Tag: Trump abandoning allies

Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman lays out 3 ‘perfectly plausible’ reasons for Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds — and they’re all horrifying

AlterNet logoThe Trump White House shocked the U.S. military and the defense community over the weekend with an announcement that U.S. forces, which have been working with Kurdish-led forces in northeastern Syria, will be pulling out — a decision that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wholeheartedly agrees with. And economist and veteran New York Times opinion columnist  Paul Krugman has three theories on the matter — all of which he asserts paint a troubling picture of Trump.

Monday on Twitter, Krugman posted, “So, did Trump just betray the Kurds because (a) He has business interests in Turkey, (b) Erdogan, being a brutal autocrat, is his kind of guy, (c) His boss Vladimir Putin told him to. Remarkable that all three stories are perfectly plausible.”

Trump, to be sure, has had very friendly relations with Erdogan. Prior to Erdogan’s presidency, Turkey was among the most liberal and democratic countries in the Islamic world. But it has taken an increasingly authoritarian turn under Erdogan, who Trump has repeatedly praised. Trump has been highly critical of long-time NATO allies like Germany and the U.K., but in 2018, he gave Erdogan a friendly fist bump and exalted him as the NATO member who “does things the right way.”

View the complete October 7 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

You’re Supposed to ‘Completely Blindside’ the Enemy, Not the Pentagon

With the news that President Trump “completely blindsided” the Pentagon (according to Fox News) by suddenly deciding to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria and giving Turkey a green light to move across the border and attack our previous ally the Kurds, it seems like a good time to review one of the closing passages of Call Sign Chaos, the autobiography of James Mattis, our previous Secretary of Defense.

Mattis writes about how his time as commander of U.S. Central Command came to an end:

It was no secret in Washington that the White House was wary of my command at CENTCOM and increasingly distrusted me. While I fully endorse civilian control of the military, I would not surrender my independent judgment. In 2010, I argued strongly against pulling all our troops out of Iraq. In 2011, I urged retaliation against Iran for plotting to blow up a restaurant in our nation’s capital. In 2012, I argued for retaining a small but capable contingent of troops in Afghanistan. Each step along the way, I argued for political clarity and offered options that could give the Commander in Chief a rheostat he could dial up or down to protect our nation. While I had the right to be heard on military matters, my judgment was only advice, to be ignored or accepted. I obeyed without mental reservation our Commander in Chief and carried out every order to the best of my ability.

View the complete October 7 article by Jim Geraghty on The National Review website here.

Republicans deliver rare rebuke of Trump, slamming his Syria withdrawal decision

Washington Post logoPresident Trump faced a swift torrent of Republican criticism Monday as lawmakers rebuked his plan to withdraw troops from northeast Syria, a move Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said would undermine U.S. national security and potentially bolster Islamic State terrorists.

McConnell (R-Ky.), in a rare public split with Trump, said that a supermajority in the Senate disagreed with the president’s abrupt withdrawal announcement, raising the specter of veto-proof action to oppose the decision.

“A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup.”

View the complete October 7 article by Toluse Olorunnipa and Seung Min Kim on The Washington Post website here.