{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "You need seriousness. What's your take on Trump's missile strike on Syria?", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/159356328523/", "html": "<div class=\"question\"><strong>Anonymous</strong> asked: You need seriousness. What's your take on Trump's missile strike on Syria?</div>\n<p>I think its meaning will be defined in retrospect by what follows. I think a return to Clinton-style \u201csend a message\u201d gunboat diplomacy wouldn\u2019t be the worst.\n</p><p>I think it might be a fighting retreat, that we\u2019ll accept Assad in power but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re accepting Syria as inviolable Russian sphere of influence. Their anti-air denies the US control of the air (and thus ground - America hasn\u2019t fought without air superiority since early Korea) but stopping the Tomahawks would require naval superiority in the Eastern Mediterranean, which would be trivial to rally NATO against.</p><p>If anything I\u2019d think the Russians have more chance to apply counterpressure  in the Baltics, where NATO couldn\u2019t defend on the ground as is but preemptively stationing an army would be a drain and a provocation.</p>"}