"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Monday, October 07, 2019

Trump's Foreign Policy: Throw Your Allies Under the Bus

>And suck up to dictators. This is a disaster:

President Trump had another of his infamous calls with foreign heads of state on Sunday. In speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump agreed to withdraw U.S. troops from the Syrian border clearing the way for a Turkish offensive into northern Syria.

The White House Sunday evening re-declared victory over ISIS and announced U.S. troops will withdraw from the border area. The executive press office issued the following statement:

“The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,‘ will no longer be in the immediate area,” the White House said.

The withdrawal leaves the United States' Kurdish allies in northern Syria vulnerable to attack by Turkish forces.

Erdogan has been wanting to eradicate the Kurds for a long time. Trump has now given him a green light.

Even Lindsay Graham thinks this is a step too far:

Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump loyalist on most issues, told Fox News the move represented “a big win for Iran and Assad [and] a big win for Isis”.

He vowed that Congress would pass a resolution reversing the decision. “Isis is not defeated. This is the biggest lie being told by this administration,” Graham said.

And Trump's favorite program on Fox is letting him have it:

Some of the angriest criticism yet has come from the unlikely source of Fox & Friends. A visibly furious Kilmeade argued with his co-hosts, called Trump’s decision “disastrous,” and questioned why any ally of the U.S. would now place any level of trust in the Trump administration.

Kilmeade said: “We defeated the caliphate, the caliphate is destroyed, we wouldn't have done that without the Kurds who did all of our fighting... The reason why our casualties were so low is because the Kurds did all the fighting. Now we’re saying, ‘OK Turks, go wipe them out or force them out.’ What kind of message is that to the next ally who wants to side with us?”

And all it took was a phone call from a dictator.

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