A curious performance of U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price suggests, most charitably, that some part of him is wrestling mightily against the evil that he is committed to embracing—or else his talking points had a malfunction, twice in a row. Either way, while he clearly iterated and reiterated the United States’ brutal policy of isolating Syria and preventing its reconstruction, earthquake be damned.
At the Feb. 27 State Department press briefing, Price was asked by a reporter about the recent trip by the Egyptian Foreign Minister to Türkiye, and the normalization of relations between them. Apparently the word “normalization” might have triggered Price’s abreaction. Instead of addressing the question posed, Price insisted on speaking about the impossibility of normalizing relations with Syria. After referring to the efforts of the U.S. and other countries to provide humanitarian assistance following the earthquakes, he got to his sermon: “Our position on the Assad regime has not changed. Now is not the time for normalization. Now is not the time to upgrade relations with the Assad regime.” Assistance should continue to be given, but “without changing or upgrading their relationship with the Assad regime.”
The reporter tried again, asking, “Any take on the Türkiye-Egypt normalization?”
