Breaking News

Vox Sentences: Digging up dead dictators

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Trump lifts the sanctions on Turkey; deceased Spanish dictator Francisco Franco removed from the Valley of the Fallen.

Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.

Trump ends Turkey sanctions

  • President Trump announced that he would be lifting the sanctions against Turkey on Wednesday. [Washington Post / Felicia Sonmez and David Nakamura]
  • Sanctions were first imposed against Turkey as a congressional response to Turkish “Operation Peace Spring” into northern Syria to establish a safe zone and eliminate Kurdish forces. Trump initially supported the sanctions if “Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path.” [CBS News]
  • By pulling US troops out of Turkey, Trump’s actions facilitated the Turkish incursion into Syria against the Kurds. [Axios / Dave Lawler]
  • Now Trump says that since Turkey halted their military operation and agreed to make the ceasefire that the US helped negotiate permanent, there’s no longer a need to impose sanctions. [Wall Street Journal / Vivian Salama, Michael R. Gordon and Jared Malsin]
  • While justifying his actions, Trump said of his wider pullout from the Middle East, “We’re getting out. Let someone else fight over this long, blood-stained sand.” [Al Jazeera]
  • Trump has since called the course of events a “great outcome” for Syria and praised the ceasefire negotiations as the US passing on the mantle of handling the Middle East to the region itself. [Politico / Quint Forgey]
  • Vox’s Alex Ward argues that Trump’s handling of this crisis is the clearest example of the “Trump doctrine” of foreign policy. [Vox / Alex Ward]
  • Imposing, removing, reimposing, increasing, and decreasing: Does America have a sanctions problem? [The Atlantic / Neil Bhatiya and Edoardo Saravalle]

Spain exhumes and reburies Franco

  • After a year-long legal battle, the remains of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco were exhumed from their place in the Valley of the Fallen. [The Guardian / Sam Jones]
  • Franco will be re-interred in a public cemetery where his deceased wife is buried, situated next to the El Pardo palace of his time in power. His family unsuccessfully attempted to challenge the relocation in court. [New York Times / Raphael Minder]
  • The move, 44 years after Franco’s funeral, is part of the socialist government’s promise to stop glorifying the dictator and his fascist regime. [BBC]
  • Spain’s government says that the day-long operation was done to repay a debt to Franco’s victims, many of whom were buried in unmarked graves inside the same mausoleum that he resided in prior to the move. [Washington Post / Ciaran Giles and Aritz Parra]

Miscellaneous


Verbatim

“The whole predicate of your question is insane.” [Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during an interview about US credibility since pulling troops out of Syria]


Listen to this: The right to sell out

California athletes will soon be able to accept money from endorsements, but it’s debatable if the rest of the nation will follow suit. [Spotify]


Read more

Tim Ryan is dropping out of the presidential race to focus on the House

California’s deliberate blackouts were outrageous and harmful. They’re going to happen again.

A top Trump student loan official just resigned, calling for debt forgiveness

WHO just declared another polio virus strain eradicated. There’s one more to go.

Trump’s lawyer says he can’t be prosecuted. I asked 16 legal experts if that’s true.



from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2WhuNLt

No comments