TRUMP WATCH: 4.15.17 - Tillerson in Moscow: Pushing on Syria where Obama failed

Tillerson in Moscow: Pushing on Syria where Obama failed - By Josh Lederman -

http://www.timesofisrael.com/tillerson-in-moscow-pushing-on-syria-where-obama-failed/

 

'The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end,' top US diplomat predicts at start of Russia visit

 

The Trump administration veered toward deeper conflict with Russia Tuesday as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Moscow, gambling that an unpredictable new president armed with the willingness to threaten military action gives the US much-needed leverage to end Syria's carnage.

 

Yet there were no guarantees Tillerson's arguments would prove any more successful than the Obama administration's failed effort to peel Russia away from its Syrian ally. Tillerson's mission, coming days after 59 Tomahawk missiles struck a Syrian air base, also carries serious risks: If Russia brushes off the warnings, President Donald Trump could be forced into another show of force in Syria or see his credibility wane.

 

"I hope that what the Russian government concludes is that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar al-Assad," Tillerson said before flying to the Russian capital, referring to Syria's embattled leader.

 

"The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end," he confidently predicted.

 

But Tillerson's claim is one President Barack Obama, too, argued for years, only to see Assad outlast his own term in office. And the Trump administration's nascent Syria policy seems to be increasingly centering on the same tactic Obama unsuccessfully employed: persuading Russia, Assad's staunchest ally, to abandon him.

 

The parallels haven't gone unnoticed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as US officials have accused his military of knowing about Assad's recent chemical weapons attack ahead of time and trying to help cover it up. Calling for a UN investigation, Putin held to his claim that it was actually Assad opponents who introduced chemical weapons into Syria's harrowing civil war.

 

"We have seen it all already," Putin said. Jabbing at US credibility, the Russian leader reminded reporters about unfounded US claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, used to justify America's 2003 invasion.

 

The escalating dispute over last week's events in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun has thrust Washington and Moscow into a level of tension rarely seen since the end of the Cold War. The animosity is especially striking given widespread speculation that Trump, who lavishly praised Putin during his campaign, would pursue rapprochement with Moscow.

 

Even on Syria, the positions appeared to be hardening. Only a week ago, top Trump officials had spoken off deprioritizing past US efforts to remove Assad from office and accepting the "reality" that 18 months of Russian military intervention had secured him in power. Since last Thursday's cruise missile strike, Tillerson and other US officials appear to have reverted to the past administration's rhetoric of insisting that Assad is on the way out, without outlining any strategy for making that happen.

 

The Trump administration's change of heart, apparently spurred in part by the president's emotional response to the images of chemical weapons victims, also is serving another purpose: defanging the perception of coziness between Trump and Moscow. As the FBI and multiple congressional committees investigate potential collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign, the president can point to his hard-line stance on Assad as fresh evidence he's willing to stand up to Putin.

 

Asked about Putin possibly skipping a meeting with Tillerson, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, "There is a bit of irony that for all of these talks that have been perpetuated about back channels and direct links, that now it's they won't meet with you." At a minimum, Tillerson will meet Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the two are expected to take questions from reporters.

 

As Tillerson landed in Moscow, senior White House officials briefed reporters on declassified US intelligence they said disproved Russia's claim that rebels were responsible for the chemical weapons. In an accompanying four-page memo, the US accused Russia of a disinformation campaign and aiding Syria in covering up the gruesome attack, which killed more than 80 people.

 

"Russia's allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents," the report read.

 

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, "It is very clear who planned this attack, who authorized this attack and who orchestrated this attack."

 

Putin's government has been incensed by the Trump administration's public accusations, and even more so by US military intervention in Syria. The retaliatory strikes, which Obama declined to approve after blaming Assad for an even deadlier chemical weapons attack in 2013, hit an air base where Russian troops were also present, although none are believed to have been killed.

 

Meeting allies earlier Tuesday in Italy, Tillerson delivered an ultimatum to Russia: Side either with the US and its dozens of coalition partners or face the isolation of a partnership with Assad, Iran and Hezbollah. That may hardly be punishment for the Kremlin, which dismissed many of Obama's similar warnings about Russia being sucked into a quagmire in Syria with no way out while tarnishing its international reputation.

 

Trump may not have much to offer Russia currently. Even if Moscow cooperates, the allegations of election meddling have weakened the US leader's hand to deliver on any significant carrot, such as a loosening of the US and European economic sanctions stemming from Russia's actions in Ukraine.

 

And wielding the stick of potential military action is risky. Trump's cruise missile order restored the believability of Washington using its military might in Syria.

 

But if Moscow ignores Trump's entreaties or if Assad uses chemical weapons again, bad options await Trump. He can order more military action, with the danger of an escalating America involvement in a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Or he can hold back and risk losing face like Obama.

 

Putin seems undeterred. Hours after Tillerson's warning, his office announced Russia would host Syria and Iran's foreign ministers for a three-way meeting Friday, the day after Tillerson departs.

 

 

Trump may end what Clinton started in Korea - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

North Korea communist dictator Kim Jong-un has been rattling the nuclear sabers and US President Donald Trump isn't taking any chances. Trump, in a show of strength and warning, dispatched a US Navy strike group into the west Pacific and there are reports that Seal Team 6 is training to assassinate Jong-un. Jong-un has announced his intent to explode another underground nuclear bomb this week, and has threatened a nuclear strike on the US, perhaps using a submarine. Trump told Fox News that Jong-un "is doing the wrong thing," but refused to go into specifics about his military plan. North Korea would not have been part of the nuclear club if not for former President Bill Clinton.

 

Let's roll back the clock to October 1994, where after 17 months of negotiations, President Bill Clinton committed the US to a nuclear deal with communist North Korea. Clinton is quoted as saying, "This US-North Korean agreement will help to achieve a long-standing and vital American objective: an end to the threat of nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula." Heritage Foundation archives document in an October 20 letter to North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il, Clinton vastly expanded America's commitments under the formal agreement to finance fuel shipments and reactors, and to ease its long-standing trade embargo and move toward first-ever diplomatic relations with the North.

 

Clinton's long-held belief on nuclear weapons was that if everyone had them, nobody would use them and the world would be a safer place. On June 11, 1993, the US agreed to not use force or nuclear weapons against North Korea if it remained in the nonproliferation treaty. North Korea continued to develop its nuclear weapons program. On October 18, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed a deal to give North Korea light water reactor nuclear technology if it stopped building nuclear weapons, saying, "Today all Americans should know that as a result of this achievement on Korea, our Nation will be safer and the future of our people more secure."

 

In reality, the world is much more dangerous because of Clinton's reckless shenanigans. North Korea went on to develop nuclear weapons and to assist Iran in its nuclear weapons program. Where the immediate past "president" preferred the use of verbal diplomacy that allowed barbarians their way, Trump has shown no hesitancy to use military force against the world's bullies. While many in America look at Jong-un as a mentally-challenged little fat man always peering through binoculars, we need to realize that, thanks to Clinton, he has lethal power, and needs to be taken seriously. Romans 12:18 says, "If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men." Peace is a two-way street, especially when millions of lives are at stake. Sadly, Trump may be forced to end what Clinton foolishly began.