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13 hours ago
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“A new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos,” Trump said during a speech in Riyadh. “This great transformation has not come from Western intervention or flying people in beautiful planes, giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs.”
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Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has steadily tightened the screws on his domestic political opponents, also emerged as a go-between in the region for Trump.
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He dialed into Trump’s meeting with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a historic encounter that was one of the trip’s genuine surprises.
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Trump’s bombshell decision to try and lift US sanctions on Syria blindsided many back home, and Israel, given that Sharaa is a former jihadist who until last year had a $10 million US bounty on his head. Trump told reporters he found him to be a “young, attractive guy,” again bucking policy orthodoxy in favor of his personal assessments.
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Earlier: GLOBAL INSIGHT: Trump’s Mideast Trip – Five Takeaways
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The move came at the urging of both Crown Prince Mohammed and Erdoğan — and it won loud applause inside a US-Saudi investment forum, offering affirmation for Trump.
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As the Saudi ruler clapped his hands high in the air, beaming at Trump, the president made clear his move was as much a gift to the Saudi royal as it was the new Syrian government: “Oh,” Trump said, “what I do for the crown prince.”
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Russia Breakdown
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At one point it looked like Erdoğan was on the verge of playing host to Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin for direct talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
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It was one of the most tantalizing geopolitical encounters that was teased and stretched out to the very last minute in a will-they-or-won’t-they fashion. In the end, Putin dispatched low-level Russian officials to Turkey and Trump left for Washington without the meeting.
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For all the white Arabian horses and camel escorts, the episode demonstrated the limits of Trump’s personalized approach to foreign relations. Signs of Trump’s impatience seeped through.
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“Nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump declared aboard Air Force One, dismissing a reporter’s question on whether he was disappointed with the talks.
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That face to face, which would have been their first since 2018, wasn’t the only talked-up development that failed to materialize.
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Reams of headlines were devoted to the expected announcement in Qatar of a gift to Trump: a $400 million luxury jet to be used as a presidential plane.
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Trump kept saying he’d be “stupid” not to accept a free present — despite security and ethical concerns. In the end, the Qataris said they would buy as many as 210 Boeing Co. planes. The timing of the official transfer lingers, and might even be abandoned because of the backlash, some of which came from Trump supporters in the US.
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Trump’s tour also snubbed Israel — an ally that looks to the US as its biggest benefactor. In 2017, Trump also made his first scheduled overseas trip to the Middle East and stopped in Israel after Saudi Arabia. This time, Israel was left off his itinerary.
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Benjamin Netanyahu was left on the sidelines, as Trump soaked up the hospitality of Gulf leaders while pushing ahead with decisions that didn’t take Israel into account.
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The tour began with Trump having just declared a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthi militants, who are still attacking Israel. That was followed by the Syria announcement and Trump saying the US is closer to a nuclear agreement with Iran.
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