a reply to:
Discotech
Trump might be the president, there is a whole government which decide the direction.
The more interesting question after all this is, how Russia will respond.
So far, the response seems to have been a request for an emergency UN meeting and a warship sent to the area which will of course do nothing, and a
barking Medvedev.
3 possibilities.
1, This is an agreement to distract
2, Russia is a toothless tiger
3, Russia will act in silence in order to prevent another surprise attack and will most likely answer with return fire.
1, both sides could use it, Putin and Medvedev have been under fire due to corruption, after some failures in his first 100 days Trump could use some
positive feedback which he has gotten after giving the order to retaliate.
The base is operational despite 59 tomahawk missiles, so the damage is quite limited and Russia/Syria were informed on time.
2, this retaliation and the Russian response to it shows that Russia has no answer to the US military machine.
In the case of a full blown war with nukes, 300 biggest cities attacked in Russia mean that 2/3 of the Russian population is affected whereas in the
case of the US it is only about a fifth of the population.
However, the US is also the leader of the NATO, so the odds of a Russian victory is quite thin.
3, Chess level 10.
Russia silently prepares with Iran and other allies to confront the US and NATO should there be another retaliation, this of course means a full blown
war.
Since the Arab spring, i'm of the opinion that this all has been inflamed and started in order to gain influence and power over the region.
The fatwas from the saudi islamic cleric towards Ghaddafi and Assad strengthen this view.
The toppling of Hosni Mubarack and the rise to power of the muslim brotherhood supports this.
The war in Jemen against Shiites, both Assad and Ghaddafi were Shiite regimens.
Iran should not consider itself safe, considering the close US ties to Saudi Arabia and the republicans in power.