MAY 16 — Trump isn’t exactly the kind of guy you picture reading Sun Tzu over a glass of Cabernet. He’s more likely to eat his steak well-done with ketchup while telling you why the Mona Lisa is overrated. But sometimes, even a bull in a china shop finds the door, and when it comes to Syria, Trump might’ve just stumbled into the geopolitical masterstroke of the decade.
Because, somehow, the guy who tweeted through his presidency managed to get out of Syria – and still control the oil, dominate the shipping lanes, and box in Iran without firing a bullet. It’s like the geopolitical equivalent of winning a bar fight while still holding your beer.
The oil heist — you don’t have to own it to control it
Syria isn’t exactly sitting on a sea of crude, but what it does have is strategically priceless. Those dusty oil fields in the country’s northeast are a lifeline for whoever holds them – and a potential nightmare for whoever doesn’t. Trump’s approach was simple, almost too simple for the Ivy League crowd to appreciate: let someone else hold the dirt, as long as they pump the oil.
With a wink and a nod to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Trump pulled American troops out of harm’s way and left just enough private contractors to keep the black gold flowing in the right direction. It’s classic Trump real estate logic – don’t buy the building, just control the lease. The Kurds keep the lights on, and the US quietly skims the profit, all while denying the oil to Moscow and Tehran. It’s as if he managed to pull off a heist without even showing up to the bank.
The Eastern Mediterranean hustle — controlling the choke points
By stepping back in Syria, Trump didn’t just cut costs – he freed up the US Navy to play a much more lucrative game. The Eastern Mediterranean is quickly becoming the world’s hottest gas field, with billions of dollars in natural gas sitting just off the coasts of Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt. ExxonMobil and Chevron are all over this, and if there’s one thing America knows how to do, it’s keep an eye on its money.
Without US troops bogged down in Syria, the Sixth Fleet can now stretch its legs, cruising through these contested waters like a shark in a kiddie pool. Moscow might have a base in Tartus, but Washington has the boats – and in this game, the boats win. It’s the kind of quiet, simmering dominance that doesn’t make the front page, but it sure as hell makes a difference when you’re cashing checks.
Iran’s worst nightmare — the silent siege
Trump’s Syria pullout didn’t just reshape the map – it cut Iran off at the knees. Without a convenient US target in the region, Tehran found itself spread thin, bleeding money into a ruined regime that’s increasingly looking like a bad investment. While the world mocked Trump’s tweets, the man quietly suffocated the Iranian economy with sanctions so tight they might as well have been a noose.
And here’s the real kicker – by pulling out of Syria, Trump forced Iran to pour even more money into propping up Assad. It’s the financial equivalent of stranding your enemy on a desert island and then throwing the map into the ocean. Iran’s mullahs are now stuck funding a country that can’t pay its own bills, a proxy war without the proxy.
The art of not playing — a masterclass in leaving the table
Look, I get it. It’s easy to dismiss Trump as a loose cannon, a bull in a global china shop who breaks more than he builds. But what if his chaos was the point? What if the real strategy was to make Syria ungovernable for his enemies, to leave just enough American fingerprints to keep the oil flowing without the body bags piling up?
If Trump’s goal was to drain America’s enemies of cash, keep the oil moving, and pivot the Navy to the real game in the Eastern Med, then maybe – just maybe – the guy who bragged about being the best dealmaker in history actually pulled it off.
It’s a tough pill to swallow if you prefer your geopolitics delivered with a side of nuance, but sometimes, the guy who flips the table is the only one left holding the chips.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Source: 
Trump didn’t just leave Syria — he pushed the whole damn table over — Che Ran
