Thread by @Southfive

When weighing in on yesterday's White House announcement on #Syria, let's at least consider a few realities:

1/X

Obama sold out Turkey vis-a-vis Syria from 2013 onward on behalf of his comically awful Iran nuke deal/realignment quest.

2/X

Trump inexplicably kept McGurk in charge for nearly two years, never mind that he was hated in both Ankara and Erbil. For doing this, DJT (and perhaps CENTCOM too) deserves much criticism.

3/X

Last we checked, the Kremlin is condemning the announcement so it's a bit presumptive to claim this is a big win for Russia.

4/X

This isn't only about Erdogan and AKP. Most Turks, including many of the Kurds in Istanbul and other big cities, view the Marxist-Leninist PKK as an existential threat.

5/X

Trump got slammed -- rightly on occasion -- for bashing NATO but here he's coming to the aid of a NATO ally, even if we'd rather RTE no longer be in charge.

6/X

Turkey isn't being ejected from NATO. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not as long as NATO exists.

7/X

Turkey has been hosting millions of refugees for the past several years and their continued presence foments social and economic tension within the country. Most will need to go back — but can’t live under Assad rule.

8/X

Whatever one thinks of Turkey and RTE, in particular, it’s critical to understand their views.

That’s all for now.

9/9