The week that was...
There is no doubt that after the 72-hour ceasefire that Vice President Mike Pence negotiated with Turkey is over, the violence will continue. NBC's Richard Engel stated that ethnic cleansing is 'underway' in northeast Syria, along with evidence of roadside executions. Brett McGurk, Fmr. Security Council official in the Trump Administration heading up the anti-ISIL division, confirmed it would continue as Turkey moves to control a strip of Syrian land 435km in length, 30km inland. Mr. McGurk didn't commit to the notion that Turkey was trying to annex the territory but that's exactly what is happening. President Erdogan of Turkey wants his piece of the pie and the U.S. was unwilling to give him, but Russia would. You can imagine the conversation in which the Turkish president tells Mr. Trump this and explains in order to get his piece, U.S. troops have to get out of the way, and Mr. Trump gave it to him by trying to wash his hands of the whole thing. But they just got dirtier as it prompted an overwhelming wave of bi-partisan condemnation that the White House felt compelled to write a letter to Turkey - president to president - which Mr. Erdogan literally threw in the trash and invaded full force anyway.
Turkey will annex that region because Assad will give it up to them. The Syrian dictator gets his country back, be it under Russian and Iranian influence, by letting Turkey have a strip of land he didn't control anyway. It's serves Erdogan's strategic interest to drive the Kurds back into Iraq, a de facto buffer zone from which Turkey can establish further incursions. So if you're interested in American interests, Mr. Trump ceded Syrian to the control to Russia and Iran, not good news for Israel; literally blowing up bases to pull out on Erdogan's timetable so that his military can ethnic cleanse a region controlled by a U.S. ally, the Kurds, with the help of 10,000 extremist fighters; and of course in defending themselves, the Kurds could no longer guard the camps that contained ISIS making U.S. and our European allies less safe. Thank you Mr. Trump.
The kicker...
The troops aren't going home, they're being deployed to Iraq, as Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) pointed out in today's interview. With regard to the U.S. troop deployment to Saudi Arabia, the political hypocrisy of it we discussed in our last column, Mr. Amash called them 'mercenaries,' in other words for sale when a 'friend' needs them. He continued on saying that he thinks the president feels he's 'untouchable.' It's clear through this debasing foreign policy move, Mr. Trump is not, nor should he be. When Mitch McConnell condemns the decision so publicly with an op-ed in The Washington Post, you know it's bad.
Presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN) explained that what we had in Syria is how it should look like, if we have to be there or find ourselves there then it should be a light footprint. Then work the diplomatic front. This is what he sees as a goal for Afghanistan as well.
Mr. Buttigieg also said that while there should be consequences for Turkey's actions, he explained that given they are a NATO member, they should be negotiated with as an ally... a NATO ally that has an all too cozy relationship with Russia. Where have we heard this story before?
The mess...
Mick. Mulvaney.
Paraphrasing: We withheld the aid to Ukraine because of our concern about corruption. Quid pro quo is something we do all the time, "Get Over It."
The acting Chief of Staff is genuinely trying to act like a chief of staff, however... A reporter even gave him a chance to clarify or walk it back in real time and he doubled down on it, in direct opposition to what the president had been saying all week. Maybe Mr. Mulvaney realized he may have made an error and decided to clean these up by informing the press corps that of the several sites they reviewed, Doral was the best place to have the next G7 summit. Plugging the boss's golf resort isn't a bad idea if all you want is to stay in his good graces. But three times was not the charm as later in the evening in a written statement correcting Mr. Mulvaney's misstatement and he unequivocally maintains that there was no quid pro quo.
And there's no G7 at Doral. Under pressure from Republican criticism of blatant self-dealing, the Trump Administration said last night that a new site will be chosen.
The Panel: Dan Balz, The Washington Post; Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institutue; Betsy Woodruff Swan, The Daily Beast; Joshua Johnson, NPR
One more thing...
American Hero, Mr. Elijah E. Cummings
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