In the Oct 9 debate between U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Russia and Syria were mentioned a few times, but the prospect of an imminent trigger for World War III in Syria apparently had not occurred to either candidate, states Physicians for Civil Defense president Jane Orient, M.D.
When asked about Aleppo, Clinton said that “there is a determined effort by the Russian Air Force to destroy Aleppo in order to eliminate the last of the Syrian rebels who are really holding out against the Assad regime.” She favors a safe zone, a no-fly zone, leverage against the Russians, investigating Syrians and Russians for war crimes, and arming Syrian rebels.
Trump responded that “she doesn’t even know who the rebels are.” He remarked that both Assad and Russia are fighting ISIS.
Neither acknowledged the extent of ongoing hostilities in which the U.S. was allegedly bombing Syrian Army soldiers, a ceasefire having collapsed by Sep 19, barely a week after it had been triumphantly announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The situation in Syria has been compared with the Spanish civil war, which became a proxy war between the great powers, preceding the great cataclysm of World War II. Weapons and equipment supposedly meant for “moderate rebels” are reportedly supplying extremists. There have been close calls between Russian and U.S. forces.
From Oct 4-7, Russia held a massive civil defense exercise involving 40 million people, 200 thousand emergency services personnel, and 50 thousand pieces of equipment. Officials are telling people to prepare for nuclear war, which they claim will be started by the West. Russian officials have reportedly been told to immediately bring home children who are studying abroad.
In August, Germans were told to stockpile food and water, in case of some sort of emergency.
Neither candidate seems to have a sense of urgency about the world situation, states Dr. Orient. Clinton warns of the danger of “Islamophobia”; says we are not bearing as much of the load of Middle Eastern refugees as Europe is; and states she will stand up to Russian aggression in Syria. Trump warns about a 550 percent increase in entrants who might be jihadis. He states: “Russia is new in terms of nuclear and we are old and tired and exhausted in terms of nuclear.”
“America must not be distracted from deadly threats by vulgar language on an 11-year-old recording,” Dr. Orient warned. “Candidates need to address the danger of provoking war.”
Physicians for Civil Defense distributes information to help to save lives in the event of war or other disaster.