Putin and the big decision
Written by Nasser Kandil,
The information exchanged by phone between the Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Secretary of State Rex Tilerson for four times during two days concerning the US threats to Syria reveals that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has notified in the first message the US President Donald Trump that there is no justification for Hamburg Meeting unless Moscow receives what approves the US accusations to Syria and which turned into a threat of a unilateral military strike, he showed Moscow’s readiness upon receiving documented serious information that worth the investigation to accompany US investigators to Syria in a joint delegation with Russian investigators to inspect the places mentioned in the reports and to verify them jointly and taking a unified position. Moscow ensures its readiness to go in this investigation without conditions if Washington committed to that also, if the investigation requires the condemnation of Syria then Moscow will not hesitate, provided that Washington will not hesitate if the matter requires absolving Syria, its president, and its army and the apology from them.
The dull answer of the White House is that there are no documents but intelligence estimates that based on similar comparisons of previous movements, so the Russian message was a warning message, its content is that Russia is present in Syria for non-tourist goals and the military movement with missiles and aircrafts on areas in which the Russian forces are present means insulting them and undermining their prestige and this cannot be tolerated. The Russian-American phone-conversations continued at the level of the two Ministers Lavrov and Tilerson according to the given information till the moment of taking the big decision. The question is what if the US strike occurs on the basis of information gained by Russia about preparations in Daraa for a similar incident to Khan Sheikhoun incident. The decision taken by the President Putin was to notify Washington that any chemical attack after these warnings will be considered as a fabricated action to justify a strike against Syria in order to prevent the progress of its forces at the expense of ISIS. Russia will react and will consider that it was exposed to deliberate aggression and that America is no longer considered a part of the war on ISIS. This means the abolition of the dialogues and the coordination at the presidential level and below, and means the operation of early warning stations to monitor the ballistic missiles and the advanced aircraft in Siberia and linking them with the Russian forces in Syria, and the operation of SS-400 networks in full readiness to counter any strange flying object in the Syrian airspaces.
The announcement of the US Defense Minister was ridiculous about the compliance of Syria with the threat and the end of the danger of using the chemicals. This recalls the eve on which the US fleets came at the era of the former US President Barack Obama and the insistence of the President Putin to give orders to drop the two test missiles launched by the US warships, so the President Obama took the decision to withdraw his fleets searching for a political settlement. Today the Russian deterrent messages come in conjunction with the victories of the Syrian army and its wide progress in the Syrian geography in the north, south, and east, along with the liberation of Mosul and the starting of the countdown for the presence of ISIS, so the Americans will feel the dangers of the failure of their plea, while the Russians will feel the victory of winning of their project.
The Western of Asia which stretches from the Mediterranean Sea towards China proves as geography that Russia has imposed its position as a force that draws the equations not mere a partner of the main player that was represented by America before and after its two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It draws the features of the new world system as the President Putin said one day from the gate of the Syrian war.
Translated by Lina Shehadeh,