Trump and Putin 'agree to defeat IS in Syria'

[nitpicker]

Source: BBC

Trump and Putin 'agree to defeat IS in Syria'

12 minutes ago

From the section Middle East

US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin have agreed to fight so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria until its defeat, the Kremlin says. It said a statement was prepared by experts after the leaders met briefly on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam on Saturday. In total, the two leaders had three encounters within 24 hours at the summit in the port city of Da Nang.

There has been no official confirmation from the US about the statement so far. A meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin had been widely expected at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, but few details have emerged.
(snip)

While there was no official comment from the White House, a statement released by the Kremlin on Saturday said the leaders had "agreed that the conflict in Syria has no military solution". They also confirmed their "determination to defeat Isis [another term for IS]" and called on all parties to take part in the Geneva peace process. According to Russia's Interfax news agency, they promised to maintain existing Russian-US military channels of communication to prevent "serious incidents involving the forces of partners combating IS".
(snip)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also met his US counterpart Rex Tillerson earlier the same day, a source from the Russian delegation told Interfax news agency. The Kremlin said the two had co-ordinated the statement on Syria especially for the meeting in Da Nang.
(snip)


Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41953110

[mamas]

1. Didn't Obama already have this agreement with Putin. And haven't Syrian forces

captured the main strongholds of ISIS in Syria? I thought ISIS was already defeated in Syria?

[George II]

5. I was just about to point that out. For the most part ISIS had been defeated and on the run....

....by the time trump took office. Of course he'll take credit for it though.

[karynnj]

7. He has tried -- and he even tried to argue that he "broadened" the coalition

However, coalition that Obama/Kerry/Biden/Hagel and Carter pulled together in late 2014 was not increased. There were two UN sessions that I remember from 2014. The first led by Kerry included the UN's FM. Later than week, Obama led a meeting of the world's leaders. Here is CSPAN's video on the Obama led meeting - https://www.c-span.org/video/?321668-1/president-obama-chairs-un-security-council-meeting-isis

If I thought the Trump supporters valued the US REALLY leading in the world, I would use this to show how the US led in pulling together the ISIS coalition. I could add the US leading in designing the Paris Accord that every UN country has now signed on to (as Trump tries to take us out). Note that the other 11 nations at the conference in Vietnam this week are speaking of a version of TPP without the US. Look at the Iran deal, probably the most impressive use of diplomacy to avoid a war, was something where the US worked with the rest of the world. While the UN did vote more sanctions on NK, this was completely similar to many past actions on NK in the Obama years. What I do not see is any issue or conflict where Trump has actually been the leader and had other countries follow.

The interesting thing in this article is that Trump is said to being in agreement with diplomacy on Syria. Yet, where in late 2015, our Secretary of State was the lynchpin in getting the other countries to agree to a framework and pushing it through the UN, here it is not clear that the US has a leadership role. We certainly are not seen as driving this effort.

[karynnj]

6. Under Obama, there was the same deconfliction agreement to prevent the two countries

inadvertently hitting the other as both went after ISIS. The US and its 60 something country coalition had similar deconfliction channels with Iran and Syria.

ISIS has lost all of its main strongholds, but there are still some areas (I think in the desert) where ISIS may still be technically in control.

The Geneva talks referenced in this account are not to resolve anything between ISIS and the world, but rather to resolve the Syrian civil war. Here, the comment that there is no military solution is something that has been said by both every US diplomat and every Russian diplomat for nearly the entire civil war. Here, calling for everyone to go to Geneva has happened many times ... and the talks each time barely started before they were seen as going nowhere. The current UN framework that backs those talks is the resolution that Kerry and Lavrov were able to get through the UN in December 2015. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-un/u-n-endorses-syria-peace-plan-in-rare-show-of-unity-among-big-powers-idUSKBN0U10J020151219 Obviously the talks in 2016 did not succeed and the facts on the ground have changed enormously since December 2015. The Assad regime controls more land than it did then and the rebels were defeated in some of their strongholds.

What is most interesting here is that Russia is still calling for the Geneva talks and saying that it won't end with a military victory. In late 2016 and early 2017, Russia had initiated a different diplomatic path that included Turkey and Iran, but not the US - though they did specially say that the then future Trump administration would be welcome.

Even though Trump's firing missiles got huge media coverage - many contrasting that Obama did not do the same thing. (Most accounts minimized the fact that Obama and Kerry got 1200 tons of chemical weapons out which we then destroyed.) However, what got less coverage was that where Obama worked hard to get ceasefires and talks, Trump has pretty much left that work to Russia, Syria,Turkey and Iran. (one link on some Russian led talks - http://www.mei.edu/content/io/iran-and-russia-discuss-next-diplomatic-and-military-steps-about-syria )

Civil Wars are always difficult to heal. Syria is further complicated by the fact that Syria really was in the crosswalk of many conflicts. The Obama administration had no choice but to prioritize leading an effort to counter ISIS. Beyond ISIS, the civil war itself was not simple. For one, Turkey which was VERY anti Assad was even more against the Kurds, who were the strongest group fighting Assad. Add in that Hezbollah, which is both a terrorist group allied to Iran and a faction in Lebanon's government, was allied with Assad.

[mdbl]

2. Did Twump get an agreement that they won't hack our nations elections systems anymore?

or any other system they like to hack?

[tavernier]

3. Good question.

I think maybe not, but Putin most likely got a promise for everything he wants.

[mdbl]

4. Did Twump talk about his loans from russian banks?

just curious.