With new talks on Syria opening in Vienna, all eyes were on Iran, who was invited to take part for the first time. The Iranian delegation made a show of flexibility, insisting the nation doesn’t demand Assad retain power in Syria forever and wound support a transition on certain terms.
Being flexible and reasonable seems very much out of place in Vienna, however, as US and Saudi officials both showed up to the talks with their typical chips on their shoulders, and demands for immediate, unconditional regime change in Syria that no one realistically thinks is going to happen.
Saudi Arabia couched their demands, the same as ever, as directed at Iran, claiming they’d no longer allow Iran to support the Assad government. The Saudis had previously made clear they were opposed to allowing Iran to attend the talks at all.
Iran’s addition to the talks came largely at the behest of Russia, and is likely to see them backing Russian calls for a transition that seems the government merged with secular rebel forces to fight against ISIS, a plan that has largely been condemned by the US and Saudis for not leading to immediate and total regime change.
"demands for immediate, unconditional regime change in Syria that no one realistically thinks is going to happen"
The US mainstream press still reports it is going to happen. Americans who read that are expecting it. Total nonsense of course, but the State Dept press releases for which the mainstream is megaphone are making a political problem that will trouble us in any realistic deal.
Where did you get the idea that Americans believe what they read in their mainstream press any more than they believe what they read on these websites? Americans are not as stupid as you think!
Clearly, the US wants to bog Putin down in Syria, all the more so now as it is becoming clear that Putin is scared silly of using his military forces, be it in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Turkmenistan. He probably fears that mass surrenders, desertion, body bags starting to come home to Mother Russia and Islamic terrorism would set off a revolt at home which would bring him down. As we have seen in Ukraine, when Putin thinks he can get what he wants by military force, that what he uses. If he's "negotiating", we know he sees himself as militarily defeated. Bringing in Iran reveals that he has no serious allies. For Iran, coming in legitimises them and deprives Putin of the mantle of "protector of Syria". Equally, with the nuclear agreement just signed, Iran is not going to immediately pick a fight with the US but is perfectly happy to see Putin bogged down so that it can steal Russia's oil markets both in the EU and in China, neither of which can like the idea of being held to ransom by Putin's energy blackmail. Incidentally, the Germans are saying that not too much is to be expected from the talks, which I think means that everybody knows that Putin is just going to stall..
It is certainly depressing to find that our Government's position on Syria is plainly less reasonable (to say nothing of legal) than that of Russia or Iran. I wonder how long it will take for our national electorate to grasp the fact that our political "leaders" (of both political persuasions) either do not understand or do not care to understand the increasingly disastrous course of US foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere?