The Obama Administration has pronounced itself shocked and surprised by Vladimir Putin’s Syrian gambit, just as they did when Russian troops and proxies annexed Crimea. Just as the George W. Bush Administration did when Putin moved into two provinces of Georgia in 2008.Indeed, much of the history of the post-Cold War world can be told in terms of America’s strategic surprises: Saddam Hussein’s move into Kuwait, North Korea’s nuclear breakout, Slobodan Milosevic’s attempt at ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo, al Qaeda’s attacks of September 11, 2001, the insurgencies that followed the Iraq invasion, China’s aggressive posture in the …read more
Source: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
