Article snippet: As Politico reported on Thursday, Graham was the victim of a prank phone call by two notorious Russian rogues in August. The pranksters, who go by Lexus and Vovan, have tricked a number of high-profile western leaders into taking their calls by pretending to be foreign dignitaries. In Graham’s case, the duo succeeded in getting the senator on the phone by impersonating Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. Graham, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spent a sizable portion of the call attempting to dissuade Turkey from using the new S-400 anti-aircraft weapons system it purchased from Russia at the objections of the U.S. and NATO. Towards the end of the call, however, the senator also broached the subject of Turkey’s longstanding “problem” with Kurds in northern Syria, even stating the ethnic group was a “threat” The comments, as Politico noted, undermine the tough posture Graham has taken in recent days against Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria and redeploy them elsewhere in the country. Graham has argued against such a maneuverer, which involves the redeployment of less than 25 U.S. troops and amounts to an abandonment of the Kurdish forces that have fought against ISIS since at least 2013. In particular, Graham and other backers believe such a redeployment will incentivize Turkey, who has also fought ISIS and Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria, to move against the Kurds. To prevent such an action, Graham has threatened... Link to the full article to read more