Dave Majumdar
Security, Middle East
President Donald Trump is taunting Russia as he makes clear that he has decided to strike the forces of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma. At the same time, and somewhat paradoxically, Trump is also offering cooperation to Russia on a range of issues including arms control. Meanwhile, Moscow is reiterating once more that its forces will retaliate forcefully if Russian citizens are harmed as a result of an American attack.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” Trump tweeted on April 11. “Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
Method Behind the Madness
What should we make of Trump’s belligerent tweet? “I think Trump's tweets are a signal to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to consider sending his people to shelter,” Jerry Hendrix, a senior fellow and the director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security told the National Interest. “It’s a 'You better think real seriously about your next move son' moment."
The problem comes, of course, if Russia fails to heed the warning. Indeed, Moscow is reiterating its warning that if Russian forces or civilians are killed in an American attack, the Kremlin will respond. “If there is a strike by the Americans, then...the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired,” Amb. Alexander Zasypkin told Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV, speaking in Arabic according to Reuters.
Zasypkin’s statement reinforces a recent declaration by the Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov. “If lives of the Russian officers are threatened, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will retaliate against missile and launch systems,” Gerasimov said on March 13.
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