Tag: Kurds

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to lift the state of emergency that has resulted in arrests and dismissal of tens of thousands of government employees, including many scientists and teachers. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Beltway Confidential

The heartbreaking story of Turkey sentencing an American NASA scientist to 7.5 years in prison

Eugene Chudnovsky · February 10, 2018 5:01 am

Kurdish forces captured Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh last month. Their capture ends the Islamic State group of four British fighters nicknamed "the Beatles" for their accents. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Beltway Confidential

Trump should send the ‘Beatles’ to Guantanamo

Tom Rogan · February 9, 2018 11:00 am

Soldiers with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have successfully captured two men, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were part of a four-man Islamic State militant group dubbed the "Beatles" for their British accents. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Final two ISIS ‘Beatles’ captured by American-backed Kurdish forces

Katie Leach · February 9, 2018 12:38 am

Scots voted to remain British just over three years ago. That vote, all sides agreed in advance, would settle the issue for a generation. But when Britain voted to leave the European Union shortly afterwards, the leader of the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon, thought she saw an opportunity to reopen the issue, because Scotland, unlike England and Wales, had voted to stay in.

Daniel Hannan: Put out more flags

Dan Hannan · January 29, 2018 5:01 am

Turkey has made military moves into the predominantly Kurdish region of Syria known as Afrin not to fight terrorism — because Afrin isn't a center of terrorism — but rather as part of its obsessive and unhinged campaign against Kurds. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Beltway Confidential

In Afrin, Turkey seeks ethnic cleansing, not terror eradication

Michael Rubin · January 27, 2018 12:00 am

"They have legitimate security concerns, so we're going to continue to engage with them," said Dana White, chief Pentagon spokesperson. (AP Photo)

National Security

Pentagon: Split with Turkey over Kurds is a ‘distraction, not a crisis’

Jamie McIntyre · January 26, 2018 10:50 am

President Trump "urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces," in a phone call with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

National Security

Trump warns Turkey not to ‘risk conflict’ with US troops

Joel Gehrke · January 24, 2018 8:11 pm

Jim Mattis declined to say if the U.S. raised any objection to the Turkish offensive, and he was careful not to criticize Turkey publicly. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

National Security

Jim Mattis: US ‘very alert’ to tensions between Turks and Kurds in Syria

Jamie McIntyre · January 22, 2018 7:13 pm

After Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the American presence in Syria will extend beyond the defeat of the Islamic State, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: "Tillerson has said many times that the only goal, the only reason is to defeat [the Islamic State in Syria]. Now, they have even more far-reaching plans, and we'll have to keep that in mind and try to find ways that would prevent [them] from undercutting the sovereignty of the Syrian state." (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Russia will counter US efforts to undercut Assad in Syria

Joel Gehrke · January 19, 2018 8:52 pm

White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster identified Turkey as a key source of funding for "extremist ideologies" around the world, a rebuke that angered the Turkish government. It's the latest incident in the deterioration of the U.S. relationship with Turkey, a NATO ally led by the increasingly-authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Turkey blasts H.R. McMaster for his ‘astonishing, baseless and unacceptable’ terrorism allegations

Joel Gehrke · December 13, 2017 10:22 pm

I just don't believe working with Syrian President Bashar Assad represents realism in action. Instead, I believe that perceiving Assad to be a realist partner is to obsess on short-term hopes at the expense of the long term. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Beltway Confidential

Yes, Bashar Assad’s success will fuel ISIS

Tom Rogan · December 11, 2017 7:19 pm

The work of the CIA is too important to be left to just anybody. Director Mike Pompeo (pictured above) is clearly exceeding expectations, both in his relationship with President Trump and in his leadership of a complex but crucially important agency.

Beltway Confidential

Mike Pompeo just proved why America needs him at the CIA

Tom Rogan · December 6, 2017 5:01 am