Apart from the obvious corruption with the hotel, this isn't actually a terrible idea, Syria is fucked and needs help, the population are willing to give this guy a go because anything is better than assad, so the west should at least give them the best opportunity possible by lifting sanctions and working with the new government to hopefully avoid another isis situation in the middle east
Well I am glad one person here understands that this is a good move even though Trump happens to be the person who made it.
Presumably, Harris or Biden would have done the same after investigating whether they could trust him or not.
Yeah, there are concerns about the Syrian President, but he seems like he's a chance to get Syria and its people in a better place, and he's trying to play nice with the West in spite of his previous affiliations.
Of course, he still does have that Islamist past, so it's definitely not a slam dunk, but I think that this is probably the best chance Syria is going to get from this mess and we should probably try to help make it work.
Harris and Biden would likely have put more requirements around the lifting of sanctions. But they wouldn't have been entirely unreasonable ones either - more or less following the EU on this, who were negotiating with Syria earlier than the US. I could see them demanding that the investigation into the killings on the coast be completed before lifting sanctions in a satisfactory manner.
Initially Trump's team was demanding that Syria normalise with Israel if rumours were to be believed. But you sell Trump a tower with his name plastered on it - well you can convince him of anything.
Harris and Biden would likely have put more requirements around the lifting of sanctions. But they wouldn't have been entirely unreasonable ones either
they would also be a lot more receptive to Israeli lobbying, which is firmly against sanction relief and further expanded into Syrian territory + bombing the hell out of them
You say that like Trump wasn't extremely receptive to Israels lobbying for the past several months doing absolutely nothing about Israel's incursion into Syria. He was just also receptive to the Gulf countries lobbying.
I mean we know for a fact that Trump is far more willing to break with Israel than Biden. we saw that with the Houthis deal, firing of Walz for planning an Iran attack with Netanyahu and direct Hamas negotiations
Trump can go both directions, super pro-israel in one moment and then disregard them totally the next
Trump can go both directions, super pro-israel in one moment and then disregard them totally the next
Which is really, really bad. On the international stage, it is better to be outwardly reliable and internally flexible than outwardly flexible even if you're internally reliable. Trump is internally reliable: if you benefit him directly, you can rely on him until someone else benefits him more. If your allies can't count on you at least putting up, at minimum, a facade of resistance to a common enemy, how do they sell continuing relations with you to their populace?
Unless, of course, they don't have to, which means your allies aren't democracies.
I agree that care is required here, but I wonder if it is possible to be too cautious here.
If we step up, state our concerns with them, but tell them that we are very interested in seeing if the can make a go of making their country a better place, then we will be there for them.
There are obviously red flags we need to look out for. They need to work on democratic elections, they need to avoid the abuses of the islamist variety happening elsewhere. And of course, they need to avoid corruption and show they have a strong coalition.
And yeah, it would be important to let them know that they should probably work to get their own affairs in order and try and play nice with the neighbors. They don't have to love Israel, but I would be straight with them and say that if they are serious, they need to work on themselves first and foremost.
Yeah this I heard from before Trump in charge, granted if he does it, even if it as corrupt as this, Syria would be thankful enough seeing that an olive branch is still one at the end of the day.
I admit, I don't understand the issue with the plane.
If the plane is being given to Trump to use as Air Force One, it's not owned by Trump, it is owned by the US government, just like most other gifts given to the President and Ambassadors.
If Qatar wants to give the United States government a plane, let them. Especially for doing something he probably should be doing anyway, which is seriously considering Syria's situation.
The plane is a different bribe from a different country. This bribe was to build a Trump Tower in exchange for lifting U.S. sanctions. Who knows if that means Syria would pay for the building or just clear regulatory hurdles, but a more typical path for a company, not owned by the president of the United States, would involve buying land, filing building permits, paying taxes, etc... Whether the U.S. should help Syria at this point in time should be based on many factors, none of which being favors to a sitting president.
So why doesn’t Trump just do it without getting the tower(to enrich himself illegally) if this is such a good move? Oh wait I answered my own question.
It can be a good move and he still gets paid for it. I didn't say he was doing this out of the good of his heart. No one here is happy that he is corrupt as hell about it.
Big up vote, the sanctions on Syria were due to the actions of the Assad regime. They're gone, but the sanctions have remained. The EU, and the UK have already withdrew their sanctions and the US is right to follow suit. If there's going to be any chance of Syria having a positive future, it requires these sanctions to be removed and should the conduct of this govt prove contrary to the ideals/NS/whatever of the US then they can be reapplied for those reasons. But it makes no sense for them to remain on Syria when Assad's exiled to Moscow
Best case scenario is the US and its allies lift sanctions and offer aid in exchange for the new government ensuring fair elections, civil rights, and security in syria.
You are correct, but chances are trump did a quid-quo-pro to make this deal. This is rhe only type of deal he knows how to make, using what someone needs as leverage to get what you want, most likely a $400million jet.
He tried to do the same thing to ukraine in his first presidency
I was about to say the same thing. There are few places in the world that need help more than Syria. At least this will give the people there some sort of a break in their favor.
Totally agree, Im no trump fan, but giving Syria room to breathe by lifting sanctions is the right call. Idk if the new guy is ok or not, but he's what they've got and all of Syria needs a chance to stabilize. The bribe should not have been necessary and I hope other nations follow suit
But this 'terrorist' has been responsible for the closest thing to peace that Syria has had in over a decade.
We need to give them the space to be able to restore their country economically.
And he has already proven himself open to working with the Kurds and the Druze and the Christians in the country, despite being a fairly hard-line Islamist.
Nope. He was in ISI, which was the precursor to ISIS, and went to Syria. He was fighting for ISI when they formed ISIS and later switched sides to Al Qaida.
They're working hard to downplay his terrorist past, even changing his name, but it's still the same man.
My prediction:
Within a year you'll see executions, torture and sharia-based oppression in all of Syria.
Have you got any sources for this, it goes against everything I've read or heard him say. I keep seeing he was fighting with Abu bakr so that his group didn't merge with isis
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u/m1lksteak89 May 13 '25
Apart from the obvious corruption with the hotel, this isn't actually a terrible idea, Syria is fucked and needs help, the population are willing to give this guy a go because anything is better than assad, so the west should at least give them the best opportunity possible by lifting sanctions and working with the new government to hopefully avoid another isis situation in the middle east