Russian navy ran from Syria

Probably. He was off the chain for 8 years so that shouldn't be surprising.

I think this is what did it:



"Smart Power".

 

What did they write on the reset button again? Peregruzka instead of perezagruzka? Idiots

 

Such obvious good advice. You think the KGB thug Putin would figure it out.

Is it too late for him to peacefully transition the kleptocracy to a democracy? Would the oligarchs take himout?

 

D'oh!

Who could blame Lavrov for laughing?

 

They wanted "overload" and they got it!

 

Russia is very hard to govern - gets harder as Russia expands into non-Russian nations.

 

It is probably impossible now. May have always been impossible. Have you watched the Oliver Stone interviews?
Fascinating, in spite of Stone's brown nose. Putin is not a fool, but even very smart leaders can blunder.

So far, his reaction to these strikes is sensible, and reassuring.

 

Yes, Trump is clearly his BFF now.

 

The Real Deep State

 

He's getting what he wants in Syria, so he'd be a dumb to make a big deal out of the U.S. action yesterday. One step back, two forward.

 

It was one thing to see if they were amenable to better relations, but the reset button was really, really dumb. Images like that haunt you for years if the initiative doesn't work out.

Didn't someone tell her to think about how it would look if they rebuffed her outreach?

Geez, if I had been working for her, I would have stepped on the button and saved her looking like a fool.

 

Putin would obviously prefer that Trump did not bomb the crap out of his allies, but he has to put up with it.

 

Every government spawns a corrupt Deep State. That is how governments roll.

 

The professional advisors for both parties are very over paid and very inept.

 

One step back, two forward. Putin has made nice with Turkey, Iran, and Syria. He's lined up the Shia, got himself a port on the Mediterranean, and undermined NATO on his flank (he seems to think ir's important).

 

It is important, but absent another major war, Putin has achieved his objectives.

Since the Carter administration Iran has been a determined enemy of the US. There is no easy fix for past US foreign policy blunders.

 

Having your navy in a port when you know there is an attack going to happen is just utterly dump to have them be sitting ducks.

/facedesk.

 

Either that or the dumbo candidates are clueless--or both.

 

You don’t abandon the base - you protect it. Russians weren’t willing to do that - they fled leaving one sub, which probably required a tugboat and Russians ran out.

 

Not only that, but we are chummy with Sunnis and there's a nasty struggle between Sunnis and Shia with Iran leading the Shia.

 

Russia is a schoolyard bully. This is what happens when you leave the schoolyard.

 

Ha! The Marines would look at the mission and decide that a platoon or two would do, lol ...

 

Most people understand that the US has a history of being magnanimous in victory and, on occasion, can be pushed around because a) they have a weak leader like Obama or b) an angry response would be too devastating to the provocateurs.

Trump and his European Allies hit the right note, as well as his targets. Syria got the message, as did the Iranians, the Russians, the Syrians, the North Koreans and the Chinese.

 

In fact the huge majority of those who fought in WWII on the Allied side returned home to live normal lives. They're called The Greatest Generation and are still being honored.

 

In fact that rarely happens.