Alexander Golts: “When isolationism is useful”

“I suspect that it was the presence of American troops that was the main reason for the Russian operation in Syria. For many years, the Kremlin watched with complete indifference the agony of Assad and the atrocities of ISIS*. However, by the fall of 2015, having found themselves in severe international isolation as a result of the Ukrainian crisis, Moscow has decided to knock out a wedge with a wedge,” writes the editor-in-chief of the Daily Journal , commenting on Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria.

“Obama does not want to talk to Putin, then we will force him by placing planes in Syria. Indeed, an extremely dangerous situation was artificially created when the military aircraft of two countries - the United States and Russia - had to operate in the same airspace without any agreements. As a result, reluctantly, Obama was forced to meet with Putin.

The military was given a command to create protocols that allowed them to act in such a way as not to pose a threat to each other. In general, these protocols worked. However, on at least one occasion, the US and Russian militaries came to the brink of military conflict. When Washington announced its intention to punish Assad for chemical attacks in the spring, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov warned that if the lives of Russian military personnel were threatened, strikes would be carried out on Tomahawk carriers, that is, on American ships and aircraft. It was then that they started talking about a new Caribbean crisis. One cannot help but recall how, in the Deir ez-Zor area, the Americans destroyed a column of Assad’s “militia,” which consisted of Russian mercenaries.

And now the Americans are leaving, leaving the battlefield to the Russian victors and giving them the opportunity to test weapons and lose people in Syria for many years to come.

In my opinion, Trump's decision, apparently made for obvious domestic political reasons, marks an important turn from “interventionism” to isolationism. Over the past 20 years, having survived the Vietnam syndrome and become proud after the collapse of the USSR, American leaders, one after another, have succumbed to the temptation to use military force. In fact, when there is an armed enemy (ISIS*, Taliban*, Saddam Hussein’s troops), why not use the best, most powerful army in the world against them.

At the same time, Washington rejected the rules for the use of military force formulated following the Vietnam disaster and known as the “Powell Principles”: troops must have a specific military mission and they must be immediately withdrawn after completing it; force must be used massively, not gradually. As a result, the Americans are bogged down in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

Now Trump, having ignored fears that Türkiye will carry out reprisals against the Kurds, that Iran and Hezbollah will strengthen their presence in Syria, is leaving this country. Leaving Russia to wallow in the Syrian sands as long as it wants..."