While the US has spent the last several years demanding the immediate removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and repeatedly predicted in recent months that Russia would soon come around on the need to remove him from power, it is the US that is starting to show some flexibility on the matter.
Speaking today, Secretary of State John Kerry told a press conference that it was “possible” for the Syrian rebels to team up with the Assad government in fighting ISIS before Assad is actually removed from power, something he’d long dismissed as unthinkable.
Kerry did, however, say it would be “exceedingly difficult” to convince the rebels of this idea without some assurances that Assad “will eventually go,” but also said it’s not clear he has to “go” at all if there were assurances on Syria’s post-war future.
This is the first public comment from a top US officials suggesting Assad doesn’t need to be immediately removed from power, and comes interestingly just a day after Kerry claimed the whole ISIS war would be won “in a matter of months” if Assad was removed.
The rebels will cooperate with Assad against ISIS? He's high on crack.
Nice footwork! If the (in fact unwinnable) war on ISIS could be won “in a matter of months” if Assad was removed, then Assad's remaining in office is prolonging the war and is the reason why neither Putin nor the US are winning it! In practice, dangling Assad under Putin's nose is a great way of keeping him bogged down or, better yet, getting him even further bogged down (i.e. sending in ground troops).
Kerry is a dope on a rope. Assad has been fighting these Jackals coveting Syrian oil for years. NATO used the agreed Russian No Fly Zone in Libya for a 26Ks blitzkrieg on unarmed civilians so Russia is unlikely to swayed by anything Kerry says. The long standing agreement with Syria gives Russia legitimacy and exposing ISIS lifeline to Turkey's after Erdogan shot down the Russian Jet is sweet revenge.
One has to agree with Russia that any fighter not a part of the legitimate Syrian Government are designated Rebels/Terrorists/Mercenaries/Jihadists/ISIS and should be routed
The Russians and the Syrian government are the only ones making any sense in their strategy. Kerry thinks that the FedGiv can somehow flip a switch and turn off ISIL. Yeah, right, just like they switched off the Libyan "rebels" after Ghadafi was overthrown. Only morons believe what Obama, Kerry, the Pentagon and the neocons are saying. After the Turkish border is sealed and the final annihilation of the mercenary armies commences, watch the whole lot of anti-Assad twits really start screaming and threatening.
If it's true 'the rebels' couldn't exist without foreign backing, then who's really 'hard to convince' is not 'the rebels' themselves. Kerry'd been laundering his own and/or NATO/Gulf State/Usraeli demands through, I'd take it, his mythical moderates… …but changing-his-mind is interesting.
The USA regime finally giving up on its Imperialisthe bluster? That would be the sea change which could lead to a genuine chance to end the Western-supported jihadist violence. But I would not hold my breath on this truly humanitarian change of heart from the bi-partisan Mad C.O.Ws. (Coalition of Oilers & Warmongers)!
Peace and Aloha, from MidPac Peacenik.