Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have announced a deal on a ceasefire in Syria today, saying that the plan is to halt hostilities in the country as of sunset on Monday, September 12.
As with the previous ceasefire in February, this deal will not include either the Nusra Front or ISIS. Kerry complained the previous deal’s allowing of strikes against Nusra created problems, and insisted that the new deal will work better, even though Nusra will still be targeted.
The big difference this time is that Russia and the United States will make joint “strategic” decisions on which rebels are actually Nusra and which are not. Nusra has close ties with a lot of US-backed rebels, and Kerry warned it would be “unwise” for those groups to maintain such ties.
That previous ceasefire saw Nusra expand dramatically, becoming a major player around the northern city of Aleppo. The US-Russia talks began with increasing US disquiet about Nusra’s expansion, after months of demanding Russia stop all strikes against Nusra unilaterally. It remains unclear if under the deal the US will actually target Nusra, or if this simply will amount to agreeing that Russia and the Syrian government can target jointly confirmed Nusra targets.
There was no indication that this would lead to renewed peace talks any time soon, and indeed Kerry insisted that the idea would only be discussed with US-backed rebels after the ceasefire was in place, and assuming it both led to a reduction of violence and an increase in aid delivery to rebel territories.
Syria’s government has endorsed the new ceasefire, though rebels appear deeply divided on the matter. This has proven a stumbling block in the past, with some rebels not abiding by the deal and getting into fights, and the US and Russia exchanging blame for the deal not holding.
if this ceasfire results in the peaceful disbandment of al-Nusra, then we know al-Nusra was nothing but U.S.-backed mercenaries all along.
It will also trap the US. The cease fire would break down because of disagreements about targeting al-Nusra ie Al Qaeda. The US can not afford to be seen as protecting al-Nursa especially with Trump attacking Clinton and Obama for their ties to Islamist terror groups.
General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned – Seven Countries In Five Years
“This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!”
(Jan.1998) US history – “How Jimmy Carter I Started the Mujahideen” – Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor 1977-1981
“Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs [“From the Shadows”], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a13_1240427874
Zbigniew Brzezinski Taliban Pakistan Afghanistan pep talk 1979
In 1979 Carters National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski went into Pakistans border regions with Afghanistan to give a little pep talk to some prospective majehadeen (Holy Warriors).
“this deal will not include either the Nusra Front or ISIS”
Nor will it include the US friends who have mixed in with them, unless they get themselves separated in the next 7 days. That is fantasy. We would have done that a long time ago if there was any way we could do it.
In 7 days, the US will be put in the position of helping to bomb its allies, or of backing out of this in some way it blames on Russia.
It is so impossible, I have to think the whole point is to bash Russia, as the “best outcome” of an impossible situation for Kerry.