Is War With Russia on the Horizon?

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

Are the neoconservative jingoists in Washington pushing for armed conflict with Russia?

The charge that an April 4 chemical gas attack by air against civilians in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun was ordered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supported by Moscow, is, very conveniently, giving them further ammunition to create war hysteria.

Two days later, the United States launched cruise missiles at the airfield from which the Syrian jets had flown to bomb the town. Russia reacted harshly; it maintains that the planes had struck a rebel warehouse stocked with chemical weapons.

The American public has been coached ever since the 2016 presidential election to see Russia as, once again, a mortal enemy and “evil empire,” an existential threat to democracy worldwide, and a country that backs mass murderers.

There’s another reason for this war fever. The “deep state” nomenklatura, by amping up anti-Russian propaganda, seem to have neutralized Donald Trump, whom they regard as an illegitimate usurper.

They had two options: either to push the president to alter course, and give up his idea of rapprochement with Russian president Vladimir Putin, or -- should he refuse -- paint him as a Kremlin puppet and “traitor,” and begin proceedings to impeach him. Either way they’d win. It seems they have succeeded with the former.

Trump has now also embraced NATO, which he had criticized last year, saying he no longer considers it “obsolete,” reversing his rhetoric on the campaign trail last year.

The Republican war hawks, like Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, are braying for war. But so is the Democratic Party.

Most of the Democratic leadership announced that it supported his actions. Senator Charles Schumer of New York called the attack on Syria “the right thing to do.” Adam Schiff, ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, supported the bombing and wants Congress to authorize more of it.

Hillary Clinton, always the hawk, thought air strikes on Syrian airfields were an appropriate response.

On April 12, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, once considered by the Clintonites “too close to Putin,” travelled to Moscow and met with the Russian president and with Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov. He told them that relations between the two countries are at “a low point” – some Russian puppet, he!

Putin, who had a hostile relationship with President Barack Obama, said that relations have actually gotten worse since Trump took office.

Some American voices are even advocating the partition of Syria and, if necessary, the insertion of American troops as part of a protective force.

Should Washington send troops to Syria, as no doubt the hawks will demand, a confrontation with Russian forces will be inevitable, even if it begins unintentionally, and it will quickly escalate.

The military and security establishment has already forced Trump to jettison Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor. He was replaced by Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. The missile strike on Syria was overseen by McMaster, who has been replacing Flynn’s people with former Obama officials.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and the main target of the left, is struggling to keep his job with his portfolio reduced and his profile damaged. He has been removed from the National Security Council.

Clearly, Trump has been boxed in. William Kristol, a Trump critic and hawkish conservative voice, said the Republican foreign policy community was generally pleased to see the changes at the White House.

As the neoconservatives gathers steam, establishment papers like the New York Times and Washington Post, which have been pillorying Trump for months, are suddenly less harsh in their assessment of him. They are all beating the war drums.

Five major newspapers ran a total of 18 op-eds that praised the strikes.

As Yale University professor David Bromwich noted sarcastically on April 11 in “Bomb First,” on the New York Review of Books website, “You can make some highly respectable new friends by throwing missiles at an obnoxious foreign power. It works like a dream so long as you do it fast and give it a humanitarian gloss.”

So for those who still hope to get rid of Trump because they consider him a “cowboy,” I can only say, be careful what you wish for.