The recent cruise missile attack on the Syrian airbase by Trump is being treated by some parts of the American media as a rash and impulsive decision that was stimulated entirely by gruesome pictures on cable TV. What is missing from most of this narrative is that the attack was a deliberate push against Russia that reflects all too perfectly Trump's brand of crazy foreign policy. Assad and the Syrians are deep pawns in a bad, strange 6-way chess game in the Middle East.
Like Kim Jong Un, Trump understands the crazy--and he has more firepower, and a deeply bellicose nation, to give him looser reins. Putin, who helped Trump get elected, had probably been waiting for him to play his hand. Instead of being compliant and easily manipulated, Trump made an effort to put Putin back on his heels--and to some extent, Xi--who was sleeping on an American pillow in Mar a Largo when the missiles were launched.
This will not end well, of course. Especially for Assad and the Syrian people who will suffer through at least five more years of proxy war, and probably more American troops on their soil.
And, speaking of North Korea, Kim is well aware that the U.S. has a large inventory of Tomahawks.
He might start walking a little more quietly, unless he's stupid as well as crazy.
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