Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some observers are likening Trump’s abrupt departure from Syria and President Barack Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. The two events show no resemblance whatsoever, and the frequently-made charge that Obama could have stayed in Iraq is incorrect. Here’s the difference. 1. Obama did not betray America’s allies in Iraq, […]
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Republican Party
Trump Blows it Big Time in Syria: Dumps Kurds as the Empire Crumbles
In less than two weeks, President Donald Trump has managed to create a massive and avoidable crisis in Syria. By greenlighting the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, Trump’s policy forced more than 160,000 Syrians to flee their homes. And guess who emerged as the political and military winners? Russia, Iran, and the Syrian government of […]
Dem Leadership brands as “Shameful” Pence’s Agreement for Turkey “Pause” in Kurdish Areas
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mariam Khan at ABC News reports that yesterday speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted the pause in fighting by Turkey negotiated by vice president Mike Pence “sham ceasefire.” They added, “President Erdogan has given up nothing, and President Trump has given him everything,” […]
Blaming Victims, Trump attacks Syrian Kurds as “Communists,” “No Angels,” PKK as worse than ISIL
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dispatches from the Great Trump Clown Parade, which would be gut-busting hilarious if it did not involve real-world dark horrors, including the displacement of some 130,000 Kurds along with deaths and woundings, and the escape of over a hundred ISIL detainees. An unprecedented bipartisan congressional resolution was passed Wednesday against […]
Trump’s Endless Wars
(Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Trump’s not bringing the troops home. He’s been haphazardly deploying more troops, drones, and dollars abroad, while waging a shadow foreign policy for his own benefit. Donald Trump loves to talk about ending the endless U.S. wars that he inherited as president. He tweets about it. He endlessly criticizes […]
Russians, Syrian Army take over Manbij and its US Bases, Blocking Turkey
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) took control of the city of Manbij on Tuesday, with Russian gendarmes taking up patrols of the city as US special operations forces abandoned two military bases in the region, which were also taken over by Russians. The SAA and the Russians appear to have […]
Extorting Ukraine is Bad Enough: But Trump Has Done Much Worse
By Rebecca Gordon | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Recently a friend who follows the news a bit less obsessively than I do said, “I thought George W. Bush was bad, but it seems like Donald Trump is even worse. What do you think?” “Well,” I replied, “in terms of causing death and destruction, I suspect […]
Why? 3 Possible reasons Trump is threatening Turkey with Sanctions after Greenlighting Syria Invasion
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump is slapping sanctions on Turkey for invading northern Syria after Trump told Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan that it would be all right for him to invade northern Syria. It is really difficult to be an analyst of foreign affairs in the age of Trump, because we try to understand […]
Amerexit? Trump and the End of the Anglo-American Order
( Tomdispatch.com ) – Donald Trump may prove to be the ultimate Brexiteer. Back in August 2016, in the midst of his presidential campaign, he proudly tweeted, “They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!” On the subject of the British leaving the European Union (EU) he’s neither faltered nor wavered. That June, he was […]