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From The Washington Post
Sen. Mitt Romney raises a troubling theory about Trump and Turkey
Sen. Mitt Romney delivered perhaps the most thorough Republican rebuke of President Trump’s Syria withdrawal Thursday, calling Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds there “a bloodstain on the annals of American history.”
But while that line will get a lot of play, there’s something else Romney said that shouldn’t escape notice. He also floated a theory about how Trump arrived at the decision: that he got bullied into it by Turkey and that he backed down.
“It’s been … suggested that Turkey may have called America’s bluff, telling the president they are coming no matter what we did,” said Romney, of Utah. “If that’s so, we should know it. For it would tell us a great deal about how we should deal with Turkey, now and in the future.”
Romney then returned to the idea that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have given Trump an ultimatum that was met with acquiescence.
COMMENT:-
Considering that what Turkey wanted was a 20-mile-wide zone of control in northern Syria and an end to the autonomous Kurdish political unit of Rojava and what Turkey got was a 20-mile-wide zone of control in northern Syria and an end to the autonomous Kurdish political unit of Rojava, Mr. Romney's supposition doesn't appear to be all that far fetched.
Of course the facts that the Turkish government quickly has said that it has NOT signed off on any "deal", and also considering that, it is also taking the position that the "deal" is not a ceasefire and also considering that the Syrian Kurdish leaders are rather miffed about the "deal" because they weren't consulted at all (and that they also completely reject the "deal"), make it seem that Mr. Romney's speculation is even less far fetched.
Sen. Mitt Romney raises a troubling theory about Trump and Turkey
Sen. Mitt Romney delivered perhaps the most thorough Republican rebuke of President Trump’s Syria withdrawal Thursday, calling Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds there “a bloodstain on the annals of American history.”
But while that line will get a lot of play, there’s something else Romney said that shouldn’t escape notice. He also floated a theory about how Trump arrived at the decision: that he got bullied into it by Turkey and that he backed down.
“It’s been … suggested that Turkey may have called America’s bluff, telling the president they are coming no matter what we did,” said Romney, of Utah. “If that’s so, we should know it. For it would tell us a great deal about how we should deal with Turkey, now and in the future.”
Romney then returned to the idea that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have given Trump an ultimatum that was met with acquiescence.
COMMENT:-
Considering that what Turkey wanted was a 20-mile-wide zone of control in northern Syria and an end to the autonomous Kurdish political unit of Rojava and what Turkey got was a 20-mile-wide zone of control in northern Syria and an end to the autonomous Kurdish political unit of Rojava, Mr. Romney's supposition doesn't appear to be all that far fetched.
Of course the facts that the Turkish government quickly has said that it has NOT signed off on any "deal", and also considering that, it is also taking the position that the "deal" is not a ceasefire and also considering that the Syrian Kurdish leaders are rather miffed about the "deal" because they weren't consulted at all (and that they also completely reject the "deal"), make it seem that Mr. Romney's speculation is even less far fetched.