https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/10/08/trump-sells-out-kurds-his-own-unique-way/ Trump sells out the Kurds in his own unique way Already locked in a heated impeachment battle, President Trump found a new way to rile Washington this week. Late Sunday, the White House announced that it would not impede an imminent Turkish invasion into northeastern Syria. By Monday morning, my colleagues confirmed that the United States had begun withdrawing troops from the Syrian-Turkish border, where they had been stationed alongside U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters. It seemed the first phase of a possibly new and destabilizing military conflagration in war-ravaged Syria. By Monday evening, there were already reports of Turkish artillery shelling and airstrikes on Syrian Kurdish positions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/politics/trump-open-skies-treaty-arms-control.html Trump to Withdraw From ‘Open Skies’ Arms Control Treaty Mr. Trump’s decision, the third major retreat from arms control agreements, will be viewed as evidence that he also plans an exit from the last major arms treaty with Russia: New START. President Trump has decided to withdraw from another major arms control accord, according to senior administration officials, and will inform Russia on Friday that the United States is pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, negotiated three decades ago to allow nations to fly over each other’s territory with elaborate sensor equipment to assure they are not preparing for military action. Mr. Trump’s decision will be viewed as more evidence that he also may be poised to exit the one major arms treaty remaining with Russia: New START, which limits the United States and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear missiles each. It expires weeks after the next presidential inauguration. American officials have long complained that Moscow was violating the Open Skies accord by not permitting flights over a city where it was believed Russia was deploying nuclear weapons that could reach Europe, as well as forbidding flights over major Russian military exercises.+ And, in classified reports, the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies have contended the Russians are also using flights over the United States to map out critical American infrastructure that could be hit by cyberattacks. American officials also note that Mr. Trump was angered by a Russian flight directly over his Bedminster, N.J., golf estate, in 2017. But Mr. Trump’s decision, rumored for some time, is bound to further aggravate European allies, including those in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, who are also signatories to the treaty. They will remain in the accord, but have warned that, with Washington’s exit, Russia will almost certainly respond by cutting off their flights, too, which the allies use to monitor troop movements on their borders — especially important to the Baltic nations. For Mr. Trump, the decision marks the third time he has renounced a major arms control treaty. Two years ago, he abandoned the Iran nuclear accord, negotiated by President Barack Obama. Last year he left the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty, again saying that he would not participate in a treaty that he said Russia was violating. The Open Skies Treaty was negotiated by President George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State, James Baker, in 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the idea was first presented by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the summer of 1955, and was rejected by the Soviets as an elaborate plan to spy on a weaker foe. For more than a year, Mr. Trump has said he would not renew it unless China also joined. Beijing, which has a nuclear arsenal one-fifth the size of Washington’s and Moscow’s, has rejected the idea. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump will try for a brief extension of the treaty of several months — the current wording allows only for a single, 5-year extension — or abandon it altogether if China refuses to join.
https://www.economist.com/europe/20...ling-proposal-to-withdraw-troops-from-germany Donald Trump’s baffling proposal to withdraw troops from Germany A Possible Plan To Pull U.S. Troops From Germany Causes A Stir In Both Countries