospotrebnadzor agency told TASS that there were 677 alcohol poisonings over the New Year holidays in 2018, compared to 1,800 during the same period last year. The number of fatalities was 46 compared to 500 - an eleven-fold decrease, the press service added.
Comment: Another factor in the decline might be that Russians have been adopting much healthier lifestyles in the past few years, consuming far less alcohol while exercising more and eating healthier food:
- Breaking against stereotype, Russians under Putin are drinking less and living healthier lives
- Russian health ministry reports 80% drop in alcohol consumption as Russians embrace healthier lifestyles
No doubt there are times when we must fight. But there are plenty more when we should not.
Any fool can kill a man in a second and ruin a city in a week. But it takes long years of nurture to raise a child to adulthood, and centuries to build a civilisation.
Yet I look around me and see the mouths of intelligent people opened wide, yelling for an attack on Syria, when the only certain outcome of that will be blood and screams and ruins, and the deaths of innocents in 'collateral damage'. What good will this do?
What is wrong with them? They are not cruel and stupid, yet they call for actions which are both.











Comment: See also: Bush family spokesman: Former first lady Barbara Bush in failing health