Here's a quick rundown of what happened: Last Wednesday, the Washington Post leaked a story stating that the Obama administration was considering whether it should directly attack Syrian assets on the ground, in other words, conduct a covert, low-intensity war directly against the regime. (rather than just using proxies.)
On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov announced that Moscow had deployed state of the art defensive weapons systems (S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems) to the theater and was planning to use them if Syrian or Russian troops or installations were threatened.
In a televised statement, Konashenkov said: "It must be understood that Russian air defense missile crews will unlikely have time to clarify via the hotline the exact flight program of the missiles or the ownership of their carriers."
Referring to the provocative article in the Washington Post, Konashenkov added: "I would recommend our colleagues in Washington carefully weigh possible consequences of the fulfillment of such plans."
The Russians were saying as clearly as possible that if US warplanes attacked either Russian installations or Syrian troops they would be shot down immediately. Reasonable people can assume that the downing of a US warplane would trigger a war with Russia.
Fortunately, there are signs that Obama got the message and put the kibosh on the (Pentagon's?) ridiculous plan. Here's a clip from an article at The Duran which may be the best news I've read about Syria in five years. This story broke on Friday and has been largely ignored by the major media:
"Following Russian warning of American aircraft being shot down, White House spokesman confirms plan for U.S. air strikes on Syria has been rejected...White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed this speaking to reporters on Thursday 6th October 2016.
"The president has discussed in some details why military action against the Assad regime to try to address the situation in Aleppo is unlikely to accomplish the goals that many envisioned now in terms of reducing the violence there. It is much more likely to lead to a bunch of unintended consequences that are clearly not in our national interest." ("U.S. backs down over Syria after Russian threat to shoot down American aircraft," Alexander Mercouris, The Duran)
As critical as I've been of Obama over the years, I applaud him for his good judgment. While the Pentagon warhawks and foreign policy hardliners are relentlessly pushing for a direct confrontation with Russia, Obama has wisely pulled us back from the brink of disaster.
The question is: Would Hillary do the same?
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