Abdullah Muradoglu
Everyone agrees on the statement that the airstrikes in Syria are a symbolic intervention. According to the American media, the attack is a display of fireworks. It has been said that Assad is pleased with the results of the attack. His Russian visitors have said that Assad has been in a good mood. There was a fear that clashes between the US and Russia would begin. However, it did not come to pass. Smart missiles passed over the military bases where Russians were.
If we look at the Western media, the attacks carried out by the US and its partners are a “cosmetic” intervention that did not result in any change in the region. The Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who does not want the US to be in a direct war with Iran and Russia, played a role in enabling the intervention to be just a “cosmetic” one. On the other hand, John Bolton, who is Trump’s National Security Advisor, wanted a comprehensive and destructive attack.
Trump criticized Clinton, Bush and Obama for leading the US to stupid wars which had cost the country trillions of Dollars. Therefore, the attacks in Syria disappointed Trump’s conservative supporters after he said, “We will pull out our soldiers from Syria.” While writer Ann Coulter was lining up Trump’s previous messages, Lucian B. Wintrich was asking the question: “After Trump’s first year we have: 1.3 trillion omnibus, no wall, war in Syria. Is Clinton secretly President?”
Trump naming his obvious hawk Bolton as National Security Advisor and his nominating Mike Pompeo, who is the Director of CIA, to the US Department of State is in complete contrast to his portrait in 2016.
Trump applying additional customs tariffs only on China, his preparation for going back to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, from which he withdrew the US, and the increasing tensions in relations with Russia perturbs his supporters. Things have come to people claiming that Trump was taken hostage by the “Deep State.”
It seems that American soldiers will continue to stay in Syria. Nikki Haley, ambassador of the United States to the United Nations, declared on Sunday that US troops will stay for a long time in Syria. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has also notified that he convinced Trump about this issue. By indicating that Trump has not changed his mind about the withdrawal from Syria, the White House did not indicate any date regarding the withdrawal even though it has rejected the explanations of Macron. The senate confirmation process of the CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who was nominated to the US Department of State, started on Thursday. Pompeo was confirmed to the post of CIA Director by a 66 to 32 vote by securing support from 14 Democrats. Now, the situation does not seem so easy. Republican Rand Paul, from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, declared that he would not vote to confirm.
During the query from the senate, Pompeo was confronted with difficult questions regarding many issues such as the regime change in Iran, Russia, North Korea, Syria, etc. Democrat senators do not consider Pompeo as someone who could suppress Trump’s war impulses. On the other hand, Pompeo tried to give the impression that he would choose diplomacy over war. If the senate does not confirm it, the senate majority leader Mitch McConnel can directly bring the nomination to the General Assembly. It has been expected that the process will end toward the end of the month. In any case, Pompeo will be the Secretary of State.In the following days, it can be foreseen that former FBI Director James Comey’s book will make its mark in Washington.
It has been also expected that the criminal proceedings against Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen will ramify. According to some speculations, Trump’s legal advisers think that the “Cohen Investigation” poses a bigger threat than the “Russia Investigation” to Trump.
The course of the “Iran Nuclear Deal” will become clear on May 12. It is expected that Trump and the Korean leader Kim Jong-Un will meet in May. It has been known that Bolton and Pompeo are eyeing Iran and North Korea like hawks. Therefore, it has been claimed that the Iran Nuclear Deal will be ripped up and that the meeting with Kim Jong-Un will fail.
