As Russian and Iranian-Hezbollah  backed Syria regime forces finish off the rebellion against a dictator, all we do is watch the slaughter as it unfolds towards the end. Michael Kimmelman posts these very powerful images and video and so-so reflections here at the NYT about photography and moral witness, about people on the border between life and death. We shrugged our shoulders. Image like these have to make sense in some political context. That context goes under-noted by the author, not because Kimmelman is a liberal, but because he’s politically uncritical. Critical analysis requires subjects and direct objects. Kimmelman makes mention of “Donald Trump,” but, in fact, all of this occurred on “our watch,” since 2011, under Obama, whose name goes unnamed in the article.