The US-Russia friendship has been dealt with a severe blow by the so called friends’ of America. These are the persons whom Trump has kept away. But unfortunately they have been now dictating the course of action. This does not reflect nice for Trump.

The proactive stance of the British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson on punishing Russia by tightening sanction and the alacrity with which he roped in the support of his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault to urge the international community to “go further” in punishing those responsible for the chemical weapons attack in Syria on 4 April is part of this design.

Johnson has his own reasons. His argument manifests the British hatred towards Putin. Majority of the Britons sharing the European Union’s vision on Brexit nurse the view that Britain had came out of the EU only due to the manipulation and rigging of the referendum by Russia. He is aware that the American sanction has failed to crack Russia and could not force it to the dictates of the USA. Even then he was persuading G7 to further tighten the sanction.

Significantly the UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of displaying a “cold war mentality’. He warned that backing American missile strike was “utterly disastrous”. According to him Johnson nurses a wrong perception and his belief that last week’s retaliatory action by the US could open the door to a fresh diplomatic effort to remove Assad from power is not correct.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, called him a liability for Britain and said he “undermines our credibility”. But Theresa May defended him on Thursday, saying he had done an “excellent job in bringing together the G7” and delivering a unanimous message of condemnation to Russia. He now in the prevailing situation intends to raise the issue of sanction at the future meetings of European foreign ministers. It obviously implied that both the countries want to deepen the crisis more and turn it a global issue.

It is in this backdrop Jeremy Corbyn suggested that Donald Trump should “rapidly engage” with Vladimir Putin to restart the Syria peace process. The Labour leader called for more pressure to be put on Russia to ensure a peaceful settlement in Syria. He said “Putin and Trump should get together. They are the superpowers of the world. Vladimir Putin can be forced into all sorts of directions if sufficient political and other pressure is put on him.”

The moves of the western and EU raises serious apprehensions about their real intentions. Surprisingly both these leaders want that the charges of use of the chemical war should be investigated, not by the UN, but by the independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Intriguingly they are not pressing for UN probe.

It is obvious that any investigation other than by UN would be open to manipulation. The USA has the expertise in such maneouverings. World has not forgotten how George Bush used such probe to attack Iraq. He real intention was kill Saddam Hussain. But he used chemical weapon as an alibi to attack Iraq. The same line is being applied in Syria. In Iraq Saddam Hussain was the direct target. But in Syria, Putin is the meandering object. It is irony that George Bush created ISIS in Iraq, Obama gave birth to Islamic State in Syria.

Trump, who had fought the presidential campaign pledging to stay out of Middle East conflicts, is now acting as the conscience keeper of the Middle East. This shift clearly manifests that he has fallen into the trap.Trump who just over a month ago wanted to bar entry of all Syrian refugees into the US, now wants the world to believe that he cares Syrian children.

After the USA lost the Syrian battle and Russia was bestowed with the credit of finishing the hegemony of America, the western countries, NATO, the EU countries have been feeling restless and their one point agenda was to throw Putin out of power; but could not succeed. Allegation of Assad using the chemical weapon has come to their rescue. They do not intend to miss it. These forces are scared of Putin consolidating his grip on Russia.

Putin has restored Russia’s status of a great power, lost with the Soviet Union. He steered Russia away from the western orbit, rebuilt the country’s military power and protect Russian security interests to send the message to the world that Russia was back in play. He stood up to US global dominance. Seen as disruptive in the west, Putin has struck a conservative tone at home.

Putin once described himself as Russia’s top nationalist. He has also proclaimed patriotism to be Russia’s national idea. Putin is above all a symbol of stability after a decade and a half of turmoil that included the misguided and botched reform of the Soviet communist system. Putin has shaped a country to echo his values and grievances. And now he’s working to secure his legacy.

Though Russia is no more a communist country the western capitalist block still look at it as a communist fellow traveler. They have been scared of the image of Putin. That is the reason that Johnson alleged that Putin was “toxifying the image of Russia” by backing Bashar al-Assad. His showing concern for the Russian people is quite intriguing and at the same time hilarious. Amusing for the reason that Johnson was using the old rotten mechanism to alienate Putin from his own people. He ought to have realized that common Russian had endorsed and supported Putin’s actions to preserve the nationalism.

President Trump has taken his unilateralism in foreign policy to a dangerous level. He is talking only of ensuring security of the American citizens as if the security of the people of other countries has no relevance to him. The world is having a war like situation and any day, the US can send missiles or resort to air attacks. Many human rights organizations have questioned Trump claim that Assad government has been responsible for the chemical attacks. There has to be a third party investigation into this. The international situation is very grave .There is need for telling Trump that he has not the sole right of deciding who is guilty or who is not. (IPA Service)