Tag: Trump Syrian debacle

Russia patrolling between Turkish and Syrian forces after U.S. troops withdraw

Washington Post logoISTANBUL — Russia announced Tuesday that its units were patrolling between Turkish and Syrian military forces near the strategically important Syrian town of Manbij, in a sign that Moscow, a key ally of the Syrian government, was moving to fill a security vacuum after U.S. troops withdrew from the area.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that military police in northwestern Manbij were patrolling “along the line of contact between” Syria and Turkey, with a senior Russian official saying Moscow was working to prevent a confrontation between them.

The Americans, who withdrew as part of President Trump’s sudden pullout of U.S. forces from northern Syria, left behind a military outpost that suggested a hurried exit, according to videos posted by smiling Russian soldiers and journalists who toured the base.

View the complete October 15 article by Kareem Fahim, Sarah Dadouch and Will Englund on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s lose-lose game in Syria

Washington Post logoWith the state of play in Syria rapidly shifting, President Trump seems to have arrived at the worst of all worlds. Trump’s name is already mud among the Syrian Kurdish fighters his administration abandoned when it essentially gave Turkey the green light for an invasion last week. These incursions into northeastern Syria, warned Trump’s own Defense Department on Monday, “undermined” the fight against the Islamic State and threatened to engulf clusters of U.S. troops that still remain. And whatever favor Trump intended to curry with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan likely soured after he subsequently backed bipartisan congressional sanctions against Turkey for carrying out an anti-Kurdish offensive that was only possible with the American president’s acquiescence.

“Faced with a crisis of its own making, a flailing superpower has turned to economic sanctions to pretend it is still relevant,” the Economist dryly observed. Amid the turmoil, Trump’s argument may be that he does not want to be relevant, at least in the hot spot that is war-ravaged Syria. He routinely blames the Obama administration, from which he inherited America’s checkered legacy of involvement in the Syrian war, including its firm alliance with the main faction of Syrian Kurds. Better, Trump tweeted, to not have to deal with it at all. And to that end, he could be getting his wish.

As part of a deal with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Democratic Forces — or SDF, the Syrian Kurdish-led faction backed by the United States but seen by Turkey as the analogue of an outlawed Kurdish separatist group within its own borders — invited in regime forces to help thwart Turkey and its militant proxies.

View the complete October 15 article by Ishaan Tharoor on The Wahsington Post website here.

Trump inverts time and invents conversations to thwart impeachment

Washington Post logoRep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) “made up a conversation. He made a conversation that didn’t exist. He never thought in a million years that I was going to release the real conversation. And when it did, the whistleblower turned out to be totally inaccurate.”

— President Trump, interview with Jeanine Pirro on Fox News, Oct. 12</b.

“Nancy Pelosi hates the United States of America because she wouldn’t be doing this. And I’m telling you, foreign nations, foreign people looking at us, they honestly think we’re nuts. And then you have presidents and saying nothing was wrong. … But Nancy Pelosi said, ‘Well, that’s what he said. Isn’t it?’ But she was angry as hell when she got to read the transcript. Because she said, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not what I was told.’ But she was stuck, she was stuck.”

— Trump, campaign rally in Lake Charles, La., Oct. 11

In our database of President Trump’s false or misleading claims, we’ve documented how he twists things out of proportion or simply invents stories out of whole cloth. Sometimes, he even goes through a time warp. All of these elements are present in this pair of statements, which are similar or identical to other statements he made over the weekend at various events or media availabilities. Continue reading “Trump inverts time and invents conversations to thwart impeachment”

Trump calls on Turkey to broker ceasefire

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to negotiate a ceasefire with Kurdish forces amid violence in the region precipitated by a U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria.

Vice President Pence told reporters outside the White House that Trump “pressed [Erdoğan] very strongly” in a phone call earlier in the day to broker a ceasefire immediately.

Pence will lead a delegation to Turkey in the coming days to help broker a settlement between Ankara and Kurdish forces, he added.

View the complete October 14 article by Brett Samuels and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.