Source: Foreign Policy By Steven A. Cook Last summer I wrote a piece for Foreign Policy called “Trump Is the First President to Get Turkey Right.” Some of my colleagues and friends thought I gone quite mad as the U.S. president brought his ferocious Twitter feed to bear on Turkish officials and Turkey’s economy. It… Continue reading TURKEY IS LYING ABOUT FIGHTING ISIS
TURKEY SAYS US MISSILE DEAL DOES NOT AFFECT S-400 PURCHASE
Source: AFP Ankara’s purchase of US missiles worth $3.5 billion will not affect a deal to acquire rival S-400 missiles from Russia, the Turkish presidential spokesman said Monday. “The US Patriot sale process does not affect the S-400 process. We don’t see one as an alternative for the other,” Ibrahim Kalin said. The US State… Continue reading TURKEY SAYS US MISSILE DEAL DOES NOT AFFECT S-400 PURCHASE
MATTIS RESIGNS AS DEFENSE CHIEF CITING DIFFERENCES WITH TRUMP
Source: Bloomberg By Anthony Capaccio Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced his resignation on Thursday, citing differences over policy with Donald Trump, a day after the president abruptly called for the withdrawal of American forces from Syria. Mattis informed the president of his decision in a meeting earlier in the afternoon in which the two discussed… Continue reading MATTIS RESIGNS AS DEFENSE CHIEF CITING DIFFERENCES WITH TRUMP
CYPRUS, GREECE, ISRAEL AGREE ON EASTMED PIPELINE
Source: Ekathimerini Cyprus, Greece and Israel reached on Thursday an interstate agreement on the EastMed pipeline, during the 5th tripartite summit that is being held in the Israeli city of Beer Sheva. As CNA learns, the agreement on the pipeline, which aims to connect Israel, Cyprus and Greece, needs to get the approval of the… Continue reading CYPRUS, GREECE, ISRAEL AGREE ON EASTMED PIPELINE
KURDISH FIGHTERS DISCUSS RELEASING ALMOST 3,200 ISIS PRISONERS
Source: NY Times By Hwaida Saad and Rod Nordland America’s Kurdish allies in Syria are discussing the release of 3,200 Islamic State prisoners, a prominent monitoring group and a Western official of the anti-Islamic State coalition said on Thursday, a day after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of all American troops from the country. Top… Continue reading KURDISH FIGHTERS DISCUSS RELEASING ALMOST 3,200 ISIS PRISONERS
TRUMP ABANDONS SYRIA’S KURDS: WILL TURKEY NOW CRUSH THEIR DREAM OF A “SDECULAR UTOPIA”?
Source: Ha’aretz By Alexander Griffing As the war in Syria unfolded and President Bashar Assad pulled his troops out of the Kurdish northeast to quell uprisings in the country’s western population centers, Syria’s Kurds – with U.S. support – took it upon themselves to defeat the Islamic State on their territory. As the Kurds pushed… Continue reading TRUMP ABANDONS SYRIA’S KURDS: WILL TURKEY NOW CRUSH THEIR DREAM OF A “SDECULAR UTOPIA”?
CHINA FLIGHT TESTS NEW SUBMARINE LAUNCHED MISSILE
Source: Free Beacon By Bill Gertz China carried out a flight test of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile last month that will carry multiple nuclear warheads capable of targeting most of the United States, according to American defense officials. The launch in late November was the first time the Chinese military flight tested the Julong-3,… Continue reading CHINA FLIGHT TESTS NEW SUBMARINE LAUNCHED MISSILE
US MILITARY PREPARING FOR A FULL WITHDRAWALL OF ITS FORCES FROM SYRIA
Source: WSJ By Dion Nissenbaum and Nancy A. Youssef The U.S. military is preparing a rapid withdrawal of its forces from Syria, administration officials said Wednesday, a move that marks an abrupt reversal of America’s strategy in the Middle East. As America’s four-year-old military campaign against Islamic State draws to a close, President Trump has… Continue reading US MILITARY PREPARING FOR A FULL WITHDRAWALL OF ITS FORCES FROM SYRIA
TURKEY CLEARED BY US FOR PATRIOT MISSILE DEAL DESPITE S-400 ROW
Source: Defense News By Aaron Mehta Amid an ongoing row concerning Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian air defense system, the U.S. State Department has cleared Ankara to purchase a package of Patriot systems, with an estimated price tag of $3.5 billion. The announcement, posted late Tuesday evening on the website of the Defense Security… Continue reading TURKEY CLEARED BY US FOR PATRIOT MISSILE DEAL DESPITE S-400 ROW
REPORT: CHINA IS DRIVING USE OF ARMED DRONES IN MIDDLE EAST
Source: Ha’aretz The use of armed drones in the Middle East, driven largely by sales from China, has grown significantly in the past few years with an increasing number of countries and other parties using them in regional conflicts to lethal effects, a new report said Monday. The report by the Royal United Services Institute,… Continue reading REPORT: CHINA IS DRIVING USE OF ARMED DRONES IN MIDDLE EAST