It may feel like there the world is in a very precarious position at the moment, and has felt this way for the last year or so. It doesn't help when several world leaders seem to be at each other's throats, even employing Twitter (of all things) to vent their frustration and make threats against one another.
Things are already pretty volatile out there, as tensions between Russia and several of the world's other superpowers have reached a peak. Following the poisoning of an ex-spy living in England, possibly by Russia, some are calling claiming we are on the brink of "the last war in the history of mankind" - at least, that's how this Russian ex-general put it.
Earlier this month, Donald Trump said he wanted to withdraw American troops from Syria, but after last weekend's suspected chemical attack on civilians at the hands of the Assad regime, he changed his tune. Trump warned that US missiles "will be coming" to Syria, which in some ways reflects Obama's actions in the past, after he launched missiles against the Syrian government in 2013.
He vowed to thwart Russia's missile defense system in Syria, warning that rockets "will be coming, nice and new and 'smart'." He didn't refer to any timing, but did tell them to "get ready", adding, "You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"
However, Trump softened his approach in a follow-up tweet the same day, saying that "there is no reason" for the deterioration of US-Russia relations, and made a plea for "all nations to work together" and "Stop the arms race". This back and forth has been confusing for many, but the initial threat was taken seriously by both Syria and Russia.
In response to the threat, Syria's Foreign Ministry said it was not surprised by the United States' "reckless escalation", the state-run news agency SANA reported. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote in a Facebook post that, "smart missiles should fly toward terrorists, not the legal government that has been fighting international terrorism for several years on its territory."
However, one of the stranger things about all of this is that it seems that while Trump was publicly telegraphing military plans, (however vague), this was the very thing he had criticized Barack Obama for back in 2013.
"For the first time in the history of military operations a country has broadcast what, when and where they will be doing in a future attack," he wrote, adding: "Who are our generals that are allowing this fiasco to happen right before our eyes. Call it the "PLENTY OF NOTICE WAR""
The rest of the tweets speak for themselves:
Then came the most damning tweet - when he replied to another user to tell them that he wouldn't "go into Syria," nor would he let anyone know about an upcoming attack.
While many of us change our opinions on issues over time, it seems like Trump's are a little more flippant than most. And this is definitely a president that speaks his mind, whether that's in a Twitter rant or in a statement to the press.
