Press releases and rebuttals are still flying back and forth in the evening news on what caused that Russian airliner to crash in the Sinai Desert.
It was a bomb. It was not a bomb.
Washington is now 99.9% sure that it was a bomb.
Moscow is still in full public denial.
But the opinion given by one of the mourners at a St. Petersburg memorial for the 224 victims probably sums up best the prevailing conventional wisdom:
"Eventually, they will conclude that this was a terrorist act."
I understand Moscow's hesitation in accepting the bomb theory. A terrorist act will immediately douse cold water on Putin's much-praised military adventure into Syria. And there is the logistical question of more than 100,000 Russian tourists stranded in Egypt. But eventually, Putin will have to face up to the facts.
While some people cheered as the first Russian bombs rained down on the perceived enemies of Assad in Syria, I was asking myself:
"Had Putin completely lost his mind?"
Bouyed with his success in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, he waded into Syria like some comicbook superhero.
As a former KBG operative, I know that his skills in making cold geopolitical decisions are top-notch. But this time around, his grasp might have exceeded his reach.
There are 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide. Based on a conservative estimate, 70% of them are Sunnis. That's about 1.1 billion. If Putin's military adventure in Syria managed to anger 10% of them, that will be about 110 million. If only 1% of that 110 million has the willingness and the means to vent-out such anger, that will be 1.1 million. There might potentially be 1.1 million Sunni Muslims out there looking for payback against Russians!
In an instant, the whole world has become an unsafe place for Russians.
Putin should rethink his Syrian military adventure...
#RussianAirliner
#LooneyTerrWatch
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