So Sergey Lavrov it was all bluster then?

The Russians were full of warnings about dire consequences if the US launched strikes on Syria. Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, was playing high stakes, voicing all kinds of retaliation. Alexander Zasypkin, Russian ambassador to Lebanon, said incoming missiles would be shot down. Then when the strikes went ahead, the Russians did nothing. Now obviously that's a good thing. But the intriguing question is: why did the Kremlin, whether in the shape of Lavrov or this bloke Zasypkin whom no one had heard of before, make such a fuss and then disappear after it was all over and pretend nothing had happened. Has anyone heard Ambassador Zasypkin voicing his opinions since the 105 US/British/French missiles landed on three Syrian regime targets? No, he has gone back to consular stuff in Beirut and secret meetings with Iranians and Hezbollah or whatever Russian ambassadors in that part of the world get up to. In other words, he had his 15 minutes of fame and will now never be heard of again. We'll still have to put up with old Lavrov of course because he's the foreign minister. But he has lost a lot of face. The Russians came out of the whole drama as paper tigers. And, bizarrely, they didn't so much as sniff when the first lot of American fighter aircraft arrived in Syrian airspace to hit a couple of Isis targets the very day after the 105-missile mission. All was sweetness and light between the American air commanders in Qatar and the Russian representatives in the Moscow defence ministry when they spoke on the deconfliction channel about the day's anti-Isis bombing proposals. "Hello, Boris, all clear for our strikes today? We'll be operating NW/NE/300". (or whatever terminology they use). "Yes of course, Chuck, all fine with us, have a good day." As for Damascus, Moscow told Assad to leave well alone. The anti-Isis strikes must be allowed to go ahead as usual because it was good news for everyone, except for Isis of course. Assad probably didn't bat an eyelid. Anyway, Assad really wouldn't have wanted to take on the Americans in their anti-Isis role. Their attempt at defending themselves against the American missiles with their so-called super air defences had turned out to be a serious embarrassment. Their defences were totally ineffective. Just like Saddam Hussein in 2003, Assad ordered his air defence teams to shoot at anything that moved, but the Syrian units were so useless they just fired blindly. Saddam did the same, his air defence units fired anti-aircraft artilley shells into the sky even if a pigeon flew over Baghdad but they hadn't a clue what they were doing. So, Mr Scary Lavrov, you came out smelling of bad potatoes. And as for Ambassador Whatshisname in Beirut, don't imagine that anyone is going to take you seriously ever again.