While US President Trump was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and trying to avoid uncomfortable discussions about the proxy war against North Korea, the friendship between Trump and Russian President Putin seems to have cooled due to the proxy war in Syria. In response to Trump’s firing 59 $1 million missiles into the Syrian desert (NYT, BBC, Democracy Now!), Putin has sent a warship to protect Syria from further incursions. (Meanwhile, Syria is still using the bombed air base, so I’m not quite sure what was accomplished.) Does this standoff sound productive to you? Could someone please remind me who the good guys are in all of this?
