FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Peskov Tells Turkish Daily: Trump Says One Thing, His People Do Something Entirely Different

Feb. 19, 2019 (EIRNS)—During an interview with the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News focusing mainly on Russian-Turkish relations and Syria, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov made some notable comments about the U.S. withdrawal from Syria in the context of the situation in Washington.

“Americans said that they will withdraw, but their President says one thing, people working with him do something entirely different,” Peskov said. “We do not know how they will proceed, because of this, there is uncertainty.” Without naming it, Peskov is actually identifying one of the strategic effects of the British-led coup against President Donald Trump, which is to continue the permanent warfare policy first brought into U.S. policymaking by the Cheney beastmen of the George W. Bush Administration after 9/11.

Later the interviewer asked him if he really believed that U.S. troops would be leaving Syria. “The U.S. has become the most unpredictable country,” he said.

“For example, our President is the President, he does what he says, and he makes others do what he says. The U.S. is in a deep crisis, we do understand the hardships they are going through, but we are also impatiently waiting.”

He listed the various questions about the U.S. withdrawal, particularly with respect to the support that the U.S. gives to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and when the withdrawal is complete, will there still be a U.S. presence. “All these questions are on the agenda, the presidents are talking about them,” he said. “The general attitude is the same, there is no reason for optimism, and uncertainty is troubling. And this situation is not helping the crisis in Syria and hope for a solution at all.”

In response to a question on Turkish contacts with the Assad government, Peskov said:

“Assad is the legitimate President of Syria; he is the leader of that country. You may or may not like him. He is a state leader, he has a people, armed forces and intelligence. If you want to be among countries that want to save the destiny of Syria, you should deal with Assad. There is no other way. Western countries are making mistakes all the time, but we should [not] make the same mistakes. There was ... [Libyan Col. Muammar] Qaddafi. He was said to be a bad guy, he was killed later. The country was also killed along with him.”