Free Republic

Trump’s critics appear to believe that backing a Marxist splinter group aligned with the anti-American, pro-Iranian axis in its war against a NATO ally is sound policy. The U.S. foreign policy establishment has gone into meltdown mode since President Trump announced last week a withdrawal of several dozen troops from a corridor in northern Syria. American forces had been there since 2014, joined with a Kurdish splinter group to fight the notorious Sunni Arab terrorist organization, the Islamic State (ISIS).Trump made his decision after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but it was a long time coming....

President Trump announced on Wednesday that conditions have been met between Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for what he called a " permanent ceasefire" between the two sides and that the United States is lifting sanctions on Ankara that were implemented following the invasion of northern Syria. Speaking at the White House, Trump said that while a "permanent ceasefire" will be tough to maintain in the volatile region, he hopes that it will last and end the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds. "I do believe it will be permanent," he said. "This was an outcome created...

It’s all over but the shouting, and there really doesn’t even seem to be much of that. Yesterday was supposed to be the end of the ceasefire in northeastern Syria, at which point we expected the Turks to begin “cleansing” the twenty-mile wide border region of any remaining Kurdish fighters. But dawn broke and the fighting still seems to be on hold. The reason was announced earlier this morning and it seems that the Russians have stepped in and put all the combatants back in their respective corners. (Associated Press) Turkey’s Defense Ministry is signaling it won’t resume its...

Vice President Pence said Tuesday that President Trump is following through on his promise to bring U.S. troops home from Syria and talked up the prospect of a permanent ceasefire in the region. Pence insisted that a ceasefire the administration helped broker between Turkey and Syria last week “has held” and claimed Trump’s own moves had paved the way for the possibility of a permanent ceasefire. “Earlier today, we received word from the Syrian defense forces commander that all of their military forces have withdrawn from the safe zone under Turkish military control and before I came here, our team...

Turkey and Russia will assume joint control of territory in Syria formerly held by Kurdish forces under an agreement between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin reached Tuesday, according to The New York Times. The agreement would reportedly force Kurdish forces to retreat another 20 miles from Syria’s northern border with Turkey. “The situation in the region is very tense — we understand that,” Putin said before the negotiations began, according to the Times. “I would like to express the hope that the level of Russian-Turkish relations that has been attained recently will play a role in resolving all...

I see a lot of Republicans still complaining about President Trump pulling some of our troops out of harm's way in Turkey/Syria. Are we really supposed to go to war against Turkey? Will they vote for that?

The 700 U.S. troops formerly stationed in Syria and withdrawn by the president just prior to Turkey's invasion will go to western Iraq and conduct counter-ISIS operations from there, according to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.Despite Trump's promise to bring the troops home, they will simply be shifted several hundred miles west. While Esper is mum about their specific mission, the location will allow for continued support for allies fighting ISIS and counter-terrorism operations in Iraq.ABC News: His comments were the first to specifically lay out where American troops will go as they leave Syria and what the counter-IS fight...

Chaos and horrors followed President Trump’s needlessly abrupt withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria, but much of the mess was baked in long before Trump ever took office. In other words, this president played the anti-ISIS hand that the last president had left him: An American exit was always in the cards, and all the players are falling into positions prompted by Obama-era US policy. Thus the Syrian Kurds have allied with bloody Bashar al-Assad in the face of the Turkish invasion. This is less strange when you realize that the Obama administration chose the Kurds as its anti-ISIS...

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, took a series of shots at President Trump in an interview that aired Sunday, saying that some of the president’s rhetoric appealed to racism and claiming that under his leadership, the US was abandoning allied Kurdish fighters in Syria. Romney, who said he wrote in his wife, Ann, when he voted in 2016, told “Axios on HBO,” “The places where I would be most critical of the president would be in matters that were divisive, that appeared to be appealing to racism or misogyny, and those are the kinds of things I think that have been...

Is an attempt underway to destabilize Lebanon? For the fourth day in a row protesters in the streets..... "We are at war against a powerful enemy, who is willing to use violence without any limits" The words of Chile's President Sebastian Pinera late tonight speaking tonight from army headquarters..... British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says Prime Minister Boris Johnson has the votes to pass his "deal" on Brexit.... Tens of thousands marching in Hong Kong Sunday defying a ban on protests..... The protest continuing today in Spain's Catalonia region.... Election news Sunday. Bolivia's longtime left-wing president Evo Morales forced into...

There are many sound arguments about why the U.S. should not have withdrawn its modest presence. But the notion that the pullout empowers Tehran is belied by its leaders’ expressions of anxiety. The Middle East rarely offers a respite to ambitious nations, even Iran.

Finally, some good news from Washington. That doesn't happen very often. Over the weekend, the Trump administration announced plans to withdraw the remaining American troops that are still stationed in Northern Syria. Of countless decisions Donald Trump has announced via Twitter, you'd think this would be the least controversial of all. There's no reason for Americans to remain in Syria. ISIS no longer controls the cities there. We have no plans to overthrow the Assad government either. So, there's no longer a mission, and yet Syria remains a dangerous place. Five Americans have been killed there just this year, and...

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump’s decision to move U.S. troops out of northeastern Syria, said on Sunday he now believed “historic solutions” were possible. In an interview with Fox News Channel, Graham said a conversation he had with Trump over the weekend had fueled his optimism that a solution could be reached where the security of Turkey and the Kurds was guaranteed and fighters from Islamic State contained. “I am increasingly optimistic that we can have some historic solutions in Syria that have eluded us for years if...

AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on Turkey's invasion of northern Syria (all times local): 6:10 p.m. A spokesman for the main Kurdish-led group in Syria says their fighters have evacuated the northern town of Ras al-Ayn, saying they have no armed presence there anymore. Kino Gabriel of the Syrian Democratic Forces said Sunday's evacuation was part of the agreement to pause military operations with Turkey with American mediation. The withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Ras al-Ayn would open the way for them to leave a broader swath of territory along the Syria-Turkey border, as part of an agreement reached...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump’s decision to move U.S. troops out of northeastern Syria, said on Sunday he now believed “historic solutions” were possible. In an interview with Fox News Channel, Graham said a conversation he had with Trump over the weekend had fueled his optimism that a solution could be reached where the security of Turkey and the Kurds was guaranteed and fighters from Islamic State contained. “I am increasingly optimistic that we can have some historic solutions in Syria that have eluded us...

The national media blasted President Trump’s withdrawal of 50 US military advisors from the Syrian border with Turkey as a “sellout,” a “betrayal” and a “huge strategic blunder.”Let’s be clear: None of them truly care about the Kurds. Otherwise, they would have been sending correspondents and camera crews to Rojava, as the Kurds call northern Syria, on a regular basis.[....]I have met with Kurdish political and military leaders in the region, including the PYD, the political arm of the Kurdish YPG militia. And while they were thrilled to have US backing in the fight against ISIS, none of them had...

Outrage met Donald Trump’s supposedly rash decision to pull back U.S. troops from possible confrontational zones between our Kurdish friends in Syria and Recep Erdogan’s expeditionary forces. Turkey claims that it will punish the Syrian Kurds for a variety of supposed provocations, including aiding and abetting Kurdish terrorist separatists inside Turkey. But what they say they can so easily do and what they really can do inside Syria are, of course, two different things. ~~skip~~ Otherwise, our presence in the firing line could raise the specter that we’d either refuse our Article V (collective defense) commitments to Turkey that Erdogan...

....Pop music from the 1970's and I certainly listened to popular music but on the fringes like crossover songs on country radio, shortwave radio which I listened to a lot back then..... The mess in Syria that Donald Trump is helping to clean up by his decision making in recent days a scheme by the inside the beltway political elites, the European elites, the financial power of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arabs. The jihadists Al Qaeda movement Bin Laden admirers and followers unleashed on Syria..... But lets remember that Republicans like Senator Rand Paul and Congressman Thomas Massie of...

Democrats, talking heads in the media, and even most establishment Republicans are united in their condemnation of President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the border area between Syrian Kurdistan and Turkey. Trump has “betrayed” a faithful ally, they say, destabilizing the region and emboldening dictators in Turkey, Syria, and Russia. How dare he?The fact is, however, that the conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C. is wrong. U.S. intervention is not a panacea that can fix any international problem, and the time has come for U.S. forces to leave Syria and let the Syrian people decide their own destiny.President Trump's...

"This is about manslaughter, rape and more" The words of US Senator, Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, speaking on the floor of the Senate Thursday. What information does the FBI have about the Saudi government's role in spiriting its citizens out of the United States to avoid criminal prosecution?..... The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed today that Boeing turned over documents it discovered "some months ago"..... The maker of Zantac recalling the product in the United States and Canada..... Johnson and Johnson recalling 33-thousand bottles of baby powder..... The State Department's internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use...