There would be no retaliation against Russia, I assure you. Everyone thinks that the US can do whatever it wants with no body count. One of these days, that fallacy will be clearly and totally destroyed.

I ask those supporting aggression against Syria: how many dead Americans is it worth?

Especially if it was cloaked as a Syrian attack. Syria actually has pretty good anti-ship capabilities. They'd be stupid not to preemptively use them.

I think the warmongers in the US want war on the cheap. Few US deaths. Russia has thousands of nukes and other means to make any conflict have an unacceptably high cost. It could at least wreck the economy. So, no, I don't think they would retaliate.

Firing a shot at Russians would be a whole new ballgame, and President Obama is not going to do it.

I don't want to see a stare down between him and Putin.

Because I know that Obama would back down. He know that US interests do not involve support these terrorists in Syria. But he's a captive of these evil forces in DC, including, apparently, his own secretary of state (and former one). He needs to stand strong and resist the urge to yet another, illegal war with no approval by the UN even.

The US also has thousands of nukes.

Your assertion that Russia can attack US ships, but the US can't attack Russian ships doesn't make much sense to me.

But the US acts like mutually assured destruction doesn't exist any more. To strongly remind US elite policy makers that it DOES exist would change their calculations about attacking this or that country, thinking they can do it on the cheap. The US already fucks over Russia geostrategically, it's got little to lose.

I really don't think Russia would directly attack a US Navy ship. It wouldn't make sense for them to do that.

I don't think the US would escalate, especially if Russia made it look like a Syrian attack. I could be wrong, but I don't see it. I think Obama would turn tail like Reagan in Lebanon in 83. The people of this country don't want Americans dying for al Qaeda, and that's how it would go down in history. But thankfully, this is conjectural, and Obama doesn't have to do anything at all, except heed the wishes of the people who elected him.

What the fucking HELL???????

This is so fucking confusing

Bomb al Qaeda in Yemen and Pakistan, ally with them in Syria?

which is Kurdish controlled. That is why the Iraqi Kurds have decided to forge an uneasy truce and alliance with the Iraqi government to fight AQ in Iraq.

If you took out AQ, the "Syrian Civil War" would soon be over, within a year or so anyway.

AQ themselves. Chechnyan and other foreign religious fundamentalists also loosely affiliate with AQ but have similar goals of establishing an Islamic state. FSA, and then the rebels trained and backed by U.S. British and French intelligence from Jordan (they entered Syria about two weeks ago).

Probably many more that I missed.

Hezbollah obviously is fighting on the side of Syria but they have peeved off the Lebanese Christians and Hamas in Lebanon.