In the week leading up to the brazen, cold-blooded murder of Russian
Ambassador Andrei Karlov in Ankara, Turkey, the United States repeatedly
and publicly threatened “retaliation”
against Russia for allegedly “hacking” the 2016 US presidential
elections. During the same week, Syrian forces backed by Russian
airpower and Iranian ground support, finally ended the occupation of the
northern city of Aleppo by armed militants who invaded in 2012. The
inevitable liberation of Aleppo was accompanied by apoplectic hysteria
across Western political, policy and pundit circles calling for
everything from additional sanctions on Russia to threats against the
lives of Russians themselves.
