A41 Subject to Trump's many erratic mood and policy swings the...

A41

Subject to Trump's many erratic mood and policy swings the US is actually sitting quite comfortably.

Syria and Iraq are dangerous places however despite the threats, neither Turkey nor any other belligerent is willing to take on the US directly.

Iran is starting is to play some of its chess games several moves ahead of the others and will continue to woo Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria notwithstanding the current US presence. Many groups are patiently ( and wisely) fence sitting for now.

I'm intrigued by some of the Chinese moves of late. China is well aware of the support and training provided by Turkey to Uighur Islamist separatist fighters in Syria but China plays its cards to a much longer term future …… post-Trump, post-Erdogan, post-Assad, post-Khamenei ….. even post-Putin.

That said, any deals between Turkey and China will presumably come with a condition that the Uighur Islamist militias are sent packing. Xi would lose face if he didn't apply those conditions.

I'll leave it to our Russian friends on these threads to suggest what conditions Putin may place on Turkey in return for a better economic accommodation...… with the qualification that Russia's economy isn't big enough to simply absorb anyone else's economic crisis.

cheers