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, 3 tweets, 1 min read
2 concerns re Turkey sanctions:

1. Trump, not sanctions, can save the Kurds. So shouldn't GOP be using the MASSIVE leverage they have over him right now to get him to change course, instead of passing sanctions he'll ignore anyway?

2. Splitting NATO is a huge win for Russia.
Sanctions are worth talking about, but we shouldn't do it because Republicans don't want to use the leverage they have to make Trump change course.

And if Trump won't implement them anyway (he's ignored other Turkey sanctions), then is it worth giving a gift to Russia?
Bottom line - right now, only Trump can fix this. Congress can't.

I'm willing to discuss sanctions legislation, but not at the cost of taking the pressure off the President to do the right thing.
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Chris Murphy
@ChrisMurphyCT
Today I'll be asking questions at the nomination hearing of our new Amb. to Russia.

Probably a good day to run down the mindblowingly long list of ways that Trump's foreign policy has been one giant wet kiss to Russia.

Hard to fit it all in one thread, but let's give it a shot!
May 2016: Announces his support for Brexit. Who benefits from a weaker EU? Russia.
May 2016: Questions U.S. commitment to NATO (aka the defense pact that prevents against Russian aggression).
Read 15 tweets
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Chris Murphy
@ChrisMurphyCT
1/ Quick important thread: For months I and others have warned State Dept that their diplomatic pull out in Iraq was going to have grave consequences for US security.

They didn’t listen, and now events are spiraling.
2/ I know all eyes are on Syria right now, but we shouldn't take our eye off the ball in Iraq.

The reports over the last few weeks of Iraqi security forces violently targeting protestors are deeply alarming.
reuters.com/article/us-ira…
3/ Brutal suppression of protests has killed 149 people and wounded 6,000. That's the highest # killed in demonstrations since immediately after the 2003 invasion.

Democratic countries don't turn their weapons on peaceful protesters.
Read 5 tweets
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Chris Murphy
@ChrisMurphyCT
1 / THREAD: Syria is a case study in how obsolete our foreign policy toolkit has become. Our only options today are troops or sanctions.

As we rightly eviscerate Trump for abandoning the Kurds, we must also work to make sure the next president has more options.

Let me explain.
2 / The vast majority of our national security budget goes to the military and intel. We're talking over $600 billion year.

To put that in perspective, we spend 20 times as much on the military and intel agencies as we do on diplomacy, democracy promotion and smart power.
3 / The problem? Most of the threats we face abroad are no longer conventional military threats. Syria, at it's heart, is a political, not military, quagmire.

But we could only deploy 20 year old soldiers there, when we needed a massive diplomatic and political investment.
Read 5 tweets

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Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan
Turkey and Russia reach an agreement on Syria. Erdogan got more than he bargained for in the US, and then got the green light from the Russians.

Alas, Erdogan has played it well with the two major powers in Syria.
The details of the Turkish-Russian agreement on Syria.

Importantly, the two sides affirm the Adana Agreement with Damascus in the 1990s, permitting Turkey to indefinitely operate inside Syria against the Kurds near its borders.

The two agreed to fight terrorists & separatists
Compare the Putin-Erdogan agreement with the Pence-Erdogan one.
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Charlie Winter
@charliewinter
Some general observations about #IS’s response to #Turkey's incursion into #Syria:
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@starknightz
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snarke
@snarke
#Trump is going to speak in the Rose Garden any minute now. Is he going to lie a bunch about reopening the government? Is he just going to yell "no collusion! witch hunt!" over and over again? Both? Stay tuned!
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#Trump is running about a half hour late. I wonder if he's spent this whole time on the phone with Ann Coulter, begging for permission to cave?
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Christophe Barraud🛢
@C_Barraud
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