RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Fourteen Days.

The Red Line shoe is now on the other foot. By issuing a warning against infringing his freedom of action Putin has drawn a Red Line and Haley just threatened to cross it in the most public possible way. Radio Free Europe writes “the United States has said it is ready to act in Syria to end chemical attacks and “inhuman suffering” if Russia, Iran, and Syria continue to allegedly ignore a 30-day cease-fire approved by the United Nations, prompting a warning from Moscow that it will strike back if the lives of its servicemen are threatened”.

What Russia will do when the clock counts down remains to be seen. The US threat is both asymmetric and strategically calculating. The US has power dominance over Russia in Syria. In almost any scenario except the use of nuclear weapons or nerve gas, Russia is likely to be badly worsted in Syria. Striking at Assad and Iran will be supported by Saudi Arabia and Israel.

It is dangerous but also profoundly psychological. Vladimir Putin has now been threatened twice by women, Theresa May and Nikki Haley, even as stands for election as the Macho Man. The Kremlin strongman can hardly back down now without immense loss of face, which is perhaps the point. Putin is in a tight spot. He can either eat crow or roll the dice. His first reaction in past situations has been not to yield but double down. This will make the next two weeks extraordinarily dangerous. It’s a big data point. The administration has taken the risk.

Wait, I thought Trump was Putin’s puppet.