Thursday, February 16, 2017

U.S. Defense Secretary: Trump And Putin Are Discussing Military Cooperation In Syria

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis addresses a news conference after a NATO Defence Ministers’ meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 16. (Thierry Charlier/Agence France-Presse)

Washington Post: Trump and Putin are discussing military cooperation in Syria. Mattis says Russia must ‘prove itself first.’

BRUSSELS — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday that Russia will need to “prove itself first” before the United States and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are willing to let their armed forces collaborate, potentially complicating efforts by President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.

Mattis, speaking at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, told reporters that the conditions are not right presently for U.S. and Russia forces to work together. The Pentagon and the Kremlin all but broke contact entirely in 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula prompted international outcry.

“We are not in a position right now to collaborate on a military level, but our political leaders will engage and try to find common ground or a way forward so that Russia, living up to its commitment, can return to a partnership of sorts here with NATO,” Mattis said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Of course they are talking .... and they have been talking for a long time .... and I am willing to bet (and I cannot resist) .... Michael Flynn was talking about it during the transition period with Russian officials.

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