How does the Trump administration’s Syria policy differ from the Obama administration’s? It’s not evident there’s much practical distance between the two, despite a prepared statement from President Trump Tuesday afternoon blasting “the past administration’s weakness and irresolution.”
Issued in response to a chemical weapons attack Tuesday by the regime of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad that killed dozens of civilians, the president’s statement condemned the attack as “reprehensible” and said it “cannot be ignored by the civilized world.” What, exactly, does that mean? Is it a change in American policy toward Syria and Assad? The White House did not respond to a request to comment further.
More Obama-Trump Mirroring on Assad
Another prepared administration statement, from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said Assad “must be held accountable.” Tillerson also said the Syrian Civil War, which has claimed thousands of lives and torn apart the Middle Eastern country, “a genuine ceasefire and the supporters of the armed combatants in the region need to ensure compliance.”
“We call upon Russia and Iran, yet again, to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime and to guarantee that this sort of horrific attack never happens again,” Tillerson’s statement continued. “As the self-proclaimed guarantors to the ceasefire negotiated in Astana, Russia and Iran also bear great moral responsibility for these deaths.”
Tillerson’s calling out of Russia and Iran, two allies of Assad’s regime, does not sound all that different from President Obama’s outgoing message to Moscow and Tehran on Syria in December. The Obama administration, as Trump’s statement correctly points out, issued a “red line” warning to Assad that it never enforced. So far, there appears to be no broad change from this policy of tough talk but scant action in the Trump administration.
Trump Preparing to Square Off with Xi Over South Korea?
President Trump will have his first meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping during a 24-hour visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida—the same place where Trump met with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe earlier this year. The White House says it is the administration’s hope to “work with” the Chinese on the growing threat from a possible North Korean weaponized nuclear program.
According to a senior White House official, Trump may address with Xi Chinese sanctions against South Korea, a touchy subject for the Communist leader as China tries to exert its influence in the Pacific region. The installation of the United States’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea has angered Beijing enough for the Chinese government to institute retaliatory economic sanctions against the American ally.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes up,” said the White House official when pressed Tuesday on whether President Trump will bring up the issue of China’s sanctions, which have included closing Chinese locations of a Korean department-store chain and banning Chinese tourist groups from visiting South Korea.
The THAAD system is designed to shoot down short- and medium-range ballistic missiles from the hostile North Korea regime, but Beijing views the system’s deployment as an affront to its influence in the region. The White House official said that while the Trump administration is “familiar with China’s objections to THAAD,” the United States will continue to support it and its placement in South Korea.
“The United States will always act to defend our allies and our homeland against any threat, and particularly one of the nature of the North Korea regime,” the official said. “There will be no move away from protecting our South Korean allies and the United States.”
Obamacare Repeal Is Back…Sort of.
The White House is looking for ways to get Republicans on Capitol Hill back to the negotiating table on some version of the American Health Care Act. USA Today reports:
Song of the Day
“Impossible Germany,” Wilco.
