The Liberal Gun Club Forum

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday welcomed President Trump’s announcement of a withdrawal of American troops from Syria, calling it “the right decision.”

Mr. Trump said on Wednesday that he was ordering the withdrawal because the United States military had achieved its goal of defeating the Islamic State militant group in Syria. But the move caught many by surprise, including some of his military and diplomatic advisers. It has also drawn criticism, even among Republicans, for abandoning Kurdish allies in the fight against the Islamic State and for aiding the geopolitical ambitions of Iran and Russia in the Middle East.

Speaking at his annual news conference, which typically runs for several hours, Mr. Putin said he broadly agreed that the Islamic State had been defeated in Syria. “Donald’s right, and I agree with him,” Mr. Putin said.

The Russian leader expressed skepticism, however that American forces would actually withdraw, as the United States had announced a pullout from Afghanistan by 2014 but still has forces in that country today.
“We don’t see any signs yet of the withdrawal of U.S. troops,” he said. “How long has the United States been in Afghanistan? Seventeen years? And almost every year they say they’re pulling out their troops.”

Regarding Syria, he said, Mr. Trump made the right decision because the American troops are in the country illegally, never having been invited by the Syrian government, as Russian forces were.

The United States had backed opponents of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, though the approximately 2,000 American troops in the country have mostly avoided direct combat with the Russian-backed Syrian Army and its proxies. In February, American soldiers repelled an attack on their position by forces that included Russian citizens working for a Russian security contracting company.

Russia and the United States have observed a “de-conflicting” agreement to avoid direct engagement between their armed forces.

YankeeTarheel wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 8:41 am Trump keeps giving Russia and Putin gifts, to the detriment of the USA.
Russia committed, and continues to commit overt acts of cyber war against the USA, our allies and even some enemies, and Trump works HARD to defeat efforts to stop them.
Russia is clearly an enemy, and Trump is clearly giving aid and comfort to this enemy. And that's the Constitutional definition of Treason.

Even ReThuglican flip-floppers like Graham and Rubio realize this is a DREADFUL action at this time. I won't say "mistake" because it's not a mistake; it's a deliberate action to put the welfare of two enemy states, Syria and Russia, ahead of the interests of the US.

Meanwhile, Trump is pushing to lift sanctions on Russia, all the while, in every other tweet, writing "NO COLLUSION!!!!" as if saying it a thousand times makes it true.

dougb wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:26 pm Trump is truly the finest act of espionage ever committed by the Russians.

featureless wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 2:03 pm ... It will teach others we make poor allies (certainly the Kurds must think so).

Aztex999 wrote: Thu Dec 27, 2018 4:44 pm Yes, it's going to take many years to regain the trust of any past and future allies. We're selling out the Kurds just like we did the Iraqi Shiites after the first Gulf War (the supposed good one). Will they fight the Turks to the death; or retreat to become yet another branch of ISIS? We won't care - we'll be too distracted by our next recession.
Everything Trump touches turns to shit.