Trump’s Iran Strike: What It Says About Russia—and Us

Russia is toothless. If anyone needed evidence of how far and fast Russia has fallen, it is the American assault on Iran. This “war,” as President Donald Trump called it in his video message on Saturday, would have been impossible if Moscow were not bogged down with its reckless, inhumane bloodbath in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. (That’s not counting the 2014 Crimean invasion and annexation, which would make it 12 years.) While Russia bleeds, its clients, allies, and friends flail or fall.

Syria and Venezuela were pre-show. Iran is big time. Bashar al-Assad had nowhere to turn when he fled Damascus, except to hole up in Moscow. Russia couldn’t save him, but it gave him a place to retire. Nicolas Maduro could count on Cuban personal security in Caracas, which didn’t stop him from being cuffed, hooded, and taken to federal detention in lower Manhattan. For years, Russia was the guarantor of its regimes’ survival, but Moscow is spent, and Vladimir Putin is a friend without benefits. No administration would have toppled two Russian allies in one winter if the Kremlin were still a global player and protector. That’s no solace for poor Ukraine, but on the geopolitical chessboard, Kyiv’s heroic fight made changes in Damascus and Caracas possible. The world is better off without Assad and Maduro. (Goodbye Hamas and Hezbollah, too). READ MORE