Helsinki Summit, whose summit was it? Putin or Trump? What did they talk about? Syria or Iran? North Korea or Montenegro?
The truth of the matter is, Trump is walking a very thin line here. The summit was to be open-ended with no real agenda, “just talks”.
Let’s see, a topic for discussion should be the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II and the only war that both the U.S. and Russia are actually aiming their military forces, from air to sea at each other and barely dodging each other in the sky.
Of course, Syria was talked about and probably let’s be honest, God only knows if we’ll ever find out what was spoken in that 2-hour and 10-minute huddle. But I would bet Syria was on the very top of that list. Russia for the past several years has been propping up their puppet Bashar al-Assad aka, the War Criminal Doctor. Why is Russia so adamant at keeping Assad in power? It’s not like Russia needs Syria? Right? No, they actually do and every moment that passes, under Russia’s influence, Damascus is closer to being Russia’s second Capital.
It’s all really simple. It’s all about Geopolitics. Russia is a super power wannabe. Yes, a wannabe. The reason why is that, it used to be whoever had the most nuclear weapons was the superpower. Now, we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the Earth 9 times over! Superpowers are power-hungry not suicidal.
Now, the question is, why? Why doesn’t the United States just come into Syria, take out Assad and exert U.S. power and influence. One word: Putin.
Putin is the only thing stopping it. Putin desires a Soviet Union-like era for modern Russia, with Putin at the helm. To bring back the glory of the Russians, even though they have an economy no bigger then New York — mind you, California has the seventh largest economy in the world. But should we take Putin’s goals with a grain of salt? Not at all, you see Russia once had only a naval base in Syria in the city of Tartus, but now Russia has military bases all over Syria.
Damascus is the second-largest capital of Russia. In order to be a superpower in this day in age, you need to have the most military bases across as many countries as possible.
It doesn’t just stop at a military strategy or defensive strategy, but it also comes with geopolitical influence on the politics in that host country.
Where is the most turmoil right now? Let’s say the last 70 years? No, not South America. Not the South Pacific Islands. Europe? No, that’s the new E.U. and NATO, which Putin hates. Why? Because it’s a united coalition, all for one and one for all. Which is hard to divide.
So where then? The Middle East! That’s where all the last 70 years of turmoil has been! So the Middle East is a battle-ground for the superpowers. The U.S. has a base in practically every country in the Middle East. The United States has multiple military bases, not to mention, war ships across the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding oceans in a span, from the capital of Saudi Arabia to the capital of Turkey. Just to put that in perspective. That’s the distance from L.A. to Chicago and in between there’s largest U.S. military Air Force base outside the United States is in Qatar.
Russia the “Super Power” only has one, yes only one in the whole Middle East, a remanent of the Soviet Union era in Tartus, Syria. It’s the only port the Russians have access to for their military in the Mediterranean sea. The benefits for Russia are so much, they would do anything, virtually, to keep their naval base and ultimately there influence in Syria, even if it meant having to help kill Assad’s own people to make sure he stays in his place and they maintain whatever little influence they have in the region. Putin, has done a remarkable job in speed and growth since their intervention in Syria. Superpower survival is based on how much influence they can have, not how many nukes they have.
How does this all tie to the Helsinki Summit? Trump has a moral and constitutional obligation as he’s sworn to maintain US influence across the world particularly in the Middle East as a matter of United States National security. This is a place Putin has kept his eye on for decades.
But Trump wants to come in and do what he said Obama couldn’t do and take way what little Putin has left in Syria. That would destroy Putin as superpower as well as Iran’s goal of having Damascus as their next holy pilgrimage city — and a second capital for Iran as well.
Trump as the United States President needed to tell Putin to back off Syria and allow a new democratic government to form. Trump didn’t have the bravery and courage to represent the United States as a true super power and a leader in the world by allowing himself to be pushed around by Putin which allows Putin to assert himself as world super power leader. Exhibit A was the private meeting between Putin and Trump. Both men came out and both mentioned Syria at length in their opening remarks, but only as a point to increase aide to the Syrian people and provide a new humanitarian strategy.
The gravity of that is beyond human understanding. Putin has been the main culprit in the killing of innocent Syrians by the use of the Russian Air Force to drop bombs on defenseless civilians. To help aid the Syrians only after bombing them? That’s worse than what Obama did! Trump said he would be better than Obama on Syria as the “Great Deal Maker” is a wash. Trump is a sham, he allowed the weaker “leader” and criminal, Putin to get away with practically genocide of the Syrian people. Trump is well aware of Russia’s friends with Iran, North Korea, Assad and the other terror groups like Hezbollah. Yet, Only increase humanitarian aid? Why? So Putin could bomb more Syrians while there full instead of hungry on empty stomachs?
If the Trump Administration had a clue about what’s going on in Syria and actually want to be better than the Obama Administration (as Trump claims) he would have used that Naval base as a bargaining chip with Putin at the Helsinki Summit.
Trump’s legacy in Syria will be worse than Obama’s, and I never thought a president who actually goes after Assad with rockets for his use of chemical weapons would actually end up worse than the president who did nothing and wished he did.
Putin has won this battle, but the Syrian people will win the war. Hope is something no one can take away. Yet, Assad with Russia have tried and failed. The Syrians who are actually the weakest party in all of this are still in this Revolutionary War for their freedom.
Obeid Kaifo is a first-generation Syrian-American, Muslim millennial born in L.A. and raised in Aurora and Denver. His parents are from Aleppo; he’s the son of a small-business owner. Kaifo is a National Board Member of the Syrian American Council. He is one of the co-founders of Coalition for an Inclusive Colorado, creating and supporting community events that protect and respect the rights of those who wish to call Colorado home.