Trump shakes tin cup at Saudis
The Washington Post reports that President Trump asked the Saudis for four billion dollars to help shore up victories in Syria to keep the Syrian government from reclaiming the areas and to prevent a resurgence of ISIS fighters as the US tries to disengage from middle east politics.
The Saudis have withdrawn from events in the Levant over the last few years, and Trump is asking them to pull their weight;
The Saudis…are questioning the eye-popping sum even as U.S. officials at one point were drawing up line items totaling $4 billion.
For Trump – who has long railed against insufficient burden-sharing by allies under the U.S. security umbrella – getting others to foot the bill for expensive postwar efforts is important.
A $4 billion Saudi contribution would go a long way toward U.S. goals in Syria that the Saudis say they share, particularly that of limiting Assad’s power and rolling back Iran’s influence. By comparison, the United States last month announced a $200 million donation to the stabilization effort.
At the same time, Trump is eager to get the United States out of a war in which he has already claimed that victory over the Islamic State is near.
Maybe, if our allies had been more willing to put some effort into stabilizing Iraq in 2003, our commitment there would have ended sooner and been less bloody for us. We’ve been doing the heavy lifting for the whole world for more than seventy years, it’s about time we asked for a little help.
Category: Terror War
Always begin with an unreasonably high offer. That means you can negotiate down to what you you actually want. Trump does this all the time
That’s less than 1 billion each for the 911 hijackers that place supplied. Oy vey. Such a deal.
Or we pack it up and go home. How’s that taste, Saudi Arabia?
Noncompliance will result in cutting off all military aid and letting the shi’ite Iranians have their way. See how quick those assbags cough it up with that ultimatum on the table!
Think we said the same thing, TOW. Great minds and all that…
$2 billions? A mere nothing, but it will interfere with the Saudi plans for building more high rises if they have to contribute to a war that is not in their front yard.
Screw the money. Blood is far more valuable and we have spent far too much. The lions are at their door, not ours.
It’s in their backyard, so if they don’t care, why should we? Of course, we all know that part of the world. The only thing they hate more than each other is Israel.
Come on! Last thing we would want if for Saudi to turn into a barbaric, brutal, intolerant society. 😉