Quote:
Originally Posted by microbet
I think Americans are so conditioned to being the world's police that it's not even occurring to anyone that this was a significant event. We still recognize the Syrian government. This wasn't even an act of war as much as a claim of sovereignty.
Dutarte is committing a lot of atrocities. How do we feel if Russia or China unilaterally strikes The Philippines? What if Russia bombs Saudi Arabia next time they have a mass execution?
If I had to guess, Trump's reasoning was something like
"If I bomb Syria it will distract from the Russia story, show people I'm not a pussy like Obama, and assert that the United States is tough."
I can't imagine he thought about strategic implications beyond that though they were obviously presented to him. In fact, it strikes me as being reminiscent of his career in reality TV more than anything else. He's good at controlling narratives; I don't see why we should assume this was anything other than that.
That being said, I don't think it really changes anything in the current geopolitical landscape. Russia may make a show of escalation in the media but they're not actually going to do so. It certainly doesn't represent a paradigm shift in how the US is going to deal with various sovereign nations around the world.