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It is true that Trump has had a "decades-long relationship with Russian financiers". But I think John Reimann exaggerates the significance of this in determining Trump's foreign policy as president. Certainly Trump tried to improve relations with Russia early in his presidency. You could attribute this to his links with Russian mafia capital. But you could also say that it made sense for US imperialism to reach an agreement with Russian imperialism, its most militarily powerful rival, to minimise conflict, agree on spheres of influence, etc. John is wrong in his interpretation of the dispute over US troops in Syria. He says: "That planned withdrawal [of US troops from Syria] can only be seen as a step towards strengthening the position of Russia and its ally in the region - Turkey". On the contrary, Trump's aim was to re-establish the close collaboration which had existed between the US and Turkey, but which had broken down after the US began supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS. Turkey is very hostile to the SDF and the Kurdish-led revolutionary movement in northern Syria. Turkey had supported various reactionary armed groups, including ISIS, against the YPG/YPJ and SDF. When the US began supporting the SDF, Erdogan began to seek a deal wth Russia. This deal involved Turkey abandoning the goal of overthrowing Assad, in return for Russia allowing Turkey to invade parts of Syria to attack the SDF. Russia, which controlled the airspace over Afrin (a predominantly Kurdish area of northern Syria, which was controlled by the SDF but geographically separate from the main SDF-controlled area in northeastern Syria), gave Turkey permission to invade. Erdogan has spoken of his intention to invade northeastern Syria. But the presence of US forces in that area, helping the SDF to fight ISIS, was an obstacle. Trump, by ending US support for the SDF, wanted to rebuild relations with Turkey and win it away from its increasingly close liinks with Russia. But other sections of the US ruling class were worried about the consequences of giving Turkey the green light to invade northeastern Syria. Such an invasion would disrupt the fight against ISIS, perhaps enabling it to grow in strength, not only in Syria but also in Iraq, where it remains very active. The invasion could have other unpredictable effects. For example, a Turkish occupation of northeastern Syria would be strongly resisted, resulting in economic costs and casualties that could cause discontent and perhaps a revolutionary upsurge in Turkey. Thus Trump was forced to back down on his withdrawal plan. But this had nothing to do with Trump's supposed support for Russia. Chris Slee ________________________________ From: John Reimann <1999wild...@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, 23 April 2019 2:21:24 AM To: Chris Slee Cc: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition Subject: Re: [Marxism] The Mueller Report: Glenn Greenwald vs. David Cay Johnston on Trump-Russia Ties, Obstruction & More I am unsure exactly what Chris Slee is saying. Is he saying that Trump is not seriously compromised as far as his (Trump's) ties with Putin and the Russian mafia capitalist class? Is he saying that Trump's actions are not in large measure guided by his links? Because if so, then Chris has really missed what is happening here. To review: Trump has had a decades-long relationship with Russian financiers, whose money he has laundered through is real estate interests. In fact, even prior to that, there is evidence that he had made contact with the KGB when he visited Czechoslovakia with his first wife, who was from there. (See "House of Trump, House of Putin" for the full story on that.) His first act as Republican nominee - in fact, before he even was the official nominee - was to send an emmissary to the Republican platform committee to eliminate a call for sanctions against Russia. (We should keep in mind that the economic sanctions against Russia have been an important issue for Putin for quite some time.) During the election campaign and after, Trump continually caused shock waves with his verbal attacks on NATO. Then he had the series of private meetings with Putin. After one of these, he publicly took Putin's side against his own intelligence agencies. Then there was the planned removal of all US troops from Syria. It's true that he has evidently backed down, but this was seen as a huge shock at the time - serious enough to cause the resignation of several of his top appointees. That planned withdrawal can only be seen as a step towards strengthening the position of Russia and its ally in the region - Turkey. As far as Venezuela: I think it is highly unlikely that Trump will send a military invasion, but that is more because even that dunce knows what a morass he'd be getting into if he did so. Yes, his hostility to Maduro in some ways conflicts with his relationship with Putin, but no capitalist alliance is always smooth. There are always conflicting interests. But overall, there is a reason that the more serious heads among the US capitalist strategists and thinkers - including the NY Times, the Washington Post and the Council on Foreign Relations - are so concerned. There is a reason that they denounce Trump's connections with Putin & co. And it's not that they want war and Trump wants peace. That's for sure. The reason is that their understanding is accurate. John Reimann _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
