Turkish-US relations are terrible and deteriorating by the day despite bromides to the contrary. Actions speak louder than words. And that has been all President Trump seems capable of anymore, words not actions.

Since the beginning of l'affair Khashoggi Turkey has been extracting concession after concession from the US as the Trump administration tries to salvage its soon-to-be-unveiled Middle East peace plan.

The latest concession may be the biggest. There's a report out now that the Trump administration is readying the extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen, who President Erdogan believes was behind the coup attempt against him in July of 2016.

Now that the Pentagon has confirmed that the US will in fact withdraw its troops from Syria, here are the implications of the pull-out for other parties to the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Israel

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Israel stands to lose the most from a comprehensive US withdrawal from Syria. As it became ever clearer that the Assad government was going to remain in power in Damascus, Israeli officials up to and including Premier Benjamin Netanyahu lent ever more support towards the provocative cause of forming a Kurdish ethno-statelet in the parts of north-eastern Syria occupied by US forces. Israel's strategic rationale for such a move was clear enough. While Israel ideally wanted the anti-Zionist Assad replaced by a weaker or more pro-western leader, once such an ambition became untenable, Tel Aviv began aiming for a plan to box Assad in between the illegally occupied Golan Heights in south-western Syria and a would-be Kurdish ethno-statelet in north-eastern Syrian territory.

As Israel's relations with Turkey continued to deteriorate ever more over the last year, Israeli officials and pro-Netanyahu agitators became ever more explicit in their calls for a Kurdish ethno-statelet on legally recognised Syrian soil. As not a single state in the region supported such a move, the only hope that Tel Aviv ever had in respect of creating a "second Israel", would have been for Israeli leaders to convince the US that creating a "second Israel" on Syrian soil was somehow a cause worth risking a split in the NATO alliance for. As Turkey's army is the second largest in NATO after that of the United States, it goes without saying that if the US set up such a "second Israel" relations with Turkey would have been broken beyond repair.

The Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that would make lynching a federal crime after more than a century of such attempts to outlaw the act.

The Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, which passed unanimously, was introduced earlier this year by the chamber's three African-American senators: California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott.

The proposal outlines the specific act of lynching -- a mob killing without legal authority -- and would add lynching to the federal list of hate crimes. Harris touted the vote on Twitter, calling the moment "history."

The US and UK have taken the unprecedented step of accusing hackers linked to the Chinese government of waging a sustained cyber-campaign focused on large-scale theft of commercial intellectual property.

Two Chinese nationals were charged in the US in relation to a campaign across Europe, Asia and the US that breached Chinese bilateral and international commitments, American prosecutors said.

A US indictment unsealed on Thursday in unison with a series of British statements accused Chinese hackers of obtaining unauthorised access to the computers of at least 45 entities, including commercial and defence technology companies and US government agencies such as Nasa and the US navy.

President Xi Jinping said China would stick to its policy agenda, despite pressure from the U.S. and others to allow more competition in its economic system and reduce support for state industry.

Xi told an audience of party officials, military leaders and entrepreneurs in a speech Tuesday that "no one is in the position to dictate to the Chinese people what should and should not be done." The 80-minute address in Beijing was held to mark the 40th anniversary of the Reform and Opening Up campaign that unleashed the country's economic boom under then leader Deng Xiaoping.

In remarks that ranged from the economy to the environment to Taiwan and the South China Sea, Xi presented his agenda as the logical outcome of the country's post-1978 "reform era" and Chinese history more broadly. He reasserted his contention that the country had entered a "new era" under his leadership and was poised for a bigger role in world affairs.

The number of international migrants worldwide has continued to grow rapidly in recent years, according to statistics from the United Nations (UN). It has reached 258 million last year, up from 220 million in 2010.

Human migration is "a powerful driver of economic growth, dynamism and understanding," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday in his message commemorating the International Migrants Day.


According to Guterres, migration "allows millions to seek new opportunities that benefit communities of origin and destination alike." He said that "when poorly regulated, migration can intensify divisions within and between societies, expose people to exploitation and abuse, and undermine faith in government."

The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed Tuesday to facilitate convening the first session of a committee to draft a new Syrian constitution early next year, saying they hoped it will lead to the launch of a "viable and lasting" peace process.

In a joint statement read out by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, they said the work of the committee should be governed by a "sense of compromise and constructive engagement."

But U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said "there is an extra mile to go in the marathon effort" to ensure a credible, balanced and inclusive constitutional committee. He refused to elaborate in his comments to reporters in Geneva following the meeting.

The United States on Tuesday announced it was adding billions of dollars to an ambitious Mexican development project for that country's southern region and Central America as a way to deter migration.

But neither Washington nor Mexico City announced any headway in the Trump administration's goal of keeping Central American asylum seekers in Mexico and out of the United States.

In simultaneous announcements in the U.S. and Mexican capitals, the U.S. State Department and Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the United States has committed to $5.8 billion in public and private money for Central America and an additional $2 billion for southern Mexico.

In a gaggle with a small group of journalists on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told me that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been "careless at times" and "has to lose the thuggish nature in which he has been acting."

Haley's robust comments go further than other Trump administration officials, most notably President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. But perhaps recognizing that the young prince will likely still be around if she pursues higher office in the future, Haley was also calibrated in her assessment.

When I asked her for her view of the prince, she noted, "That's an interesting question," and paused for a few seconds before answering. But then Haley cut to the crux of the issue most in the news at present, the crown prince's culpability in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "First and foremost," Haley said "[the crown prince] owes us some accountability for what happened to Khashoggi. Without question."

This anonymous letter landed in my inbox about a minute ago:

Hello,

After more than 20 years, I've finally decided to tell the world what I witnessed in 1991, which I believe was one of the biggest turning points in popular music, and ultimately American society. I have struggled for a long time weighing the pros and cons of making this story public as I was reluctant to implicate the individuals who were present that day. So I've simply decided to leave out names and all the details that may risk my personal well-being and that of those who were, like me, dragged into something they weren't ready for.

Between the late 80's and early 90's, I was what you may call a "decision maker" with one of the more established companies in the music industry. I came from Europe in the early 80's and quickly established myself in the business. The industry was different back then. Since technology and media weren't accessible to people like they are today, the industry had more control over the public and had the means to influence them anyway it wanted. This may explain why, in early 1991, I was invited to attend a closed-door meeting with a small group of music business insiders to discuss rap music's new direction. Little did I know that we would be asked to participate in one of the most unethical and destructive business practices I've ever seen.

The meeting was held at a private residence on the outskirts of Los Angeles. I remember about 25 to 30 people being there, most of them familiar faces. Speaking to those I knew, we joked about the theme of the meeting as many of us did not care for rap music and failed to see the purpose of being invited to a private gathering to discuss its future. Among the attendees was a small group of unfamiliar faces who stayed to themselves and made no attempt to socialize beyond their circle. Based on their behavior and formal appearances, they didn't seem to be in our industry. Our casual chatter was interrupted when we were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement preventing us from publicly discussing the information presented during the meeting. Needless to say, this intrigued and in some cases disturbed many of us. The agreement was only a page long but very clear on the matter and consequences which stated that violating the terms would result in job termination. We asked several people what this meeting was about and the reason for such secrecy but couldn't find anyone who had answers for us. A few people refused to sign and walked out. No one stopped them. I was tempted to follow but curiosity got the best of me. A man who was part of the "unfamiliar" group collected the agreements from us.