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On October 16th, US President Donald Trump spoke about Syria, Turkey and the Kurds at a press conference, alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
The press conference was approximately 50 minutes long, and only a part of it was focused on answering questions and speaking of Syria, Turkey and the Kurds.
But in the little time that was allocated to that issue, some honest absurdities were said.
He made a surprising statement before the press conference, saying that the Turkish armed forces could attack the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), since Turkey’s decision “nothing to do with us,” and that the Kurds “are no angels.”
The first question of the press conference was related to northern Syria. Here is Trump’s complete answer:
“They’ve been warring for many years. It’s unnatural for us, but it’s sort of natural for them. They fight and they fight long and they fight hard and they’ve been fighting Syria for a long time and on the border. That’s the border with Syria. I say, why are we protecting Syria’s land? [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is] not a friend of ours. Why are we protecting their land?
And Syria also has a relationship with the Kurds, who, by the way, are no angels, okay? Who is an angel? There aren’t too many around.
But Syria has a relationship with the Kurds, so they’ll come in for their border and they’ll fight. They may bring partners in. They could bring Russia in, and I say welcome to it. Russia went into Afghanistan when it was the Soviet Union and it became Russia. It became a much smaller country because of Afghanistan.
You can overextend, you can do a lot of things. But frankly if Russia is going to help in protecting the Kurds, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Syria doesn’t want Turkey to take its land. I can understand that. What does that have to do with the United States of America? Syria does have a relationship with the Kurds.”
He said that the Syrian Arab Army and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite being “the devil,” according to his administration and most, if not all, of MSM, would protect the Kurds.
He also welcomed Russia taking part in that conflict, since “Russia went into Afghanistan when it was the Soviet Union and it became Russia. It became a much smaller country because of Afghanistan.”
But then, he made an even more interesting statement:
“The PKK, which is a part of the Kurds, as you know, is probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways than ISIS.”
Of course, the Turkish side welcomed that statement, because for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and others it is particularly true. But it makes little sense coming out of Trump, since the SDF, which was under US protection until recently, is at least partially made out of PKK members.
Kurds aside, Jonathan Karl, ABC’s White House correspondent, asked: “You don’t think the country’s worried about ISIS? You mentioned earlier you think some of the countries might hate ISIS more than the United States.”
Trump, though, said that it wasn’t the US’ worry since it was 7,000 miles away and it would be perfectly fine if Russia handled the group. Which, wouldn’t be much different from what’s been transpiring for the last 4 years, since the war on terror was primarily “won” by Russia and the Syrian Arab Army, rather than the US-led coalition.
“Absolutely. Russia hates ISIS as much as the United States does. Iran hates ISIS. I mean, we’re fighting a war for Russia, we’re fighting a war for Iran? You look at Syria. Syria hates ISIS. We’re over there killing ISIS. Don’t forget, we’re 7,000 miles — so we’re killing ISIS, we’re 7,000 miles away. Russia is much closer. Iran is right there, Turkey is right there. They all hate ISIS. Turkey a little bit less so, but the others very much. Russia had a plane blown up by ISIS. Russia wants nothing to do with ISIS. Russia’s tough. They can kill ISIS just as well, and they happen to be in their neighborhood.
All I’m saying is this, I’m not going to lose potentially thousands and tens of thousands of American soldiers fighting a war between Turkey and Syria. Syria’s not our friend. Assad is not our friend. That’s the way it goes.”
Finally, he defended his decision to pull out US troops from Syria, since they were initially planned to stay there “for a month” and they’ve been there for a decade, despite it not being even half that long.
“We were supposed to be in Syria for one month. That was 10 years ago. And we’ve been a police force. It’s time to bring our soldiers back home. That’s the way it is. We’ve had no soldiers injured or hurt. That’s because I’m president. We’re the boss. Just remember that. We have the most powerful military in the world by far.”
Today was Trump’s 1,000th day.
Things he did:
-Told Turkey & Syria to fight over sand
-Pushed conspiracy in Oval Office
-Bragged about his "many Italian friends”
-Called his election “corrupt”
-Kurds “no angels”
-Called Pelosi “third-grade politician"https://t.co/l4OObcFJuI— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) October 16, 2019
Separately, a letter, allegedly written by Trump and addressed to Erdogan, dated October 9th was released to the public.
It was later confirmed by the White House that it is, in fact, genuine.
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The letter is astounding, as it appears to be perfectly cohesive and presents the style of the current US foreign policy perfectly. Trump wisely warned Erdogan not to be a “tough guy” and not to be a “fool.” He enclosed a letter of SDF commander General Mazloum, which wasn’t released to the public.
The letter is impressive, mostly because it looks like an invite to a birthday party with its simple vocabulary, and abundance of exclamation points. Especially as it concludes with “I will call you later,” as if Trump just wants to clear things out with one of his friends and partake in some gossip.
The US Congress, in turn, voted on a nonbinding resolution that states its opposition to the withdrawal of US Troops from northern Syria.
The resolution says that Turkey should stop its advance and that the White House should present a plan for an “enduring defeat” of ISIS.
Democrats and Republicans approved the nonbinding resolution by 354-60 vote.
It essentially means nothing, since it is nonbinding and the White House doesn’t need to adhere to it.
But it does express the opinion of both parties that the Trump administration’s moves in northern Syria and the enabling of Turkey to carry out their advance is unappreciated.
Senator Lindsey Graham said Trump’s decision will allow ISIS to reemerge and added that the president will “be held accountable.”
He said that the President’s decision “is against all sound military advice” and that he hopes Trump “will reconsider, stop the bloodshed and reset the table before it’s too late.”
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the U.S.-Kurd partnership “a terrific alliance” that set the Islamic State group back and said he is “sorry we are where we are.”
Senator Roy Blunt said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “has not been a reliable ally. The Kurds have been a reliable ally.”
The congressional vote is unlikely to lead to anything, but still the Republican and Democratic senators are attempting to distance themselves from Trump’s decision.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
Now is revealed for brainwashed turks that turkey is in israel side not pkk!
erdogan hates israel and he will be the first when the quintet are done in syria and can turn their attention on israel, which is doooooomed, despite its iron doom. and not a minute too early.
jeah verner. He has always been on Israels side, as NATOs premier middle east country. He only agitates against Israel when it seves his campaign. His deeds speak a different story..
People don’t understand this, it was turks or kurds. Simple. And USA have nuclear weapons in Turkey….
The judas chose the 30 pieces of silver instead. He cheated as president and I would love to read the print outs of his contacts with Erdogan. I am sure he would be immediately locked up afterwards.
Last night I saw the speech and my jaw dropped in the beginning, Trump was saying the truth and I agreed with most he said, he even mentioned MIC and never ending war. But as time passed by, braggings and narcissism filled his speech to the point he started contradicted himself from a few minutes ago, whoring US military, etc., the usual Trump.
Probably the last person spoke to him before the speech was a Turkish official, enlightening him about the Kurds and PKK and he remembered.
I feel very sorry for thinking Americans who have to be associated with that idiot.
Out of curiosity: as opposed to who? The Bushes, the Clintons or Obama?
You have a point :)
That idiot has aleast some stuff right, and much more than the even worse alternative. I get why Amercians prefer the lesser evil.
Hillary would have brought us unto the brink of nuclear war, that i am quite sure. With the Donald, at least some warming of the new cold war is possible. Sadly today in most western states people would be happy to have a lesser evil. Most times not even that option is available.
I agree and must say, despite the PKK being a bigger threat then ISIS, which is obvious nonsense for anyone but Muslim Brother Erdogan, Trumps statement actually makes sense.
And it shows despite his simplifications, he gets many basis facts about Syria more right that most other politicians and media.
I personally saw no contradiction; at least no directly. The US military is the backbone of the country and cannot be entirely dismissed publicly; especially by the POTUS. My opinion is that Trump does want to end the endless wars that feed the oligarchical Deep State but faces intense opposition. It’s a thousands years old system that originates in Venice and that moved geographically (Venice -> Amsterdam/London (British Empire) -> USA). That is not to say that Trump (and whoever backs him) is not motivated by interests.
As far as what’s going on in Northern Syria, I invite you to read Thierry Meyssan’s three parts article. While it’s originally in French and not yet translated to English (I would do it but I am short in time at the moment), a web browser like Google Chrome should do an adequate job. It sheds great light on the multi-faceted Kurds (both historically and in modern geopolitics), France’s (virtually unknown) implication in the creation of the Rojava (France, for instance, has nine illegal military bases on the ground) and the underlying agreement between different nations (US, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Israel) on the military operation.
Part 1: https://www.voltairenet.org/article207881.html Part 2: https://www.voltairenet.org/article207884.html Part 3: https://www.voltairenet.org/article207885.html
The following article is also worth a read:
https://www.voltairenet.org/article207910.html
For example he said that he wants to brings the troops home, but a few minutes later he has no problems sending troops to Saudi Arabia for money, hence “whoring”.
Listening carefully, there was other contradictions and straight lies as well.
I’m wondering wether all of this comes actually from Trump’s desire to finish the wars or if it is motivated by the need of the US of leaving the places were it’s weak and can lose a lot in a confrontation with Iran
I can’t deny the contradictions – especially when one considers the increased military budget and like you stated, the support to KSA. (Considering that the US knew and told KSA they could never win in Yemen, I wonder what was the real and original plan when we consider that KSA is weakened, humiliated and nearly bankrupt today. There is also the odd fact that the US Congress tried to stop Trump’s support to KSA. Matter of another discussion). My point is that Trump has shown signs of optimism (or difference if you prefer): the support to the likes of Daesh in Syria ended when he entered office, he quit the (fraudulent) Paris Conference (that is paving the path to the “Green Economy” scam), tries to fix US trade (something previous presidents actively destroyed for bankers), normalization with North Korea and Afghanistan but faced opposition from within. It could all be smoke and mirrors but seeing how desperate his opposition tries to remove him (all of which could also be more smoke and mirrors); I suspect he is doing something more right than previous presidents. To reiterate, I am not suggesting that he and whoever backs him are not self motivated. There just seem to be a shift in doctrine.
Your last paragraph is well said. There is currently a deep split in elite consensus which is not the first time – for example Vietnam War caused split as elites turned against as too costly, and it was very costly, so costly it forced US abandonment of Bretten Woods.
The reasons for the current split are quite different from prior cases and is captured by your last sentence – consideration of the interests of other parties. This speaks to elite recognition of mutual or joint security as a necessary consequence of WMD such as nuclear weapons and delivery systems that can devastate the world in half an hour. To illustrate, the encroachment of missile defence systems on Russia’s borders threatens both Russian and US national security, and all nations given global consequences of nuclear war.
Why US security threatened? Because the ABM systems can be used to strike Russian missile launch sites in a first strike scenario and this is explicitly stated in 2018 US Nuclear Posture and Nuclear Modernization Program. Putin said Russia would know when ABM systems had the capability to hit Russian primary launch site with only minutes to react. What Putin is saying is a warning not to go so far to develop a credible first strike capability that destroys much of Russia’s land-based counterstrike ability – to do so risks provoking a Russian pre-emptive first strike as in use it before you lose it. Also, moving missile systems so close to Russian borders has reduced the reaction time such that hair trigger and perimeter system of computer auto-counter strike is active in Russia. This greatly increases risk of an accidental strategic exchange. Which was Kim ‘Rocket Man’ plan to destroy US – he meant what he said about causing US destruction in a fiery inferno. How, get Russia to do it by launching nuke from submarine aimed at Vladivostok to trigger perimeter system auto-counter strike at US – launch position designed to give appearance missile cane from US Seventh Fleet. Reason for sudden pivot to resolve NK nuclear stand-off was partly for this possibility based on threat assessment warning late December 2016.
Thus, US and Russian nuclear posture individually degrade mutual security and together represent a very significant existential threat to world civilization. Trump talking about disengagement from overseas wars is not just about the costs but also about survival.
Hi S. and my apologies for the delayed response. Beirut/Lebanon is going through a bit of a pickle at the moment.
I can’t agree more that it’s not the first time the elite is clashing. In regards to the Vietnam war, I would however argue that it was not only instigated but also purposely prolonged for the precise objective of dropping the Bretton Woods system. FDR’s (who not only did his thesis at Harvard on Alexander Hamilton but whose great grand father was also an ally of Hamilton) system was, in my opinion, the last remaining obstacle to allow a full reign of the US economy. The first two steps being the 1913 creation of the “Federal” Reserve and the abandonment of the gold standard in 1933. We should note that the US currency was completely dissociated from gold in 1971 (or 1973?) when the Bretton Woods system was dropped. Historically speaking, Hamilton wanted to implement Gottfried Leibniz’s political economy system with a central bank serving the people. The cancerous Neo-Venetian Anglo-Saxon, however, had it their way.
Great insight on the nuclear ordeal between the USA and Russia – it helps connect dots. The shrinking nuclear deterrence time is alarming. I hope that the shift in power, albeit tumultuous, result in a once and for all stable world.
Hi friend. In regards to your edit; your response made perfect sense since there was in fact contradictions in Trump’s speech. My initial sentence (I did not see any contradiction) needed further clarification as things are not how they seem. Hence why I edited and provided further explanation afterwards. My apologies for the confusion.
as alliances shift and the amerikan barbarians withdraw, stability will be achieved
I think Trump must have a flower power hippy alter ego hidden away somewhere, because it seems he absolutely hates wars full stop, he’s always got something else to suggest as an alternative to fighting. But not an LGBTQI flower power hippy alter ego, just a straight flower power hippy alter ego.
And who is surprised by this? Too bad he didn’t mention that we would not be leaving Syria, just the dangerous parts. We will still guard the oil from ISIS though. The ISIS that we obliterated. This is how a shill turns on his allies…claims they are terrorists. At least this should leave the world with a clear-cut idea of what it means to get in bed with the US. Yes, the Kurds are more of a threat than the war mongering, thieving and backstabbing MB thugs next door, who have been warring forever…that’s why they were US allies and we protected and gave them weapons. With Trump, his truths are fleeting and mostly contradictory. Gotta laugh at the part where we are ‘protecting’ Syrian land. That’s a statement from the Twilight Zone. Still, the original plan is alive and well, regardless the vocal emanation from the shill on high. Now it’s up to the Turks to implement the northern corridor part, while the US continues to hold the rest of eastern Syria. So what’s changed? Nothing. Trump continues the scam using his list of hot button topics guaranteed to brighten his followers day, but doing the complete opposite. Mentioning the MIC is a good ploy…that does not match Trumps actual position and actions. Like the military budget…the largest ever..Trump even bragged about giving them more than they requested. Big new beautiful bombs. Has everyone forgotten about Israel and Trumps’ fawning over it and the gifts of land he has bestowed on them? Apparently. For god’s sake, Americans, grow up. Quit eating up the false rhetoric and look at the real results. It’s not just more of the same..it’s more of the same on steroids with a new sheepskin.
Why isn’t Israel sending its army to defend the Kurds? All mouth and no guts and its the same old story with your kind, kyke.
You do know you’re a fucking moron, right? If you read my post and then come with this crap, you’re either Trumps mental equivalent or you’re the worlds worst shill. You do sound like a Trumpet though…all mouth and zero brains. As for Israel…why do they have to do shit? They have Trump for that. If people wonder why Americans are so stupid to believe Trump, you would be a perfect example of why.
I know what you are and what you hate. So WTF are you doing you fucking Jew retard? Why aren’t you in your kyke state where your belong? Nobody wants you here you stupid miserable dirty Jew fuck.
You have to be the worst troll I’ve ever seen. At least you’re a perfect example of the idiocy (or whoring) that has become rampant in the US. I have to admit, your tactic is new to me…I’ve never seen stupidity used as an asset while you ply your intellectual remarks. Just keep typing and leave no doubt just how fucking stupid you really are…you’re batting 1,000 so far.
You need to Moshiached kyke….anally and orally. And kyke you are going to love it.
You need it bad, kyke.
Darken my door and I will kill you, do you understand me you fucking Jew retard? And if you think I am bluffing just try me cunt.
Trump couldn’t have said it better. It is that simple. TDS is the only reason this news would be viewed as negative by any American. #Trump2020