Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama, is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute.
According to one observer, many in the region are now saying, “If you are counting on American cover, you are naked.”
Donald Trump does not like alliances. Inevitably, they require obligation and commitments and don’t fit his idea of narrow transactions that serve our interests temporarily. Like Sen. William Borah (R-Idaho) and the “belligerent isolationists” of the 1920s and 1930s, President Trump sees no need for allies and does not want the burden of having to fulfill commitments. In his worldview, others should take care of themselves. And that applies even to those like the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces who served our interests by bearing the brunt of fighting and dying in combating the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. For Trump, that’s done, ISIS has been defeated, and Turkey and the Kurds are “natural enemies,” so getting out of their way and letting them fight is just fine…
