TRUMP GOT SULEIMANI /THE WORLD MIGHT CATCH A FEVER

Trump's fatwa was not a paper tiger. Few outside the Middle East will regret the death of General Kassim Suleimani, not known for charitable actions. In the Arab world some will even rejoice, in private, but most will demand retribution. Suleimani became a mythological figure whose fame became, Nasser-like, larger by the day. He ignited passion and loyalty, while his Iranian superiors remained background figures.

Knowing Trump, one might ask if Washington considered all the possible consequences of a risky decision to go for the jugular. The air attack (on Iraqi territory) follows the same "method" as the Bin Laden precedent. The difference being that while the former embarrassed many Arabs,  the Iranian was seen in undisputed heroic terms.

The American president said that he would never allow another Benghazi to happen on his watch. The incidents around the US Embassy compound in Baghdad were considered by the administration as an affront, an Arab "boxers-like" like siege which could not remain unanswered. As ominous as it might have looked, the manifestation remained largely limited in time and space. Trump 's claim that it was the warming up for an Iranian-backed attack on American lives and interests in the Middle East remains to be proven.  Obviously, the American action will detonate unforeseeable "salvos" everywhere in an Arab world already shaken by contradictory impulses. Other main players such as Russia, China, and the EU (which hardly counts) will not remain silent.  The question is whether this could become an other Sarajevo? This event will again lay bare all the alignments and contradictions between "client states" and their protectors, between surrogates and their handlers in the region. Containment will be difficult.

Knowing Trump, one might wonder if consultation and information preceded:  if foes, allies or leaders of Congress  (other than Senator Lindsay Graham, the president's usual Tupperware Party guy) received a warning; if the gaudy nouveau riche soiree in Mar-a-Lago was a smoke-screen or just the usual gathering of the clueless, the corrupt and the vulgar.

It has been said here many times that Trump would resort to any gimmick to distract from embarrassing scrutiny. This now gives him material to "entertain" his base, which will rejoice in the fury and pay no attention to consequence.

This god-loving administration has killed the climate deal, the Asia-Pacific partnership, the Iran nuclear deal, and the "idea" of America.  Its killer spree continues. This is what one gets if the fools are allowed to act with impunity.