Washington, DC. The United States in feral desperation has reached out to a number of European leaders to bring pressure upon Vladimir Putin to flush long time ally Syrian leader Assad. Why they think they stand a chance of destroying decades of Syrian-Russian relations is more about moronic miscalculation than genuine diplomacy.
The United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May spoke on Monday to US President Donald Trump and says that “a window of opportunity” exists to persuade Russia to break ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, May’s office said.
Officials at the White House later on Monday said Trump had spoken with May and separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by telephone about the US attack and thanked them for their support in the illegal missile strike on a remote airfield.
The White House said in a statement that May and Merkel expressed support for the US action, despite its questionable legality and agreed with Trump on the importance of holding Assad accountable for actions by rebels not under his control.
In a change of direction for Trump, 59 American missiles hit a Syrian air base last week in retaliation for what the United States and its allies say was a poison gas attack by Syria’s military in which scores of civilians died. The Syrian government has denied it was behind the assault and pointed to the complete surrender of all chemical weapons to a US-Russian commission in 2013 as evidence of innocence.
The joint communique stated, “The prime minister and the president agreed that a window of opportunity now exists in which to persuade Russia that its alliance with Assad is no longer in its strategic interest.” it continued, “They agreed that U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson’s visit to Moscow this week provides an opportunity to make progress towards a solution which will deliver a lasting political settlement.”
The spokeswoman however did not say why there was a “window of opportunity” for Putin to dump Assad and many experts in international relations confirm this is truly “California dreaming,” to believe long term allies will split, simply because Trump wishes it so.