Thread by @diplocharlie

[Thread] The press conference btw @realDonaldTrump and @EmmanuelMacron today has been fascinating at many levels. The #ISIS part was in particular an excellent summary of the state of play...1/

While many commentators focused on the “#braindead” comment on #NATO in @PedderSophie ’s itw for @theeconomist, most of them missed the topic Pres. #Macron wanted to address with it...2/ economist.com/europe/2019/11…

The real question was : is the spirit of the alliance respected when a member (#Turkey) acts unilaterally in Northeastern Syria, endangers the fight against #ISIS and doing so harms a key security interest of other NATO members ? 3/

Pres. #Macron made this point again in the press conf. today with Pres. #Trump and asked “clarifications” on two questions in particular : i/ “How is it possible to be part of the alliance and by #S400 from #Russia?” (this is out of my area of expertise)... 4/

ii/ “what is our shared definition of #terrorism?” This came after TUR blocked #NATO’s work if it does not label as terro the #YPG (the SYR Kurdish group who led the SYR dem forces to fight #ISIS in #Syria but is accused to be controlled by the TUR Kurdish terro group #PKK). 5/

Pres. #Erdogan accused #France of supporting terro bc/ of their coop with the SDF to c/ #ISIS. Pres. #Macron questioned turkish ties with Islamist & jihadi groups in #Syria. Pres. Macron declared after his meeting with Pres. Erdogan today he hadn’t received all clarifications. 6/

Even though his decision to withdraw from NE #Syria triggered the current crisis, Pres. #Trump did not reject these questions but did not really answer, emphasizing the “good relationship” he had with Pres. #Erdogan and recalled the “guarding the oil” statement. 7/

Pres. #Trump focused (again) on European #ISIS Fighters detained in North Eastern #Syria, claiming this was the biggest problem and teasing Pres. Macron to take fighters back. Pres. 8/

Press. #Macron recalled that the biggest threat was not the (approx. 200) Euro ISIS Fighters but the 10K Iraqis and Syrians who could rebuild #ISIS. He recalled the French case by case policy on French members of #ISIS. Trump ended up saying he wanted to avoid ISIS resurgence. 9/

If you want some more background on this, you can go back to this article from @Levitt_Matt and I : 10/ washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysi…

This discussion is fascinating because it shows some clear trends that are sometimes overlooked: i/ The significance of the #Syria crisis goes beyond the tragedy of an horrific civil war. it’s a defining issue for Intl rel. 11/

ii/ While #NATO focuses a lot on process and interoperability, it is interesting to get alliance members to debate more ongoing crisis. Not necessarily to engage operationally but to guarantee the alliance keeps a united worldview. 12/ [END]

For a detailed background on the #NATO summit, read @QuentinLopinot 👇👇👇

https://twitter.com/quentinlopinot/status/1201936228066742272?s=21