Rex Tillerson’s Russian trip will test the likelihood of an end to the Syrian war
Washington — US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow this week will be an early test of whether the Trump administration can use any momentum generated by striking a Syrian air base to craft and execute a strategy to end the Syrian war. Even before Trump ordered last week’s strike on the air base in retaliation for a nerve gas attack, Tillerson’s visit was certain to be dominated by thorny issues, including Russian interference in the 2016 US election, an apparent violation of an important arms control treaty, and seeing what co-operation, if any, is possible in the fight against Islamic State. Now Tillerson, a former oil executive with no diplomatic experience, is charged with avoiding a major US confrontation with Russia while exacting some concessions from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those include getting rid of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s remaining chemical weapons stocks and pressing Assad to negotiate Syria’s future. Russia, along with Iran, is Assad...
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