Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, with US officials saying the focus will be on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his potential role in any political transition.
The US and Russia have both talked up the idea of a political transition in recent weeks, though the US had up until now insisted Assad had to unconditionally go for any deal to be possible, while Russia has opposed any exclusions on who can run in post-transition elections.
While the US occasionally hints at the chance for compromise ahead of talks like this, historically they have ended with Kerry et al back to the pre-talks position, and condemning Russia for not simply accepting the long-standing US position.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, says they believe the US needs to rethink its entire Syria policy, and its misguided attempts at “dividing terrorists into good and bad ones.” Though Russia has supported the inclusion of secular rebels in the transition, the Syrian government has so far rejected the involvement of all armed factions, complicating the matter greatly.
There have been some formal efforts among the nations involved in the Vienna talks to actually settle on which rebels are “legitimate” and which are “terrorists,” but so far they have not resolved the matter. This was to be a prelude to inviting those legitimate factions to peace talks.
There are only two "legitimate" groups…ISIS and Al-Qaeda….pick your poison.
Delusionism (new word) is running amok.
Nobody actually wants a settlement at the moment. Assad sees a settlement as ultimately costing him his presidency. Putin sees a settlement as costing him his naval base, militarily useless but a prestige object to impress the folks back home. The US sees Putin getting ever more bogged down in Syria and dangles Assad in fron of his nose to keep him there. Sooner or later, Putin either has to accept a humiliating capitulation in Ukraine and in Syria (which would probably bring him down at home) or start WWIII, with two options: lose the war or go nuclear and then lose the war (either of which would certainly bring him down at home).
Delusional much?
Let's all be clear here. If international Law means anything at all, the only one that has been invited to bomb in Syria is Russia. All others are illegally invading and bombing the country. Not to mention the USA tried this very thing against Syria 57 years ago and they were beaten back by the Soviet Union then. so this is a long lasting hard-on for Assad's outer we are witnessing.
Dec 15, 2015 Russia: Putin meets Kerry to discuss Syria and Ukraine conflicts
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Moscow, Tuesday, to discuss the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. The pair were also joined by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who earlier in the day had discussed a possible peace plan with Kerry over Syria and agreed they could find common ground on the issue.
https://youtu.be/C_iI5Li5ILI