A column by Leonid Bershidsky, “Suddenly, Putin is Playing Nice in Syria,” was published Sept. 23, in which he offers an opinion that Vladimir Putin is suddenly a soft touch on Syria because Donald Trump and America’s allies are willing to take military action against Bashar Assad. This is a curious opinion.
The only direct U.S. action against Mr. Assad during the Trump presidency took place in April 2017, when 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were expended to strike Syria’s Shayrat air base. The Russian military was notified in advance, and it is likely that it informed Mr. Assad. Mr. Assad laughed it off and the very next day resumed airstrikes against civilians. Since then, Mr. Assad has continued attacking civilians with bombs and chemical weapons, while the small number of U.S. troops in Syria serve only in a training and support role for rebel fighters.
Given the lack of action against Mr. Assad in almost a year and a half, Mr. Trump’s public admiration and support for Mr. Putin, and Mr. Trump’s verbal attacks on our NATO allies, it seems unlikely that Mr. Putin fears any action by Mr. Trump. Equally unlikely is Mr. Putin suddenly becoming a soft touch about anything.
I wonder why the founder of a Russian opinion website would write such a misleading column, but I will refrain from speculating.
TED ROGOWSKY
Scott
