In the United States, and in most other countries, the border between internal and external affairs has never been water-tight. But there has been a settled expectation that national leaders would not endanger national interests for private advantage.
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In early April 2018, President Donald Trump made the sensational announcement that US troops would be withdrawn from Syria “very soon”.
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On December 11th 2017, five days after he announced his expected intention to run for the fourth time for Russia’s presidency, Vladimir Putin visited Hmeimim air base, met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and declared that Russia’s military mission in Syria had been “accomplished.”
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On September 26, ICDS held a public event for the launch of our latest report titled “Russia’s Electronic Warfare Capabilities to 2025: Challenging NATO in the Electromagnetic Spectrum.”
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“ICDS’s study could not be more timely. This is a professional work that catalogues the seriousness of the threat without being unduly alarmist. It is fact based, from the detailed descriptions of Russian equipment and investment; through Moscow’s development of organisation and command structure; to accounts of training, tactics and operations. There is also a great discussion of Russian doctrine and how Russian electronic warfare fits into broader questions of cyber and psychological operations and how that convergence will further challenge NATO’s concepts and practices. I highly recommend this important work as the departure point for the Alliance rethinking and reshaping its response to a growing danger. ”
Gen. (ret.) Michael Hayden, former Director of the US National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency
The cruise missile strike ordered on Syria by President Donald Trump in the early morning (local time) of April 7, 2017, was not really a military show of power. It did not devastate completely the Shayrat airbase, something that was no doubt intentional in light of the two-hour evacuation warning. Instead, the Tomahawks sent a very serious political message both to Bashar al-Assad, and particularly to Kim Jong-un, setting in motion new dynamics in US-Russian and Sino-American relations.
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