With the rebels withdrawing from the Geneva peace talks and gearing up for the resumption of the Syrian Civil War, diplomats are desperately scrambling to try to keep the process going, and warning that if this round collapses, there won’t be another chance at serious talks for “at least a year.”
The rebel High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which represents only some rebels, pulled out citing anger over the Syrian offensive against al-Qaeda-held territory in Aleppo Province. Before that, there wasn’t much progress in the talks.
Russia was quick to criticize the HNC for pulling out, saying they’d come to the talks like they were a “eastern bazaar,” and had no real proposals to offer, only crude blackmail. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused them of having an “all or nothing” view to negotiations.
While everyone else is treating the HNC’s pullout as a major blow to the peace process, the Assad government appears upbeat, saying they believe the HNC was more an obstacle than anything, and that having them leave might allow negotiators to actually get something done.
Nobody on either side expected anything else.
The West was trying to limit Russian gains for Assad, and at least embarrass the Russians. That did not work. This instead just allowed opportunity for the Russians to shift their forces to their next target.
Well done Mr. Ditz! Your headline “Russia: Rebels Have No Proposals, Only Crude Blackmail”, will be counterspun by the US to claim that Russia is to blame for not negotiating in good faith, etc.
The US is not going to be able to come to terms with Russia and China not allowing the US to complete it’s PNAC agenda and grab Syria and Iran. That’s going to cause a lot of problems for the foreseeable future.
Could it be that the stage is being set for Saudi to do the job on Iran for the US, which would complicate Russia’s and China’s protective stance on Iran? And then of course Syria is a given after Iran.
Saudi – do a job on Iran – never in your wildest dreams.
They can’t even do a job on defenseless Yemen.
Assad is correct – now some business can be done -IF that is what’s really wanted by the opposition, who have had the time to regroup and rearm (thank you America) and are now up for round two of the war.
Let me guess – Obama is desperate to get his war on for his ‘legacy.’
Politicians who start nuclear wars should be strapped to the first launch of missiles…