Tri-Service

Comment: Russia Is Now At War With America

Russia is now at war with America. Let there be no diplomatic illusion. Putin has sent his bombers against American and British supported rebels. That is not even a proxy war. That action is a straight forward confrontation.

Putin is saying there are once more two, not one, superpower. Russians measure might in sheer military terms. There is more to come.

Talks in New York last night to make sure there is no miscalculation between USAF jets and Russian Air Force operations in Syria is nothing to do with good military practice. Russia and America are on different sides.

The New York talks were in reality Moscow telling Washington to stay out of Putin's way and his determination to destroy US-UK backed rebels and for the moment, to keep Assad in power.

Watch: Russia releases footage of devastating airstrikes "Targeting IS"

Whitehall is already asking what next does it do?

What happens for example when an RAF Intelligence gathering drone is brought down?

In the White House they are asking what military response does the President authorise when the anti-Assad rebels demand that the US stops Russian attacks on their forces now heading for the Assad held territory of Western Syria.

More from Forces TV:The Lethal Russian Air Power Deployed In Syria

There is no way that Obama can authorise a combat air patrol over anti-Assad rebels. The next stage to that, by miscalculation or commission, is a shooting war over Syria. You don't have to blink to imagine what that will lead to.

The military sandbox scenario is simple: Russia bombs rebels. Russia tells America and anyone else on the anti-Assad side including Australia, France and the UK to stay out of the area because Putin is operating an emergency war to keep Assad in power.

If the USAF does not obey Putin what are the possibilities of a mistake or a retaliation? The answer is High. Or for students of Machiavelli is there an even darker story here?

Comment:The New Cold War Has Begun

Could this be the dangerous game in Syria: the US has decided that the rebels should be abandoned? Why would they do that? Answer: it is the only way in which they could end the war.

Whitehall and Washington have concluded rebels in power will mean another Libya. The USA will be seen as the power that brought that about. Worse still, the US and allies will have to maintain what could so easily become a blood-letting regime on the Syrian throne.

So let Russia successfully defend Assad, then let the Syria leader stay in power until a new leadership is established - not from the rebels but from people already in Assad's palace. The next stage would be to go for IS.

The whole thinking in Washington and London is flawed. It takes no account of Putin's own plan. Like all Russian leaders from Tsarist times, through the history of the USSR to this century, Putin does not trust the idea of alliance. This is his war, and as far as he thinks, he is winning.

President Putin asks this question of his analysts: Does America abandon the rebels? Does America just want a deal in a war it cannot win because it cannot guarantee the outcome? They tell him what he already thinks: America wants out.

What does he do next? Bomb more rebels. Keep them out of Assad's backyard. Lead a coalition against IS positions. Do a better job of occupation than his Soviet predecessors did in Egypt before they were kicked out in the early 1970s? Accept the idea of a partitioned Syria.

There is another plus: tell the US to stand back and Iran will like that. The rest of the world will nod wisely. Another Washington foul-up.

So Putin believes he's on a roll. The Military momentum is with him. He could be right.

This is all high military and political drama but let us not forget it all means more misery for the 10 million or so displaced Syrians. The war ain't over for generations to come.