Russia: My Third Comment on the Alleged Attack on Putin's Residence

My comment at 1:30 PM on Ukraine Rejects Russian Claim:

Trump's first responsibility was to let Putin, the Russian people and the world know that he didn't greenlight the alleged strike. Taking Putin at his word in this instance was appropriate for strategic stability. Now the hard part comes. Trump has to meet with his intelligence and security teams and decide whether this was a false flag or something else. The implications of either outcome are not good. From the strategic stability point of view, there will at first be understandable pressure on Trump to pray this wasn't a Russian false flag. Then the calculus sets in: what if it plausibly was a Russian red flag? Does that warrant an emergency UN Security Council meeting? Do we need an immediate international investigation? Should we expect Russia to present the UN Security Council with some forensic evidence? The point is not to insult Putin or the Russian people, but to proceed with healthy respect - and self-respect - in a great power conflict deescalation context. 

Cross-posted at 1:31 PM on Stanislav Krapivnik: Massive Escalation.