US president warns Russia after Kremlin spokesman tells US, UK and allies that military action against Assad could heighten instability

Andrew Roth in Moscow, Julian Borger in Washington and Patrick Wintour in London

Wed 11 Apr 2018 07.16 EDT

Donald Trump has warned Russia in an incendiary tweet to “get ready” for US missile strikes in Syria after a UN security council meeting failed to stave off the prospect of military confrontation over the chemical weapons attack outside Damascus at the weekend.

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” the US president tweeted. “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!”

The Kremlin has warned the US and its allies that a military strike against Syriacould lead to further instability in the region. Responding to Trump’s tweet, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said “smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not [a] legal government”.

Russia and the western allies were unable to compromise on a concerted international response to the use of chemical weapons at the UN on Tuesday evening.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/11/kremlin-us-strike-against-syria-heighten-instability

dementia boy used with n. korea..

I recall him saying that was "dumb" during the campaign.

Assad is a butcher, but...I admit that I have not researched this but I find it hard to believe that Assad would be dumb enough to gas his own people when he knows there will be a military response against him. Assad is winning his civil war why would he do something to alter the situation?

There have been too many false flags throughout history that give me pause once again.

to keep telling us that he had WMD.

abandoned the city. This reminds me of how Saddam Hussein invaded Jordan after the US ambassador said the US would not interfere in an Arab conflict.

....and what the US said was we had no position on their border dispute, not that we didn't care if they invaded and annexed them, we we obliviously had a problem with that, ie Gulf War I

But Saddam clearly understood the ambassador's reply to mean the US would not interfere even if he invaded Kuwait. He had already threatened to solve the border dispute by military force.

Within hours of the invasion, Kuwait and US delegations requested a meeting of the UN Security Council, which passed Resolution 660, condemning the invasion and demanding a withdrawal of Iraqi troops.

crystal clear. And an example of how an enemy will pounce on the slightest hint of weakness or hesitation.

be an act to try to get the American people to consider that Trump is the good guy.

Too little too late. The die is already cast.

What does he think the missiles do?

country. There will be myriad opportunities to study the other side's tactics and communications, all without harming a hair on anyone's head in their own counties. It will be interesting to see how many of our missiles they can intercept. I have a feeling the targets will not be empty airfields this time around.

Missiles that were not intended to be used against hardened targets. So, we really just gave the Russians a chance to test their anti-missile technology against ours. Unless they plan on using some fancy new hypersonic or stealth cruise missiles, I don't think there will be much testing from our side. If I was into unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, I would say this is Trump having the US waste through its cruise missile supply while giving the Russians valuable data on defeating our systems.

That being said, I would rather the US just stay out of Syria. While I feel for the people who are suffering and will continue to suffer under Assad, it seems like those people and more will suffer no matter what we do there. Hard for me to see the benefits for anyone.

You realize there are more than simply two options, yes? And you are aware that a host of potential solutions may in fact, lie between the two, yes?

Heads-up: if someone disagrees with your position, it doesn't imply in any way they accept one or the other of those two options.

smdh

support of Assad. You can leave that patronizing "heads up" out next time and just state your opinion. Thanks.

going to do much to stop them from doing it again. Having the civil war come to an end sooner than later will likely prevent that from happening, though. One option is that we could go in there like we did with Iraq and attempt to overthrow their government. Iraq was messy enough and didn't work out too well. Syria is a lot more complicated and would likely have worse results.

Another option is to work with international community, particularly Russia (I know, that sucks right now), in getting Assad to step down and setting up sort of peace deal. I have no idea how well that play out due to the complexity of the situation, but at least that seems like an actual path that could save lives.

I thought helping the rebels defeat Assad was a positive move when the civil war first started. I mean, Assad is an asshole. But overtime I started to see that it really wasn't that simple and the people were supporting were not always who they claimed to be. And even if they were, the war would continue on even if Assad fell and moderate democratic government gained power. Then we have another very weak nation that wouldn't be able to stand up to groups like ISIS. Which then would mean countries like the US and others would have to have troops on the ground fighting them. Not to mention the conflict with the Kurds, Turks and Syrian government. Which means these people we are trying to protect from Assad are still going to suffer.

That sums up my thought process on the situation as of now. This can change as I learn new information and better ideas form from the new information, but as of now it seems like a no win situation for the US and the civilians in Syria. Being president of a country like the US must suck with stuff like this. You take action and people die. You don't take action and people die.

We have turned every country where we have done regime change in the last 18 years into Mad Max "shitholes."

Assad, Khaddafi, Saddam, or whoever could hardly have made things worse.

The cause of the uprising was decades of secret police detention and torture of anyone who made the slightest attempt to suggest that the government was mistreating them. But it never takes long for religious fundamentalists and mercenaries to take advantage of political instability.

But in the past,
Trump attacked Obama, saying Obama told the enemy his planned actions.

This has all the intellect and maturity of a study hall hate tweet.

Just saying

Hope you had enough time to get your people and your Syrian Friend out of harms way. Let me know if you need more time. Use the Red Phone.

intended to make Trump look like he is getting tough with Russia. Putin installed Trump and they are still best buds. I will not believe otherwise until the Kremlin Gremlin has a cruise missile land on his bald little noggin.