Head-Scratching Intensifies Over Syria as Trump Boasts About ‘Taking Control’ of Middle East’s Oil
…from Sputnik News, Moscow
[ Editor’s Note: More Twitter silliness from Trump this morning. The guy really needs to go into one of those addiction programs. Even the state of Indiana figured out it needed to ban cell phones from campus, as the lack of attention in the classroom and even school board meetings found people checking their phones constantly.
It had become attention deficit disorder on steroids and was winning the war for not necessarily the hearts, but certainly the minds on campus. Nothing was ever more important than “staying in touch with the world via twitter,” etc.
Dear Mr. Trump, Enough already. I appreciate your validating my early prediction that you would run the White House like a reality TV program, including a lot of firings. Thank you for your efforts to do it so openly, so that even the mentally challenged or smart-phone addicted could figure it out.
But for the dignity of the office, you might consider easing off a bit, or better, kill it like a soap opera that has run too long and needs to be put down.
One of the main jobs of being President is building a competent team that really knows how to do stuff. That takes the load off you, and gives you people to fire, which you like to do so much, as it gives an air that you are in charge.
But, the next time you want to put troops into a foreign country, why don’t you consider getting a UNSC vote on it first, as that would show that at least a whiff of leadership was involved in the process, doing things the right way.
It’s the kind of thing that builds confidence in people that they have leadership that is real, versus the kind that views that process as a bathrobe to be put on and taken off, in a cheap flashing endeavor to get attention… Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … October 19, 2019 –
Turkey on Friday agreed to put its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria on pause, which Donald Trump said would help the United States “secure the oil” in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump has made quite a few baffling decisions and statements regarding Syria, and the one about “taking control” of oil in the region due to the cease-fire in northern Syria has left observers looking for explanations.
“We’ve taken control of the oil in the Middle East, the oil that we’re talking about, the oil that everybody was worried about,” Donald Trump told reporters on Friday afternoon as he praised the deal with Turkey.
Trump also brought up the oil in a string of tweets about the five-day break in hostilities in northern Syria. “The US has secured the Oil, & the ISIS Fighters are double secured by Kurds & Turkey,” he tweeted.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
Just spoke to President @RTErdogan of Turkey. He told me there was minor sniper and mortar fire that was quickly eliminated. He very much wants the ceasefire, or pause, to work. Likewise, the Kurds want it, and the ultimate solution, to happen. Too bad there wasn’t…..
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
…..this thinking years ago. Instead, it was always held together with very weak bandaids, & in an artificial manner. There is good will on both sides & a really good chance for success. The U.S. has secured the Oil, & the ISIS Fighters are double secured by Kurds & Turkey….
The US president was likely referring to the oil fields in eastern Syria, which remain under Kurdish control. This part of the country, once held by Daesh* and since liberated by the formerly US-backed Kurdish militia, accounts for most of Syria’s oil reserves. The United States has so far failed to facilitate the return of these oil-rich territories to the Damascus government.
The fate of local oil and of thousands of Daesh captives held in Kurdish-run makeshift prisons was called into question amid the week-long Turkish operation in northeast Syria against the Kurdish fighters, who are designated in Turkey as terrorists.
This assault prompted the Kurds to quickly strike a deal with Damascus and agree for government forces to take up the territory and prevent the Turkish army from encroaching further into the country.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Trump meant by taking “control of the oil”, and what oil he was referring to, as there has been no word on related developments in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. While the Syrian army’s advances in northeast Syria are likely to see Damascus re-establish control over the oil wells, Trump was probably referring to the oilfields seized from Daesh by local militias.
His comments have still caused widespread confusion among journalists and pundits.
According to a popular YouTube political commentator who uses the handle Syrian Girl, Trump’s oil comments meant that the cease-fire deal was actually designed to make it safe for US soldiers to “continue occupying Syria’s oil fields”.
Nicholas A. Heras from the Centre for a New American Security, a Washington-based think-tank, has interpreted Trump’s comments as suggesting that the US will be “keeping a residual force” in Eastern Syria, perhaps in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.
Almost a year after Trump ordered the withdrawal of all US troops from Syria, there are still around 1,000 US soldiers in the country. They’re all expected to re-position to Iraq, Kuwait, and possibly Jordan in the next few weeks, except for a small garrison at Al Tanf military base, near the border with Jordan, which is expected to stay as a counter to Iran’s influence.
Given that the US presence in Syria will soon become minuscule, it remains to be seen how Trump will live up to his assertions.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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I especially liked his statement about the centuries-old friendship of the United States with the Roman Empire.
Trump is an embarrassment. that said, a cursory look at would-be successors from either political party is an exercise in depression; they are all owned. Former president, Jimmy Carter was absolutely correct, commenting about democracy in America after the Supreme Court’s “Citizen’s United” decision: “It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president”.
Harry Haller, that’s a fact. Big oil ordered their fully loaded tankers to anchor off of CONUS shores, rather than deliver to refineries, while Americans waited in gas lines; even/odd license plate numbers. The Federal Reserve jacked up interest rates to double digits, after allowing double-digit inflation. This helped swing the 1980 election to Reagan, who was neck deep in Iran Contra and should have been impeached.
Jimmy was a patriot and a great POTUS. He pissed off the Deep State and they punished him with inflation and high interest rates.
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