“Permanent” ceasefire announced between Turkey and Kurds
Speaking at the White House, Trump said that while a “permanent ceasefire” will be tough to maintain in the volatile region, he hopes 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 by us, the United States, and nobody else…we’ve done something very, very special.”…
Trump added that if Turkey breaches the cease-fire, the sanctions could be reimposed.
“The sanctions are lifted unless something happens that we’re not happy with,” he added.
It’s definitely one of those “time will tell” things. But so far this seems like a good development.
Trump also added:
“Today’s announcement validates our course of action with Turkey that only a couple of weeks ago was scorned and now people are saying, ‘wow, what a great outcome, congratulations,'” Mr. Trump said.
I haven’t seen that happening, except for Republicans such as Lindsay Graham, who seem relatively pleased but not exactly what you’d call effusive. If you can find some Democrats praising Trump, I’d be very interested to see who those people are and what they are saying.
I suspect this ceasefire will not extend to the various militias the Turks have armed against the Kurds.
Hey, look! It’s another accomplishment of President Trump that his enemies can entirely pretend never happened!
Seriously, much of the saltiness of Trump fans/defenders can be linked directly to the refusal of his critics to give him credit for anything. It would be a lot easier to have civil conversations if people remembered the power of BUT, as in…”The economy has done very well under Trump BUT the long-term consequences of his tariffs and big spending could be severe.”
I personally find it very hard not to respond like a jerk to those who can’t acknowledge they’ve been even slightly incorrect about Trump in any way.
Mike
“The sanctions are lifted unless something happens that we’re not happy with,” he added.
I do believe he is admitting to a quid pro quo. I have been reliably informed that nothing we do for other nations can be predicated in any way on anything they do or don’t do for us.
Given that within Turkey, there has been a longstanding conflict between the Kurds and Turks, I doubt this ceasefire extends to Turkey, but is instead confined to Syria. Kurds comprise 20% of the population of Turkey. Given the way Ergodan has been acting the last 10 years, Realpolitik informs us that it is to the advantage of the US to keep the Turks/Kurds conflict inside Turkey going. Realpolitik also informs us that as the main Kurdish group fighting in Turkey is Marxist, it is not to the advantage of the US to keep that conflict going. No easy choices.
Merkel’s new defense minister and CDU leader Annagret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKA AKK) is now saying that there should be international forces to enforce the ceasefire. Maybe Trump with the help of Rick Grennell is making people realize that they have to step up to the plate. Of course, we’ll have to see what they will relly do.
They will do jack or shit or a combination of the two.
Didn’t Putin and Erdogan announce this yesterday?
I mean, ISES terrorists have escaped. The US has to bomb its own military base because potus is doing things based on his own magical thinking.
This is what incompetence looks like.
“This is what incompetence looks like.”
Uh…who put those troops in Syria in the first place? What national interest were they defending? What act of Congress authorized their deployment?
It would be much easier to take these charges of incompetence seriously if people like you could admit that Trump is coming in at the end of a long string of mistakes, failures, and flat-out bad ideas to try and finally fix things.
Mike
Manju, your man Barack Hussein Obama insists on calling the Muslim butchers ISIL, so you should do the same.
I personally find it very hard not to respond like a jerk to those who can’t acknowledge they’ve been even slightly incorrect about Trump in any wa
Richard John Neuhaus used the term ‘defunct’ to mean ‘finished a course of life’. An agency could be defunct even though it still employed people, as it was failing and not advancing its foundational mission. He found Union Theological Seminary defunct in this sense.
Which brings us to National Review. Their better writers can certainly find berths at PJ Media and The American Spectator. Their lesser writers can learn to code.
admit that Trump is coming in at the end of a long string of mistakes, failures, and flat-out bad ideas to try and finally fix things.
The level of violence in Iraq is the lowest it has been since 2002, particularly in the predominantly Shi’ite and Kurdish provinces, where there might have been 300-odd civilian deaths in the last year. There have since 2003 been two successful efforts to contain and suppress political violence in Iraq, one implemented in 2007 and 2008, and one implemented in 2017. Funny thing about the timing.
What the heck is this all about — “Iraqi defense minister gives US troops 4 weeks to leave Iraq”:
Glancing about us it seems as though there is a great deal of political unrest across the world these days. Iraq has been seeing large protests for weeks now, with as many as 400+ reported deaths. Lebanon erupted five days ago: their government teeters on the edge of collapse. JPost reports Qassem Solemani has been dispatched to Beirut to see after Hezbollah. Catalonia rises against the Spanish government, demanding a referendum on partition toward independence. Chileans are in the streets the last five days: I’ve no idea why. Ecuadorians are beginning to calm down after winning surrender from their weak “austerity” imposing government. Venezuela is in total collapse, though their people are too exhausted to muster the energy to maintain their massive protests. The Brits are in turmoil — cause obvious — but have yet to mount wide scale street protest. That could be coming any day now, who knows. The French yellow vests appear to have tapered off, or are they merely going on unreported? And then, of course, perhaps the largest, most extended protests of all are in Hong Kong.
Seems like a trend, don’t it?
What the heck is this all about —
It’s about a newspaper stirring the pot with the excuse that one official said something marginally different from what the other official said.
with as many as 400+ reported deaths. Lebanon erupted five days ago: their government teeters on the edge of collapse. J
Ministerial crises are quite unremarkable in Lebanon. Al Jazeera reports about 160 dead in Iraq; what’s unusual about that in Iraq is that the government was responsible, rather than the usual bomb-planters and head-hackers.
Michael Knights: Exposing and Sanctioning Human Rights Violations by Iraqi Militias
Waal Ron Nessen once said, “No one believes the official spokesman. Everyone believes an anonymous source.”
It’s only a report, either way. Here the point is merely to provide a cute. The relatives of the dead will know one way or the other, and they’ll be the ones to hold or release resentments in action.
Cite. Sheesh.
Merkel’s new defense minister
Eff’em. Germany has been useless, less than useless. If they want to send troops they can ask the Turks. And Manju, you would be far more convincing if you knew what you were talking about. My understanding is that about 100 ISIS/dependents escaped out of 10,000+ captives. Do you really think the Kurds, SDF, or Syria want to let iSIS prisoners go? Do you really think the media know what the hell is going on? They don’t have anyone on the ground, all they have is gossip. There is very little actual journalism to be found.
I personally find it very hard not to respond like a jerk to those who can’t acknowledge they’ve been even slightly incorrect about Trump in any way.
MBunge: You started off so well, but here’s your conclusion and here’s your emphasis, so I would assume it’s your real message.
Who on this blog do you think you are talking to?
MBunge: Or … “to whom on this blog do you think you are talking?” if that parses better.
In other lesser Trump news today (sorry to hijack Neo), he gave a speech on shale, fracking, oil, gas, and energy in Pittsburg. Highlights below:
We, since WW2, have lacked the fortitude to wage total war, to demand unconditional surrender. Lacking that resolve, don’t go to war, it always results in too much blood and never brings about a conclusive reward.
Trump is right to end meddling in the ME. The best thing we can do is support Israel against their many enemies, and that includes most of Europe.
Responding to Manju is like talking to a brick wall; he, she, xer, or they is a pointlesss endevor. When one lives in a world view where there are endless genders or was a he, she, xer of a candidate who campaigned in all 57 states and stated Austrians spoke Austrian, well you are responding to a dummy. I suspect he, she, xer is from a 3rd world shithole getting pennies per word from some Soros open borders foundation.
Enteracting with a dumbie is dumb. Wise up.
Criticism (1) of Trump’s pullout of Syria was the upcoming Turkish genocide against the Kurds. (2) was the “loss of influence” in the area.
On “influence” (2), the US using cash is as effective, or more so, than using the Army, and results in less US body bags. Even it results in a lot more deaths of others, Kurds, Turks, ISIS / ISIL, Muslims, fanatics, Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Persians. Most US voters don’t really care much about the body bags of such foreigners. So Trump’s pullout, ending US part of Endless War there, was always pretty OK on this, tho (real) neo-cons, who want the US Army to make the Middle East safe for democracy, want more US boots for more democracy.
On (1) genocide, or even huge attacks, it’s pretty clear the Turks aren’t going to do that, now, in Syria / Iraq. They still might inside of Turkey.
So this is going to become a good Trump policy that is mostly no longer talked much about in the news, unless other bad ME news can be blamed on it. Well, of course ALL bad ME news coming WILL be blamed on Trump. He did something, therefore it’s ALL his fault, all the bad stuff. None of the good stuff, like fewer US deaths.
And of course this can change, tho I doubt the Turks really want to be fighting the battle trained Kurds. Now I’m thinking of the Chinese in ’79 learning that it was not wise to fight the battle trained N. Vietnamese, so their little border war ended, and was not covered in much detail by US news that I remember.
Good news, certainly, but I suspect the only permanent thing in that area of the world is cross tribal and nation conflict. People like Stephen Hayes go on and on about the strategic importance of that region to the US, but never actually detail what it is that is strategic.
Lee Smith, The Federalist: 10 Questions To Ask About Trump’s Removal Of Troops From Syria
I don’t have any expectation that it is permanent and maybe not even long-lasting. But it looks like it might be better than what we had. That’s enough. See also, Trump and North Korea, China, EU.