Friends,
I respect Richard Falk’s wisdom very much. However, he buckled after 9/11
and supported the invasion of Afghanistan. Also while I appreciated his
responses to the questions below, I can’t imagine anyone would believe that
Trump’s call for the removal of U.S. troops from Syria might result in funds
being re-allocated to rebuild Syria.
Kagiso,
Max
Published on Portside (https://portside.org/)
On the
Geopolitical and Domestic Implications of Trump’s Syrian Declaration
Richard
Falk and Daniel Falcone
January
1, 2019
CounterPunch
Daniel Falcone: As
an expert on American foreign policy what is the true meaning and
significance of Trump pulling ground troops out of Syria? Is it this simple and
straightforward? What are the implications of Mattis stepping down in
your view?
Richard Falk: Of
course, with Trump we never know either the real motivation for an abrupt
decision of this sort or whether in the next day or so it might be reversed in
an equally abrupt manner. It all depends on how the winds of his imperial ego
are blowing. And this is not a reassuring awareness in the nuclear age.
We do know that
such an inflammatory decision shifts attention away, at least briefly, from the
Mueller developments that seem more threatening to Trump’s comfort zone day by
day. Beyond these explanations, Trump can accurately claim that he is
fulfilling one of his most emphatic pledges of his 2016 presidential campaign,
namely, offering scathing criticism of costly interventions in the Middle East
as the basis for his commitment to bring American troops home very soon. Such a
pledge made a great deal of sense as the American experience with military
interventions was a record of unacknowledged failure with a learning curve that
hovered around zero.
The unprovoked
attack on Iraq in 2003 followed by a prolonged occupation was a flagrant
violation of the prohibition on aggressive war, the core principle of
the UN Charter and modern international law. It was also the cause of
massive suffering and devastation, resulting in internal strife and constant
chaos. The mindless occupation policy imposed by the United States deliberately
inflamed sectarian tensions in Iraq, which in turn spread Sunni/Shi’ia
turmoil throughout the region.
Geopolitically, as
well, the Iraq War illustrated the dysfunctional nature of such uses of
international force even when the superior military capabilities of the United
States are brought to bear. A central strategic goal of the intervention was to
weaken the regional footprint of Iran by placing a Western-oriented government
on the Iranian border of a country ready and willing to have American military
bases on its territory. The main effect of the American intervention and
extended presence was the reverse of what was intended. Iranian regional
influence in part because the American occupation approach sought to disempower
the Sunni dominance that had been associated with Saddam Hussein’s
regime and put in its place an Iran-oriented Shi’ite leadership.
A further result
of the purge of Sunni elements in the upper echelons of the Iraqi armed forces
was the formation of ISIS as a terrorist organization committed to the
expulsion of the occupying forces from the Middle East and spreading governance
under the auspices of radical Islamic leadership. In retrospect the real irony
is that Saddam Hussein’s regime, although repressive and repulsive, was far
preferable for the Iraqi people and even for American strategic goals in the
Middle East than was the unlawful intervention and bungled occupation. Our war
planners never were willing to come to terms with this systemic series of
miscalculations, and more or less arrayed themselves beneath the notorious
banner, ‘mission accomplished’ unfurled to honor the presence of
George W. Bush on an American aircraft carrier.
Trump claims that
his policies for the past two years have defeated ISIS, making it prudent and
appropriate from a national security perspective to withdraw American ground
forces at this time. The claim as to ISIS is disputed by the entire defense
establishment in the U.S., and seems to have contributed to the Secretary of
Defense, General James Mattis, decision to submit a thinly veiled
criticism of Trump’s withdrawal approach on strategic grounds, stressing
especially the importance of acting in concert with allies. The decision has
also been criticized as abandoning Syrian Kurds to the tender mercies of
Assad’s regime and Erdogan’s Turkey. For the governments in Damascus and
Ankara, the Kurds, while allied with the U.S. in its anti-ISIS campaign,
pose threats to the territorial integrity and political stability of both Syria
and Turkey.
Daniel Falcone:
How do you assess the mainstream agenda setting media’s response to Trump’s
latest foreign policy decision regarding Syria? They look pro-intervention and
occupation on this matter? For example, I haven’t heard much genuine concern
for the Kurds or any other altruistic reasons for staying
on their part in the interests of the Syrian people.
Richard Falk: My
impression is that the media response has so far been dominated by the sort of
bipartisan approach that earlier underpinned American foreign policy during the
Cold War and produced the ‘Washington Consensus’ that provided
ideological coherence for the neoliberal version of economic globalization.
During the Cold War this militarization of foreign policy led to a series of
interventions on the geopolitical periphery, culminating in the Vietnam War.
With respect to the world economy, a capital-driven approach to economic policy
that was largely indifferent to the human consequences of market forces
resulted in gross inequities with respect to the distribution of the benefits
of economic growth.
The experience of
widening disparities of wealth and income became a structural feature of the
world economy, and seems closely connected to the rage expressed by those
multitudes who quite reasonably feel victimized by the policies accepted by the
entire policy establishment, whether they identify as Democrats or Republicans.
This rage has been translated into various forms of political frustration,
including giving rise to an electoral tidal wave in the leading constitutional
democracies around the entire world that brought to power demagogic figures
whose defining message was to pose as enemies of the established order. In
Trump’s case, he sloganized this hostility by a campaign promise ‘to drain
the swamp.’This political spectacle is enacted in various ways reflecting the
distinctiveness of the autocrat and the particularities of each set of national
circumstances.
The Syrian
withdrawal decision is perceived as one more unacceptable consensus-disruptive
move by Trump that includes a repudiation of one the pillars of the Cold War
Era, namely, tight alliances epitomized by NATO. Such a unilateral move by
Trump without any reliance on prior consultations with leading allies is seen
as a further blow to American leadership of the Western democracies. The fact that
the Trump decision was endorsed by Putin at a time when Western elites are
urging a more confrontational approach to Russia is taken by the media a
further sign that the U.S. is in a go it alone foreign policy.
The Mattis
resignation letter very effectively encourages the media to react in this
manner. It challenges Trump in all but name, complaining both about alliance
disruption and the failure to heed the views of those who opposed the Syrian
pullout. He is obviously upset that the advice of those (including his own) was
ignored. He reminds readers of his extensive professional experience and
knowledge that is relevant to understanding both the Syrian reality and the
implausibility of claiming that ISIS is defeated. In essence, he deplores the
military withdrawal from Syria, insisting that it will be of help to America’s
principal rivals in the world, Russia and China, “whose strategic
interests are increasingly in tension with ours.” The following sentence
in the Mattis letter could have been written in the midst of the Cold War: “It
is clear that China and Russia….want to shape a world consistent with their
authoritarian model—gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic,
diplomatic, and security decisions—to promote their own interests at the
expense of their neighbors, America and our allies.”
It is not only
that most influential media outlets side with the critics of this Trump
initiative, but their failure to convey the rationale justifying his decision
beyond saying that he is fulfilling a campaign pledge or shifting the national
conversation away from the Special Counsel. If Trump follows up
the withdrawal with a termination of air strikes in Syria, and makes a
significant use of the funds saved by foregoing military operations to hasten a
Syrian recovery from seven years of devastation, massive human displacement,
and incredible civilian suffering, the policy should then receive some applause
as constructive steps in a demilitarizing direction.
I would predict
that the national security establishment will condemn even this evidence of a
serious shift toward disengagement from Middle East turmoil as an unwelcome
retreat from American leadership, and a form of encouragement to its
adversaries and rivals to take more risks to expand their zones of influence.
If this is so, the mainstream media is sure to follow along, nightly parading a
series of retired generals who bemoan this renunciation of the U.S. global
security role of the past half century of ‘forever war.’
It is common for
media pundits to question policy choices so long as they do not touch the
fundamental guidelines of structure and geopolitical priorities that have
shaped the American global role ever since 1945. These fundamentals include
the Atlantic Alliance as embodied in NATO, market-oriented
constitutionalism as embedded in the neoliberal credo, and the globe-girdling
military presence as typified by more than 800 overseas military bases, a
sizable naval operation patrolling in every ocean, and a capability to wage
hyper war from any point in space. The media will not challenge those that
defend this security structure, and even Fox News and the Murdoch media outlets
can be expected to be neutral, departing from their habitual acceptance of
whatever Trump does.
It is not surprising
that CNN news anchors such as Don Lemon or Chris Cuomo almost
salivated in response to the Mattis letter, reading it aloud as if it was an
instant classic to be compared with the Gettysburg Address.
Their anti-Trump
animus was so intense that they did not even express some skepticism about
Mattis’ geopolitical hubris that seemed both dated and overly belligerent. His
words: “the US remains the indispensable nation in the free
world.” Really. This opinion is not shared by almost all peoples in the
world, most of whom worry more about what the United States does than they do
about China and Russia.
In my view the
anti-Trump media frenzy does reflect well-grounded worries about Trump’s style
and substance, yet it is failing to expose the citizenry to pluralist views,
especially in foreign policy by shutting down almost completely progressive
voices. The media is not guilty of fake news, but it is guilty of partisanship,
and unfriendly to critics on the left.
Daniel Falcone:
Are there any important implications for the Syrian pull out that coincide with
the harsh treatment of Iran? Could this possibly negate any positive steps with
Middle East diplomacy? Is Iran pertinent here?
Richard Falk: At
this point it is difficult to tell whether the Syrian withdrawal will intensify
Trump’s anti-Iran policy or lead to its weakening, and even abandonment. It
seems as though neither Israel nor Saudi Arabia are comfortable with Trump’s
latest move, partly because they were evidently not consulted, or even briefed,
and partly because it could be interpreted as the beginning of an American
disengagement from the Middle East and a phasing out of George W. Bush’s ‘war
on terror’ launched after 9/11, continuing year after year without an endgame,
although Obama at one point openly regretted this, and promised to devise one,
but it never happened.
I am hard put to
find any positive initiatives in recent Middle East diplomacy emanating from
Washington. Trump/Kushner have carried the partisan pro-Israeli policies of
earlier presidencies to absurdly one-sided extremes by way of the embassy move
to Jerusalem, silence about the weekly atrocities at the Gaza fence, cruel cuts
in the UNRWA funding, closing the PLO office in Washington, questioning
Palestinian refugee status, and seeming to be comfortable with Israel’s recent
moves in its Knesset toward a one-state apartheid solution.
Perhaps, American
pressures are moving Saudi Arabia and its allies to end their intervention in
Yemen, previously backed by the United States, and pushing the civilian
population to the very brink of starvation, and what is already being called
the worst famine in the past hundred years. If this desirable result
materializes, it can be seen as an unintended consequence of the
grotesque Khashoggi murder, creating strong incentives in Washington to
rethink its embrace of Mohammed Bin Salmon as ally and partner. Or put more
crudely, the arms sales bonanza with Riyadh could be in trouble unless the
Yemen War is brought to an end without a humanitarian catastrophe.
Daniel Falcone:
Trump’s doctrine has been called “Me First.” Does this title apply in
the case?
Richard Falk: I
have no reason to doubt that Trump’s actions with regard to Syria are
basically reflections of his narcissistic political style as
expressed at a particular moment. Yet, as earlier suggested, because Trump did
it on the basis of selfish motives, does mean that we should not evaluate the
policy on its merits rather than through the eyes of the dominant political
class in Washington that has brought grief to tens of millions for decades.
(These ‘experts’ have over time built up an intellectual and career dependence
on global militarism and permanent warfare) It means, among other things a
stubborn refusal to take note of a string of failures where battlefield
dominance has not translated into control of political outcomes, but instead
ended in stinging political defeats. At bottom, there persisted a stunning
refusal to heed this central lesson of the Vietnam War, a refusal repeated
in Afghanistan, Iraq, and with respect to most of the colonial wars. In each
instance the side that won on the battlefield lost the war in the end, yet only
after inflicting terrible damage and enduring heavy human, economic, and
reputational costs. Nothing helpful was learned, and energies were devoted to
how to reinvent counterinsurgency and counterterrorist doctrine so as to win
such struggles for the political control of distant countries.
If Trump stumbles
onto a security path that ends such interventions in the global south we should
celebrate the result, even if we withhold praise from Trump himself. Beyond
this, we should not be too quick to condemn his openness to a cooperative
relationship with Russia if it helps the world avoid a second, more
dangerous cold war that it can ill afford at this time of climate change. Trump
might not know exactly what he is doing but bypassing Europe for a geopolitical
bargain with Moscow might make realist sense under the historical
circumstances, and realists themselves need to wake up to this benign
possibility.
Of course, my wish
for an end to militarism, nuclearism, and foreign interventions may be coloring
my views, and is blindfolding me with respect to the dangers and risks that
some associate with Trump’s march to the apocalypse. I acknowledge this, but I
am also convinced that the conventional candidates of either political party
would never in a thousand years pull the rug out from under this globalized
militarism that could never tolerate a peaceful future for humanity. We
are trapped in a cage sometimes called ‘the war system,’ which has the
semblance of a permanent lockup.
Daniel Falcone:
Will liberal hawks react the same way to Syria as they typically do
with Russia? This seems to be a failing strategy to reclaim the presidency in
2020. Do you agree?
Richard Falk: I
fear that the centrist pragmatism of all liberals, and not only the hawks. They
have supported war after war as well as forged a strong new consensus that the
time has come to challenge Russia and China once again. If Putin is pleased,
then Trump is wrong. Such reasoning seems to be dominant among the policy
planners in Washington and the opinion and editorial commentary of CNN and the
NY Times. Such issues are not even treated as fit subjects for debate and
discussion. Instead, there are two or more guests with military or CIA
backgrounds that take turns lambasting Trump’s Syria moves, especially as it
has been coupled with a White House decision to halve the American troop
contingent in Afghanistan by withdrawing 7,000 soldiers, hardly a rash
decision considering that the American military presence in Afghanistan is
about to enter its 17th year, and stability for the country is
further away than it was in 2002 when the occupation began.
As far as
the 2020 election is concerned, it will be a great lost opportunity
if the Democrats nominate a centrist liberal, who might be far more humane than
Trump at home, but would likely recommit to the war of terror and a revival of
American readiness to avoid political setbacks in various parts of the world,
never having learned this supreme lesson that military intervention does not
work in the post-colonial world.
Of course, these
days we cannot be sure of anything, including being confident that such a
return to the old ways of doing foreign policy by a Democratic candidate would
be an electoral disaster. Trump remains unpopular outside his base. This means
that if the stock market stays down, trade wars reduce living
standards in the country, the undocumented are cruelly deported or asylum
seeking women and children are shot at the border, a smooth talking Democrat
with the politically correct national security views would win, maybe even
scoring a landslide.
But would this
outcome be a victory for the peoples of the world? If Trump were to stay the
Syrian withdrawal course, not a likely prospect, it might not be so easy to
vote him out of office with a clear conscience. This suggestion is meant as a
provocation to liberals and establishmentarians, but it does call attention to the
likely frightful foreclosure of peaceful options for American voters and
the likely choices in 2020. The liberal line in 2016 was that compared to
Sanders, Hillary Clinton was electable and would get things done, and look
where that landed us!
Richard A. Falk is
Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting
Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University
of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author and coeditor of numerous books,
including The Great Terror War, on the US response to 9/11. In 2008, the
United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Falk to a six-year term as a UN
Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights. Daniel Falcone is an
independent journalist, interviewer, researcher, activist and teacher. He has a
graduate degree in modern American history and writes for several publications.
Follow him on Twitter: @DanielFalcone7.
Source URL: https://portside.org/2019-01-05/geopolitical-and-domestic-implications-trumps-syrian-declaration.
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
No comments:
Post a Comment