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© Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / AFPA view of the Russian consulate on August 31, 2017 in San Francisco, California.
Imagine an alternative universe where US officials reacted with outrage on Saturday after the Russian Foreign Ministry announced it was closing the US Consulate in Vladivostok and giving staff only 48 hours' notice to evacuate.
To compound matters, on Monday, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) indicated its intention to carry out searches at the building on Tuesday afternoon. The raids would extend to trade missions in the capital, Moscow.
In Vladivostok, the operations won't be restricted to US consular offices in the Far Eastern city, but will also take place at the apartments of staff who live in the building and who have diplomatic immunity. To perform those searches, Russian authorities have ordered those staff members and their families, including children and babies, to leave their homes for up to 12 hours.
"We are talking about an invasion in the consulate office and homes of diplomatic staff, who themselves are being ousted not to disturb FSB agents," US State Department spokesperson Heather Ann Nauert complained. She pointed out that Washington was given just two days to close a consulate which serves the needs of "an area bigger than all of Europe."
© Mohamed al-Khalif / ReutersA view of a damaged street in Deir al-Zor, eastern Syria.
"The heroes of the army will arrive at Deir ez-Zor in 24-48 hours at the most," the governor of Syria's Deir ez-Zor province, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters, adding that the Syrian Army was only 18-20 kilometers (11-12 miles) away from the city.
Earlier, an elite unit of the Syrian Army, called the Tiger Forces, came within 18 kilometers (11 miles) of the besieged city after destroying IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist positions on the Bishri mountain chain, Al-Masdar News reported.
© Saul Loeb / Reuters
In another in a bizarre series of tweets, Trump labelled North Korea "an embarrassment to China" and took aim at allies South Korea, accusing Seoul of trying to 'appease' its northern neighbors.
The threat of ending trade relations with "any country doing business with North Korea" once again raises the prospect of a potentially-disastrous trade war between the US and China.
China receives 90 percent of the goods in North Korea's $2.83 billion-a-year export trade, making it "North Korea's only economic backer of any importance," according to Nicholas Eberstadt, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
© Reuters
A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, strategic bombers and "other powerful assets" can be deployed to the Korean Peninsula as a response to North Korea's latest nuclear test, Seoul's defense ministry said on Monday.
"We will push for the option of deploying strategic assets such as the US carrier strike group and strategic bombers after consultation with the US," the ministry said.
The ministry also said that it was planning construction of additional facilities at the existing launch site of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a US anti-ballistic missile defense system which is intended to shoot down short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
On Sunday, President Trump again called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by telephone to reaffirm Washington's commitments to its allies in the region.
"President Trump reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to defending our homeland, territories, and allies using the full range of diplomatic, conventional, and nuclear capabilities at our disposal," the White House said in a statement.
Both leaders have condemned North Korea's nuclear test and called Pyongyang's behavior "destabilizing and provocative actions."
© 8th United States Army / ReutersUnited States and South Korean troops utilizing the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the South Korea's Hyunmoo Missile II, fire missiles into the waters of the East Sea, off South Korea, July 5, 2017.
The combined exercise involved South Korea's Hyunmoo-2A ballistic missile, as well as long-range air-to-ground missiles, all of which "accurately hit their designated targets," according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The simulated targets were in the Sea of Japan, at a range that corresponds to the distance to North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site, the military added, according to Yonhap.
"Our military has conducted a joint drill of the Air Force and the Army," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "It is a strong warning after North Korea's sixth nuclear test."
"We fired the Army's ground-to-ground ballistic missiles, and the Air Force's long-range air-to-ground missile at the East Sea target," the statement read.
© Neil Hall / ReutersWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
"Constant US threats" have put the North "on a total war footing," the WikiLeaks founder, who remains holed up in the Ecuador Embassy in London, said in a Twitter post, adding that such a situation gives a "massive boost" to its missile research and development activities, as well as rallying support for the leadership in Pyongyang.
He went on to say that threats would not work for the "industrious, intelligent and conformist" Koreans.
© Mike Theiler / ReutersDefense Secretary Mattis and General Dunford issue statement on North Korea in Washington
"We have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies South Korea and Japan from attack, and our commitments to our allies are ironclad," Mattis said in a statement he read out to journalists outside the White House.
"Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam or our allies, will be met with a massive military response - a response both effective and overwhelming.
© Stephen Lam / ReutersThe entrance to the building of the Consulate General of Russia is shown in San Francisco
Now the US has slipped even lower: the Russians speak of US "hellish buffoonery" and "stupid thuggery".
Wow!
Comment: Further reading: US not looking for 'total annihilation' of N. Korea, but 'we have many options to do so' - 'Mad Dog' Mattis