Trump’s policies have changed–America’s policies have remained consistent

America’s unprovoked act of aggression against Syria is a war crime. It represents a personal policy about-face from Donald Trump who campaigned on a pledge to stay out of the Middle East.

As recently as Tuesday of this week, White House Press Spokesman Sean Spicer said that the idea of regime change was silly. Yesterday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated the total change in Trump’s policy by saying that the US is making plans for regime change.

Although this represents a change in Trump’s policy, it does not reconstitute America’s over all policy towards Syria which has always been one of aggression.

In 2011, America pumped money and arms into ‘regime change proxies’ throughout the Arab world, including of course in Syria and they had the audacity to call it ‘The Arab Spring’. It ought to have been called ‘The Salifist Winter’.

Throughout the conflict in Syria, Barack Obama’s America armed, funded and aided Salifist/Wahhabist terrorists in their quest to destroy Syria.

Even in the early months of the Trump administration when regime change was de-facto off the table, America still refused to work with the legitimate government of Syria in its war against terrorism. Trump was willing to work with Kurdish forces, but at no time was he willing to work with Syrian forces, even though at times even the Kurds cooperated with the Syrian Arab Army and did so effectively.

This happened in spite of frequent invitations by President al-Assad for America to join him in his fight against ISIS, FSA, al-Qaeda and others.

At now time has America ever meaningfully sought to work with Syria, Russia, Iran, China or Hezbollah to form a united front against terrorism in Syria or beyond.

The fact that America didn’t even alert Russia as to its plans to bomb Syria in the early hours of the morning, demonstrates that America’s hostility towards Russia also remains totally unchanged.

In this context, Trump’s personal betrayal of his supporters and of his supposed own principles, is a shock. In terms of American foreign policy, it constitutes a dangerous escalation, but not a meaningful change. It is simply more of the same….a lot more of the same.