Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met over the weekend to discuss the possibility of a transitional political process in Syria, which Russia believes could eventually unify secular rebels and the Assad government.
Details are still scant, but US officials said the focus was on the possibility of multi-lateral meetings including various unnamed nations. The US has talked up this idea in the past, but reportedly has been averse to the inclusion of Western European nations.
As usual though, the two nations are also deeply divided on what the transition looks like, with Russia keen to see Assad stay in power pending the defeat of ISIS, and the US still insisting that Assad cannot be involved under any circumstances.
This likely is why the US is averse to Western European involvement, as Britain and others have expressed support for Assad staying on a temporary basis, and their inclusion in the talks would make the dispute less of a Russia vs. US issue and more of a US vs everyone issue.
Blah, blah. blah…as usual the oligarchy of both nations get their fat pay checks for doing little to nothing while the taxpayers of both nations pay the bill.
Well, at least they’re talking.
Whatever may be the obstensible subject of discussion, the real point now is Putin's naval base. He's frantically trying to prop up Assad but propping him up temporarily doesn't help. Thus any supposed "difference" with European countries is of no value whatsoever to Putin. Moreover, the very fact that he's trying to unify Assad and the rebels tells us that he views his military campaign has having already failed and sees himself getting bogged down. It's obviously in both the American and European interest to keep Putin bogged down as long as possible. So I wouldn't be surprised if the US just stalls him, using Assad as bait.
Michael – have you formed your world view from watching the television program Homeland as it is difficult to understand how else you could have such a bizarre understanding of reality otherwise.
"the US still insisting that Assad cannot be involved under any circumstances"
-because even in free and fair elections, Washington knows that he would win with a very substantial percentage of the vote, definitely far greater than Cameron's (he won with just a plurality of the popular vote and most probably greater than Obama's. How funny would that be?