UNITED STATES PERSPECTIVE

Washington is quietly completing an operation that no president had achieved in eleven years: the full transfer of its military bases from Syria. The New York Times reports that the American military, present in Syria since 2015 to fight the Islamic State, has finalized the handover of its installations. The article is brief and factual, as if this were routine—which itself says much about Washington's priorities. While Syria fades to the background, the war against Iran is consuming resources at a pace that is beginning to affect commitments to allies. The Straits Times reveals that American officials have informed their European counterparts that already-contracted weapons deliveries under the Foreign Military Sales program will be delayed. The Baltic and Scandinavian countries are hit first. The Pentagon, State Department, and White House have not commented. This silence is itself a statement: Washington is not denying the problem; it is simply avoiding quantifying it. The cost of the war, which Budget Director Russ Vought refused to estimate before Congress, is estimated at roughly $50 billion by Democrat Jeff Merkley. At $2 billion per day according to Democrat Katherine Clark, each additional week deepens the deficit between global commitments and available resources.