H O W A R D S B E N D

Many Americans believe that Trump is beholden to Vladimir Putin and that many of his actions as President better serve Russian foreign policy than they do our own American interests.  QUITE HONESTLY, I SUBSCRIBE TO THAT SCHOOL.  Just to give a few examples (without much detail here),: we have witnessed Trump shake the foundations of the NATO alliance which has been the bedrock of our foreign policy for 75 years; we have seen Trump walk from the INF Agreement which will allow Russia to grow its nuclear arsenal; we have seen Trump withhold military support from the Ukraine which is in a battle with Russia on its eastern border; we have watched Trump pull troops out of Syria abandoning the Kurds and strengthening Syria, the Russia proxy in the Middle East.  All these moves benefit Russia.

Therefore, I have to ask: Why did Putin want Soleimani eliminated?  I do NOT believe that Trump would take such an action without the prodding of Putin,  Putin is establishing himself as the kingmaker in the Middle East, first with its support of Syria in its civil war struggles.  Russia has been establishing economic relationships with Iran as both are subject to oppressive sanctions and Russia is selling arms both to Iran and Turkey.  Trump would NOT make such a brazen and provocative move that jeopardizes the new established Putin order in the Middle East.

So why did Putin want Soleimani eliminated.  I can only speculate, but here are a couple of theories.  First, Russia has a population of over 20 million Muslims within its borders and  has a series of Muslim states including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, etc on its southern border.  Russia has not seen any unrest or resistance from its Muslim minority in many years and is developing strong economic relationships with many of these Muslim countries.  Soleimani is a militant revolutionary and was spreading his militarism.  He was establishing many militant Muslim cells throughout the Middle East and was looking to expand this pattern of establishing cells to a broader geographical area.  Putin possibly did not want to see this militarism spread to his home turf and upset the stability that has existed for the past many years.  He needed this man eliminated.

Russia has been courting Iran for several years now.  Iran especially needs Russian economic and military support since the US has pulled out of the nuclear treaty and has imposed harsh sanctions.  Did Putin have Soleimani killed by the US to further demonize the US and to strengthen the ties between Iran and Russia?  This killing of Soleimani draws both the Iranian leadership and populous closer to its new Russian ally.

Russia is an oil and natural gas economy.  Any conflicts in the Middle East sends the price of oil soaring.  Of course, Russia greatly benefits from this steep increase in the price of oil.  Could this assassination be a way to give the Russian economy a needed boost?

I know this sounds like a ridiculous conspiracy theory.  The right feasts on conspiracy theories, so I feel like I am entitled to my own indulgences.  And I still think that Putin is calling the shots for our president, so I have to ask and to speculate as to why Putin wanted Soleimani eliminated.