内容摘要：The Trump White House has targeted public media on multiple fronts in recent weeks.

The Trump White House has targeted public media on multiple fronts in recent weeks.

Whatever the legality, the barrier for a Russian nuclear response remains mercifully high and such a strike is likely to be dismissed in Kremlin circles as an impractical overkill.For a start, it would poison relations with key Russian trading partners like China and India, as well as provoke potential military action against Russian forces.

Inevitable mass casualties would be certain to invite universal scorn, further isolating Russia on the international stage.But here’s the problem: the Kremlin may now feel overwhelming pressure to restore deterrence.It’s not just the recent Ukrainian drone strikes, deep inside Russia, that have humiliated Moscow. Shortly afterwards, Ukraine staged yet another

k on the strategic Kerch bridge linking Russia with Crimea – the third time the vital road and rail link has been hit.The capture by Ukrainian forces of the Kursk region in western Russia last year dealt another powerful blow, leaving the Kremlin struggling to liberate its own land. Meanwhile, weekly, if not daily, drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and airports continue to cause widespread disruption far from the front lines.

At the same time, Ukraine’s allies have been gradually lifting restrictions on the use of Western-supplied arms against Russia, further challenging what were once believed to be Moscow’s red lines.

Few doubt the Kremlin is itching to respond decisively, but how?The fires have forced more than 27,000 Canadians in three provinces to flee their homes, and the smoke has even reached Europe.

The smell of smoke hung over the Minneapolis-St. Paul area on Tuesday morning despite rain that obscured the full measure of the dirty air. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an alert for almost the entire state into Wednesday, but the Twin Cities area got the worst of it in the Midwest on Tuesday.“As the smoke continues to move across the state Tuesday, air quality will slowly improve from northwest to southeast for the remainder of the alert area,” the agency said. “The smoke is expected to leave the state by Wednesday at noon.”

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources warned that air quality in a band from the state’s southwest corner to the northeast could fall into the unhealthy category through Thursday morning. The agency recommended that people, especially those with heart and lung disease, avoid long or intense activities and to take extra breaks while doing strenuous actions outdoors.Smoky conditions that have reached the U.S. periodically in recent weeks extended as far east Tuesday as Michigan, west into the Dakotas and Nebraska, and as far to the southeast as Georgia.