The best way to deal with Raqqa, liberating it is using a force on the ground that's dominated by a Kurdish militia that Turkey hates.
Antony Blinken
The Public Record
Antony Blinken is the 71st United States Secretary of State, having been appointed by President Joe Biden in January 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Blinken has played a significant role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, focusing on issues such as international alliances, climate change, and global security. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor during the Obama administration, where he was involved in key diplomatic initiatives, including the Iran nuclear deal.
Especially when actually those values are absolutely necessary and central to having the stability that the president and we ultimately want, because in the absence of that, you're actually going to have countries that at least in the…
It has to be a little painful for them. But, honestly, I think Christiane is right. There are two things going on.
It's kind of impressive to see the enthusiasm with which he espouses diametrically opposed positions.
Right now, the president, secretary of state, are trying to rally the world to deal with the Syria CW and to, in particular, deal with the misinformation campaign that the Russians are running.
If we're not able and the Iraqis are not able to affect the conditions that led to the rise of ISIL in the first place, once it's defeated, it won't stay defeated and you will have ISIL 2.0.
There's a clear limiting principal here in upholding a principal. That principal is you don't use chemical or biological weapons.
It is, because if you're -- anything that you do that allows that basic principal that you don't use chemical weapons or biological weapons in our conflict anywhere, that if you're undermining that principal, that's going to be a danger…
The Russians really do need at the end of the day some way out of the Syrian (inaudible).
If you don't do it, we're going to have to continue to take steps to protect ourselves and protect our allies and partners.
At the same time, the trick is to be tough with Russia, to hold them to account for what Assad is doing with chemical and biological weapons, but not to overplay the hand to the point that Russia starts to interfere with, not help, the…
The challenge now, Anderson, is that we do want to keep our eyes on the prize and that is the fight against ISIL and that fight is going well.





