Ideas
Yes-Men Are Taking Over the Trump Administration
Trump is making foreign policy on the fly, seeking his personal advantage and undermining American power.
Ideas
It’s Not All Trump’s Fault: Syria Shows the Danger of War on the Cheap
America’s surprise withdrawal is deeply destabilizing, but so is the proxy war that Western countries have fought for five years.
Ideas
The US Has One Last Chance to Halt Its Withdrawal from the Middle East
The next president must do what is wise, not what is easy.
Policy
Pentagon Vows to Guard the Syrian Oil That Trump Wants to Seize
That includes warding off Syrian and Russian forces, SecDef Esper says, with murky justification under domestic and international law.
Ideas
What Was the Point of the Syria ‘Withdrawal’?
Donald Trump, who vowed to get troops out of Syria altogether, incurred all the strategic costs without getting any of the political benefit.
Threats
US Troops, Armor Will ‘Secure’ Oil Fields in Syria, Says SecDef in New Reversal
The U.S. might also maintain “one of our two airfields that are there,” said America’s envoy to Syria to lawmakers.
Threats
Trump’s STRATCOM Pick Declines to Endorse Open-Skies Withdrawal
The Trump administration is weighing pulling out of the 1992 surveillance agreement amid complaints that Russia is out of compliance.
Ideas
The Consequences of Donald Trump Washing His Hands of the Middle East
The short-term costs have been brutal, but the longer-term ones could be far more significant.
Threats
Trump Declares Victory in Syria, Claims Credit for It All
“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” the president says, as Congress fumes.
Threats
Top SDF Commander: Turkey Blocking Kurds’ Retreat; Urges Trump to ‘Stop This War’
“I am asking President Trump right now to fulfill his promise to us and stop this war,” Mazlum Abdi told Defense One by phone.
Ideas
10 Hard Realities of America’s Next Syria Policy
The troops are leaving, but the U.S. still has regional and global interests in what happens there.
Ideas
Ep. 57: The Future of the U.S. Military in Syria (for now)
Three Middle East experts forecast likely consequences and the longterm costs of the U.S. military withdrawing from northern Syria.
Threats
US Agrees to Lift Sanctions on Turkey in Syria ‘Ceasefire’ Deal
“From what I understand it’s not a ceasefire,” Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters on Capitol Hill. “You have one-hundred-and-X number of hours to get out of here before we kill you.”
Threats
US Lawmakers Fear The Damage Is Done On Syria
“The egg may be scrambled,” said one Armed Services Committee lawmaker amid a welter of efforts to salvage the situation.
Ideas
Donald Trump Looks More and More Like Oliver North
Iran-Contra was also about a foreign policy run from inside the White House and outside the law.
Threats
The US Literally Doesn’t Know How Many ISIS Fighters Have Escaped In Syria
“We just have less eyes on the ground to know for sure what is happening,” said one senior defense official.
Ideas
Trump Is Complicit in Erdoğan’s Violence
Now the war in Syria has a victor. And it’s not the U.S.
Ideas
‘Silent Warriors’ Speak Out Against Trump’s Syria Turnaround
America’s elite special operators are breaking their wall of silence like never before, 'betrayed' by Trump’s decision to pull back in Syria and erase years of hard work. But are they too late?
Threats
The US Is Leaving Syria. Russia Is Moving In.
“I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!” Trump tweeted.
Ideas