Yaroslav Trofimov
speaker
215 appearances
7 recordings
3 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 1 Jul
Yaroslav Trofimov’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 2.
Appearances
So, casualties, and maybe also, at the end of the day, lead to U.S.
defeat months or years later.
And so, unfortunately, wars are easy to start but very hard to end.
If you looked at the initial slew of tariffs that were imposed by President Trump, they made no distinction between longtime friends and allies that have fought side by side with the U.S. in all the recent wars, like nations in the European Union and South Korea, and outright enemies or rivals, like, for example, Iran, which received a lower tariff, let alone China.
And so in the beginning, this seemed to be like a trade war against the entire world.
Some politicians are asking themselves, well, if the U.S. is no longer our ally, if we're going to trust the U.S., if the U.S. maybe seeks to divide Europe together with Russia, well, China is our only salvation, no matter how much we realize the nature of the Chinese regime not being a fellow democracy.
It's not just the American intentions that aren't clear, but also the entire decision-making process is so haphazard with decisions made and reversed and changed in a very unpredictable fashion. That makes it very hard for nations to place their trust in the United States being a part and an ally in the long run.
Yesterday, in Syria, after nearly 13 years of civil war, rebel forces took control of the capital, Damascus. For decades, the country had been under the dictatorship of the Assad family. Here's our chief foreign affairs correspondent, Yaroslav Trofimov.
Footage showed Syrians celebrating in the streets, prisoners walking out of confinement, and residents standing on a toppled statue of Assad's father. At the same time, it remains unknown how the fall of Assad could reverberate across the Middle East and the world. What are the big questions you have today about the future of Syria?
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Monday, December 9th. Coming up on the show, a historic moment for Syria and a realignment of power in the Middle East. The largest of the rebel groups that stormed the Syrian capital over the weekend is called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, also known as HTS. The group's leader is Abu Muhammad al-Jolani.
When did you first encounter the name Abu Muhammad al-Jolani?
Jolani later returned to his homeland, Syria, with the blessing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Jolani's mission was to establish ISIS there.
Got it. So just to make sure we have the timeline clear, he started out with Islamic State. He broke with them and then joined al-Qaeda. And then he broke with al-Qaeda as well. Correct. And the reason for that is because he just became increasingly moderate in his politics? Yes.
During the civil war that started in 2011, Jolani's group fought against ISIS and al-Qaeda. But it's unclear if Jolani's turn to moderation is genuine, or if he's trying to appease other Syrians in the West as he pursues power. Jolani remains on a U.S. terrorist list, along with his organization, HTS. The militant leader has said his focus was Syria and fighting the Assad regime.
Since 2016, the civil war had been at a standstill, with Assad's government holding onto power, mainly through the support of two key allies, Russia and Iran. Syria holds strategic value. It's a land bridge that links Iran to Hezbollah, the militant group in Lebanon. And Russia has important military bases in Syria, which gives it access to the region.
But recently, both Russia and Iran have been embroiled in other conflicts.
So basically, Assad's biggest international backers, Iran and Russia, are distracted. They have wars that they have to deal with elsewhere.
So how did Jolani and the rebels take advantage of that?
In a matter of days, the rebels took Aleppo. Then they turned south, taking more territory, the city of Hama, then Homs. And finally, they marched on the capital, Damascus.
Wow. Why didn't Assad have the military might to hold off the rebels on his own? I mean, he'd been in power for so long.
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