Trump warns Russia: the missiles are coming

Not content with firing his Secretary of State by Twitter, Donald Trump is now issuing warnings of forthcoming US military action by it. He has just tweeted that:

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018

This tweet complicates things for Theresa May. It makes it abundantly clear that the US is going to launch strikes on Syria. But the bellicose tone of this message, to put it mildly, will increase doubts here about whether these strikes are such a good idea and how rapidly the situation with Russia could escalate.

I still suspect that the UK will ultimately join in military action. It would be odd not to given how much this has become about Russia where the UK has received robust Western support since the Salisbury attack. But the political handling of this situation has been made harder by Trump’s shoot from the hip tweeting.

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