Consider the war in Lebanon a test scenario, a ‘dry run’ to test the international response to flagrant criminal actions. Now recall Russia’s failure to support Yugoslavia in the Balkans. Russia stalled and now Yugoslavia is no more, just a number of fragmented pseudo States overseen by NATO and the largest U.S. base of occupation in Europe, camp Bondsteel. It is well known today that the USA wouldn’t have dared if Russia had supported its traditional ally, but a drunken fool, Boris Yeltsin, was in command at the time, the rest is history.