Trump’s team talk tough as Russia starts new offensive
Contenders for secretary of state post warn of more aggressive stance abroad as Aleppo is struck again
THE front-runners to become Donald Trump’s secretary of state have advocated shows of military strength toward Russia, even as Vladimir Putin launched an offensive across Syria hours after his first conversation with the president-elect.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said the US must be willing to threaten Russia with military force.
“Russia thinks it’s a military competitor, it really isn’t,” he said, adding: “It’s our unwillingness under Obama to even threaten the use of our military that makes Russia so powerful.”
John Bolton, an avowed interventionist and former UN ambassador under George W Bush, said yesterday that Russia would back down if faced with a strong US president.
“One of the reasons that Putin is very casual about expanding Russian influence, taking advantage of America in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, is that he sees – quite correctly – Barack Obama as an exceedingly weak leader.
“Trump is going to be the opposite, I think he’s going to be a strong leader,” he told Fox News.
Sources within Mr Trump’s transition team have said Mr Giuliani is the favourite to become America’s top diplomat. Mr Giuliani is a longtime ally of Mr Trump’s, but has limited foreign policy experience and a history of controversial statements. Mr Bolton, meanwhile, has taken hawkish positions including calling on the US to bomb Iran over its nuclear programme.
Mr Trump had said he hopes Russia and the US will “get along” once he becomes president, and has signalled he might be open to joining forces with Mr Putin in the Syrian conflict.
Hours after speaking with Mr Trump, Mr Putin began a wave of air strikes in Syria. Analysts have long warned Russia would take Mr Trump’s victory as a green light to ramp up its campaign in Syria. Charles Lister, of the Middle East Institute, said it was “hard to ignore the timing of Russia’s offensive being 12 hours after Putin’s call with Trump. Russia now has two free hands in Syria.”
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had begun a “major operation” and that strikes had been launched from the Admiral Kuznetsov, the newly deployed aircraft carrier which arrived this weekend. Sukhoi-33 bombers took off from the ageing carrier while Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from a frigate at targets inside Syria, said Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister.
Russia said the attacks were aimed at the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria, and were focused on Idlib and Homs provinces. It denied bombing Aleppo. Russia has repeatedly claimed to be bombing Isil or al-Nusra when its fire had in fact been aimed at more moderate rebel groups opposed to the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The 275,000 people trapped in east Aleppo have enjoyed relative quiet since mid-October but yesterday the skies were once again filled with war planes and the city shook from bombs. At least three people were reported dead.
The US last night strongly condemned Russia’s renewed bombing campaign and warned that strikes on civilian targets break international law. Elizabeth Trudeau, the state department spokesman, said Washington had received reports that the latest strikes had hit hospitals and clinics.
Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, said Mr Trump would be a “natural ally” if the US president-elect fulfils his pledge to fight “terrorists”. “If... he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be [an] ally,” he said.