In his inimitable fashion, President Trump has put Russia on notice that the era of playing kissy-face with the Kremlin has come to an abrupt halt. “Get ready Russia,” he announced. It’s bombs away for the Trump administration. The Bolton doctrine has now become the Trump doctrine.
Trump’s tweet is being decried as taunting Vladimir Putin but that is what he does best. Trump is turning foreign policy into a game show, complete with real warfare. Maybe he will conduct Twitter polls asking where he should bomb next. Putin, you could say, has run into his doppelgänger and then some.
None of this should really come as a surprise. Trump talked tough during the Republican primary about how America should have snatched Iraq’s oil fields. As President he is now presiding over a vast military buildup. Why wouldn’t he use it?
To judge by his Tweets, Trump is feeling ebullient about the prospect of a splendid little war. How it will all turn out is another matter. Syria has become a Tacitean wasteland where multiple states are vying for a piece of the action, including Turkey, Israel, France, Iran, Russia, and America. Word is that Saudi Arabia, eager to land a blow against the despised Iranians, might join the United States in a bombing campaign. Britain and France are likely to join as well, though it was the British parliament’s rebuff that prompted Barack Obama to backpedal on bombing.
Back then Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov brokered a deal in which Bashar al-Assad agreed to forfeit his chemical weapons. It appears he hung on to more than a few. For a gangster like him they are the weapon of choice.
This time there will be no Russian proposal to avert conflict. The time for deals has ended. Instead, America is going to war once more in the Middle East, led by a self-proclaimed stable genius. Indeed, Trump continues to tweet away, blasting at a variety of adversaries, suggesting that his hallmark remains instability. Just now he tweeted:
Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018
