Stephen Lendman

Trump is a businessman, a geopolitical no-nothing. Delegating warmaking to hawkish generals was a reckless act.

He doesn’t immerse himself in details, largely stays disengaged from policymaking complexities, lets others handle them.

Generals love wars, how they advance in rank and find lucrative post-military careers as corporate board members, TV commentators, and other ways to get rich.

It’s unclear what Trump knows about daily US operations in multiple war theaters, conducted by generals in command, led by administration ones and joint chiefs of staff.

Syria is different from other US war theaters, Russia and America actively involved, communicating but not cooperating with each other. Their agendas are world’s apart, seeds of possible conflict between them.

US terror-bombing in Syria began a year before Russia’s intervention at the request of Damascus, operating legally in stark contrast to America’s aggression, supporting ISIS and other terrorist groups, not combating them like Russia.

Moscow is eating Washington’s lunch in Syria, defeating its imperial agenda, a huge embarrassment to generals needing successes to advance their careers, making Trump look foolish by waging losing wars in at least two theaters - accomplishing nothing but bloodshed and destruction in them all.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov blasted Washington for the deaths of General Valery Asapov and two colonels - calling the tragedy “the price paid with blood for the hypocrisy of American policy in Syria.”

He effectively accused the Trump administration of assassinating them, payback for Russian military successes, foiling America’s imperial objectives - along with accusing Washington of supporting ISIS, not combating it, what Russia has known all along, but refrained from public accusations - until now.

US intelligence knew the precise location of Asapov and other Russian military personnel. Were the coordinates given to proxy terrorist fighters to target them? Mortar fire killed them.

Will Moscow continue maintaining the fantasy partnership with America - in Syria, elsewhere, or on anything else? Will it complain to Washington alone - instead of retaliating strongly in its own way, at a time and place of its choosing?

The only language America understands is force. Letting it get away with murdering Russian military personnel without taking appropriate action encourages rogue elements in Washington to push the envelope as far as they can.

They consider Russia a mortal enemy. Longstanding US plans call for regime change - likely by war. Color revolution won’t work, at least not while overwhelmingly popular Vladimir Putin remains president.

Instead of winding down US wars in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, Trump escalated them, letting hawkish generals determine policymaking - peace and stability for them not an option, endless wars their choice.

Given their likely ordering the assassination of high-ranking Russian military personnel in Syria, they’ve upped the stakes for possible confrontation between the world’s dominant superpowers.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
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