US Marines launch live-fire air assault into Syria desert in 'strong message' to Russia

Let’s not forget that partucular Triumvirate is in Syria because Obummer wasn’t man enough to understand what “drawing a line” actually meant. The ultimate pajama boy...

Syria is definitely a hornets nest.

MAJ Ken Landgren Yes, and all we seem to want to do is kick it around.

SGT (Join to see) - very true brother.

SGT (Join to see) - The exercise is far more effective than the warm air over the vocal chords from the previous occupant of 1600 PA Ave. Red lines are less effective than lines of departure It is not a guarantee the enemy will not act but it now has to be considered more realistically in their calculus.

Cpl Jeff N. very true Jeff.

Cpl Jeff N. - while I wasn’t the biggest fan of the previous President, I fail to see the relevance in this situation.

I’m sure their calculus now realistically considers that just a few months ago, “U.S. aircraft -- including AC-130 gunships, jets and bombers -- killed roughly 300 Russian mercenaries near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria after American special operations forces came under attack.”

I’ll stand by my original, “Do you think an air assault exercise with artillery fire reminds them that it’s not a goo idea to confront our forces? I doubt they’ve forgotten. Call me cynical, but sometimes, it’s good to feel important and get a nice ‘feel-good’ exercise under the belt and in the news.”

Allow me to get more cynical. The cold air over the vocal chords of the current occupant of 1600 PA Ave. really hasen’t been that tough towards Russia. While they crossed the line a few months ago and had to be put down, this most recent exercise could only be more sabre rattling nonsense. Let’s stoke the flames, get a scary sounding story into the news cycle, keep our deployed troops trained and ready, etc.

Both Russia and the United States have vested interests in ongoing conflicts in the region. If all the combatants put down their weapons down, the military industrial complex (on both sides) might have a small problem. Both sides want to further their involvement. Neither side wants a direct engagement.

This exercise doesn’t change that at all. Russia (and the Soviet Union) not wanting a direct engagement with the United States predates our current President by quite a few decades.