On The 7th Of February 2018 Vladimir Putin Tested Donald Trump—And Ended Up With A Bloody Nose -By Joe Dauda

Out of hatred for Donald Trump and in a bid to deny the fact that he legally and legitimately won the 2016 presidential election, the mainstream media (CNN, BBC, AlJazeera, ABC, MSNBC, etc.) tried to delegitimize his electoral victory. One of their best strategies was to claim that the election was stolen, and that it was stolen with the help of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moreover, they kept claiming that Donald Trump was a puppet of Vladimir Putin. That’s how frantic they were to manage the emotional health of their disappointed supporters, mostly from the Democratic Party. They were willing to invent a lie that has since been discredited. But they held onto that lie for years.

One of the events that discredited the media’s lies against Trump was the 4-hour battle between Russian mercenaries and United States commandos in Syria. And it was during the reign of Bashar Al Assad, former President of Syria. Everybody knows that Putin used these mercenaries to reduce Russia’s footprint in combat zones when the mission may be politically expensive for Russia. But these mercenaries (known as the Wagner Group) were simply ex-soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces. They coordinated with the Russian military and were apparently armed by Russia. In short, they were Putin’s soldiers. But using them provided the opportunity for what diplomats refer to as plausible deniability. Putin could use them for missions and deny that Russia was involved—if things went awry. In this way, Russia could achieve its goals without exposing itself to United Nations attention.

The mainstream media did not publicize what Donald Trump did to Putin and his mercenaries in 2018 because it destroyed their lies about Trump being a puppet of Putin. It proved that America had superior firepower compared to Russia and also proved that, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, Donald Trump was willing to deploy this firepower and did deploy it against Russia. The result was a bloodbath, with approximately 300 dead. Not a single American commando was killed in that battle. It was a humiliation and it left Putin bloodied—and humbled.

On the 7th of February, 2018, Putin apparently decided to test Donald Trump. About 500 troops mostly made up of Russian Wagner forces and a handful of Syrian regime troops, with some Shia militia men, launched an attack to take over the oil reserves around the Conoco gas fields. The fact that these oil and gas fields were protected by the United States did not seem to matter to Putin, who must be the one held responsible for this attack. His Wagner mercenaries dared to cross the Euphrates River unto the other side, which was under US control. The US commandos protecting the Conoco gas plant were just 40. But they were made up of Delta Force guys, Rangers, Marines, Green Berets, and they were armed with the best weapons in the world. I mean American weapons. Furthermore, they had the best air strike capability they could call upon, and there was need for that capability during that battle.

The first shot that opened the battle was fired by the Wagner forces, who were armed with advanced T-72 tanks, artillery, and mortars. When they began attacking the American position, the artillery barrage was so intense the U.S. commandos dived into foxholes for protection, emerging covered in flying dirt and debris.

It was at this point that Donald Trump decided to teach Putin and his Wagner tough guys a lesson. The US Secretary of Defense at the time was General Jim Mattis. Following from the orders of Trump, he commanded the American troops to annihilate the Russians. And that was exactly what they did.

First they put their armored vehicles to use. These vehicles were equipped with anti-tank missiles, thermal optics, and heavy machine guns. U.S. Marines also fired rocket artillery to deter the rampaging Wagner men backed by Assad’s army. Using thermal imaging, machine guns, and guided missiles, these outnumbered commandos were able to target the Russian tanks very effectively. And when the Wagner-led forces were finally advancing on foot, they used Javelin anti-tank missiles plus machine-gun fire to slow their advance.

However, as the battle intensified, and in order to carry out Trump’s orders to annihilate the Wagner attackers, U.S. air power was unleashed. And it occurred in waves: Reaper drones, F-22 stealth jets, F-15E strike fighters, AC-130 gunships, and Apache helicopters all participated in the massacre. Even B-52 bombers were not left out of the skirmish.

In the end, almost 300 fighters laid dead, with many of their military hardware in tatters. Everybody knew the attack had to have been green-lighted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. And there was nothing Putin could do. In just four hours, Trump had shown him that he liked peace a lot but was very ready to unleash the weapons Americans have been developing with their largest military budget over the years. The battle ended with the Wagner forces virtually obliterated and a quick retreat to save the lives of those that managed to survive the pounding by the aircrafts and the commandos. As already stated, not a single American commando was killed. They numbered 40 at the beginning of the battle and were still 40 at the end of the battle.

Before this decisive victory on the battlefield, some people probably thought that Donald Trump was all about talk and peace moves, and no action. During his first United Nations address in September of 2017, he had warned the President of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, of total destruction if Kim did not stop testing nuclear weapons and threatening both Japan and South Korea. Because Trump agreed to meet with Kim (something no other American President had agreed to do) some people may have wrongly begun to assess that Trump was a pacifist. But what happened at the Conoco gas plant area in Syria proved that Trump prefers peace but could be very brutal as a warrior. Putin behaved himself for the rest of Trump’s term. Which is partly why Trump has been saying that if he had been President in 2022, Putin wouldn’t have dared to invade Ukraine.

Trump also gave Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme leader of Iran, 60 days to resolve the nuclear issue. Because Israel was already threatening to strike Iran before the beginning of those 60 days, some people even thought Trump had betrayed and abandoned Israel. They knew that Israel, out of respect for Trump, would not attack Iran within those 60 days. And they were very correct. Israel watched Iran killing time and engaging in endless talk in the name of negotiating with the Americans; and there was nothing they could do. But what many people probably never suspected was that Trump was in coordination with the Israelis. Which was why Israel unleashed on Iran on the 61st day of Trump’s warning.

This means that his warning wasn’t an empty threat and his open letter to Ayatollah Khamenei should have been treated with utmost seriousness. But the way he was so interested in talking with Iran about peacefully dismantling their nuclear weapons programme may have created the impression that he was afraid of war. Anyone who thought so apparently misread Trump.

Both Iran and Putin misread Trump and got a nasty surprise. And that’s the summary of this piece: it is neither safe nor smart to take Trump’s threats lightly. This has been proven at least twice. Remember, also, that there was nothing either Russia or China could do to stop Trump when he began to act against Iran. In spite of the strong alliance between these countries. This sobering fact must be borne in mind when analyzing the possible consequences of Trump’s threats. China can only talk but cannot engage the United States for the sake of another country. Ditto Russia. Thus, engaging Trump either directly or indirectly is the best way to neutralize his threats. Fortunately, logic dictates that if he was willing to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, there is virtually no world leader he would refuse to meet with. We must take advantage of this Trump disposition. He likes to talk. But we must beware that his talk does not seem to weaken or compromise his warnings.

Foreign affairs experts must be careful not to mislead leaders. Especially because of the fact below about the powers of a United States President.

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, a U.S. President may conduct war for up to 60 days without congressional authorization, plus an additional 30 days for withdrawal. Note that even though he must notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing US forces into a foreign country for a military operation, whether or not Congress approves, he can conduct his military operation for 60 days. If Congress still refuses to authorize the action at the end of the 60 days, the President still has an additional 30 days for withdrawal. That means an incumbent US President has up to 90 days to cause damage in a foreign country even without support from the United States Congress.

This fearful fact must be emphasized to leaders because some people are thinking that local American politics or even a probe of Donald Trump, or criticism of his threatened action by Senators and other politicians can somehow prevent him from engaging in military action. For such people, I just want them to think about how much damage the United States military can cause in 90 days. This is the most important information to be borne in mind when deciding how to respond to Trump. Any assumption that criticism from United States politicians or even disapproval from Congress will be able to stop Trump may result in a very dangerous situation based on a faulty assumption. I’m not saying I like this fact: I’m just highlighting it because some people don’t seem to understand the type of leverage an incumbent US President has in foreign affairs. An angry US President is thus a threat to life, a threat to infrastructure, and a threat to peace because nobody in the United States government architecture can easily prevent him from using the US military and doing so for 90 days even without approval from Congress. So a country that has gained the attention of Trump must not be deceived by whatever opposition he may be facing within the United States or around the globe. Or criticism; or insults; or legislative action by his political rivals. They mean virtually nothing with regard to his ability to act. None of these things will be able to interfere with his decision in a meaningful way if he decides to strike any country. He is the Commander-in-Chief and his army is trained to kill and destroy in the most effective way ever devised by human beings. And he can unleash this power no matter what anybody in the US or out of the US says for 90 days.

90 days.

I just want our leaders to bear this in mind so as not to be mislead by foreign affairs analysts who may be making assumptions about the powers of a sitting US President and giving bad advice as a result. No media campaign or lobby group or Congress Member or Federal Judge will be able to intervene to stop Donald Trump from a military maneuver in any country if he chooses to engage in such. America is a free country and you cannot stop people from instituting lawsuits to try to achieve anything. But the fact of the matter is that despite many lawsuits over U.S. military interventions—in Korea, Vietnam, Kosovo, Libya, Iraq, Syria—no federal court has successfully stopped a president’s military action during the War Powers Resolution period.

Members of Congress sued Clinton over Kosovo air strikes—the case was dismissed.

There were lawsuits over Obama’s Libya operation—they were all dismissed too.

As for Vietnam, there were numerous court cases to prevent the president and every single one of them was dismissed. The lawsuits represented an exercise in futility.

In essence, the only real check on presidential war-making is Congress, not the judiciary. And the Congress cannot do anything until after that 90-day period has elapsed.

In my last major article (US President Donald Trump Is Very Greedy) I provided evidence from his first term and the last nine months to prove that Donald Trump is very greedy for peace. But he has also shown that he is not shy about using the enormous might of the American military to impose his will.

I believe I have sufficiently made my point. As always, the ball is in the court of decision makers.