http://www.newsweek.com/russia-military-celebrates-victory-over-us-west-syria-763337
"Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top generals held an awards ceremony Thursday to honor military personnel returning from Syria, where Moscow claimed to have scored a decisive victory not only against militant groups, but against U.S. and Western interests."
Taking this "celebration" into account, Putin's recent visit to Syria is telling:
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/trudy_rubin/trump-putin-middle-east-turkey-syria-russia-america-20171229.html
"As the Russian president stepped onto the tarmac, he was greeted not by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but by a Russian officer. Putin finally shook Assad’s hand but quickly walked ahead of the Syrian president. Another Russian officer held Assad back when he tried to walk alongside Putin.
The message was clear: The new master of Syria, whose air force (along with Iranian ground forces) saved Assad, was demonstrating who was now in charge. The spoils include large and long-term Russian air and naval bases near the Mediterranean Sea."
Putin may now think of himself as "the new master of Syria". Nevertheless, it would appear Russia prevailed mainly by strengthening its relationship with Iran:
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2017/12/29/russia-iran-risks-prospects/
"The key geopolitical aspect of the Russian-Iranian interaction is strengthening positions of Moscow and Tehran in the “Greater Middle East” (using the popular American term), as well as settlement of regional crises. For Russia, it is more Syria and to a smaller extent, Iraq. For Iran, besides the above countries, the situations in Yemen and Bahrain are also important as it is in a state of indirect war with Saudi Arabia and its allies under the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG)."
Despite Trump's erroneous belief that he is Putin's "friend", the U.S. military knows Russia is an adversary nation in direct competition with the United States. That's what I was thinking today when I read reports of potential arms sales to Ukraine.
Apparently, the U.S. is planning to sell "the Javelin" a fire-and-forget anti-tank missile (one of the most advanced anti-tank systems on the market) to Ukraine:
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-sending-anti-tank-missiles-to-ukraine-2017-12
"In a move that has angered Russia and fueled massive uncertainty over the future of the war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump has approved the sale of lethal munitions to the Ukrainian government in its fight against Russian-backed separatists in the country's Donbas region."
"ABC News reports that according to four sources in the State Department, Trump is expected to approve the deal soon. The US military's European Command "is moving ahead with the plan for the weapons to be delivered," according to ABC News.
The controversial $47 million sale includes 35 FGM-148 Javelin launchers and 210 anti-tank missiles."
It is surprising though, because as far as the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, not even Obama had gone that far:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/23/us-provision-of-weapons-to-ukraine-could-fuel-conflict-russia-says
"Barack Obama had considered sending weapons to Ukraine when he was president of the US, but stopped short of directly providing heavy armaments. Donald Trump, Obama’s successor, is contending with widespread criticism that he has been soft on Russia, amid allegations that Russian interference in the 2016 US election contributed to his victory."
In regards to the widespread criticism that Trump has been soft on Russia: I wonder; is Trump even aware of what the U.S. military's European command is doing? I doubt it. Most importantly, will Trump actually approve the deal to sell weapons to Ukraine? Who knows?
I'm sure in regards to Ukraine, Putin thought Trump would be more helpful in advancing Russia's interests. However, there's always a limit to what politicians (in this case Trump) or lobbyists (in this case Manafort) can do. Especially since Trump ceded most of his authority to the generals.
Trump's secretary of state Rex Tillerson (of all people) best articulated the current state of the relationship between the U.S. & Russia:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/28/politics/rex-tillerson-us-russia/index.html
"On Russia, we have no illusions about the regime we are dealing with," Tillerson said. "The United States today has a poor relationship with a resurgent Russia that has invaded its neighbors Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade and undermined the sovereignty of Western nations by meddling in our election and others."
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