Mike Pompeo on Syria, China and Playing the Long Game
Donald Trump’s secretary of state dismisses concerns about Syria and Russia, but warns Israelis of a different threat.
Playing the long game.
Photographer: Yorgos Karahalis/BloombergWhen U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Jerusalem on Friday morning, the city was full of evangelical pilgrims celebrating the Festival of Tabernacles. Like Pompeo, the many thousands of evangelical pilgrims were all Christian Zionists. But he arrived in the Israeli capital to deliver a reassuring message — and also a warning.
Earlier that week, the U.S. announced its decision to abandon their wartime allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to the tender mercies of Turkey’s President Erdogan. The Kurds are “no angels” President Trump pronounced. This naturally left Israelis wondering if their alliance with the U.S. would depend on meeting this new angelic criterion.