The raid on Syria was many things, but what it wasn’t was a message to Assad. It was a message to Kim and Putin, but to Kim in particular before his meeting with Trump in Finland. Let us connect some dots. Obama drew a red line in the sand and then erased it when Assad crossed it, demonstrating to all that the United States could not be relied upon to honor its word. The critical dot was laid down in April of 2017 when Assad used chemical weapons again, forcing Trump to make a decision. President Trump did what Obama could not bring himself to do. He destroyed a quarter of the Syrian air force. Fast forward to the dot that is Kim Jong Un, who was getting close to having the capability of nuking an American city, and President Trump convinced Kim that if he ever married a nuke to a missile the United States would destroy North Korea, including Kim Jong Un. Enter the Syrian dot again, when Assad, one year later, again used poison gas against his own people. Why would Assad do this? An examination of previous dots shows that North Korea, Syria and Iran have for years been partners in the development of missiles and nuclear weapons, the North Koreans having built a nuclear reactor in Syria that the Israelis destroyed with an air strike. The American, British and French strike on Syria on 14 April 2018, was watched closely by Kin Jong Un, and was the intent of Assad’d provocation. Connecting the dots raises likelihood to virtual certainty that North Korea and Iran set the plan in motion because they were interested in seeing if President Trump would respond to Assad’s blatant spit in the face. The answer would determine Kim Jong Un’s assessment of Trump’s threat to North Korea before the meeting in Finland . We may assume Kim Jong Un has drawn the correct conclusions and the meeting in Finland will result in the complete destruction of the North Korean nuclear arsenal, the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the end of the Korean war, and the return home of all American forces in South Korea. Game, set and match. President Trump has connected the dots, and in return has laid down a few dots of his own just to keep everybody guessing.

How great the fun connecting dots
They twist and turn and tie in knots
Conjecture is the game of choice
The dots know well but have no voice
They lie there placid, feeling naught
Like Congressmen already bought
And yet there’s reason in their stance
Connecting dots but not by chance
Determines who will win the game
And losers always put the blame
On dots but dots just like the way
They tend to lead the dense astray
While guys like Trump who play the dots
Give guys like Kim Jong Un the trots