The latest round of Syrian civil war talks came to end in the city of Vienna today, and will resume in another two weeks. According to German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier, one of the participants, there were no agreements made on post-war Syria.
“There was still no breakthrough, but that also wasn’t expected today,” noted Steinmeier. The German official was one of several last-minute adds to this round of talks, after last week’s talks amounted to just the US, Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia arguing about how to carve up Syria after the war.
The biggest of the new participants, of course, was Iran, who had previously been very publicly not-invited to such efforts. Iran offered a plan for a transitional period leading to free elections open to all, which was quickly panned as “madness” by rebel factions.
The objections are two-fold, according to Syrian National Coalition figure George Sabra, as the elections were meant to allow President Bashar al-Assad to run as a candidate, something they insisted is unacceptable, and would involve elections at all, something they insist is impossible. The SNC has presented itself as a “government-in-exile” for years, and seeks to be unconditionally installed as the new Syrian government.
Get out of the Middle east America you and the Zionist cause too much trouble cause
No doubt, but do you really think that's realistic at the moment? The Israel Lobby has too tight a grip on American politics.
For free and fair elections to be held, the country needs to be peaceful. Thus, transition first, then elections. The real question is thus whether or not Assad remains in power during the transition period. Putin obviously wants that and if he gets it, he'll try to make the "transition period" permanent by constantly stalling. A transition period with Assad still in power is a defeat for the US and Israel but it also bogs Putin down in an unwinnable war with ISIS, which, of course, is not party to any of this. The ultimate question is not how to carve up Syria but how to carve up Putin!
Assad would win election if he was allowed to be a candidate. Sorry Mike, but most Syrians and Iraqis believe ISIS to be an American bred monster.
We should wait a little more until Putin does what the hypocrites in Washington could not accomplish in years, devastate ISIS and their Al-Qaeda allies in Syria. After this the Syrian people can decide their own future without outside intervention.