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DISPATCHES FROM STEPHEN LENDMAN
Farcical Syrian Peace Talks Collapse
Pro-Western, pro-Saudi, anti-Syrian UN envoy/interlocutor Staffan de Mistura (see below, shaking Kerry’s hand) tried putting a brave face on collapse, saying talks going nowhere were suspended until February 25. They’re a meaningless exercise in deception, mostly opposition terrorist groups, wanting Syria raped and pillaged involved.
Mistura failed to reveal names of their delegates, groups and individuals as ruthless as ISIS, beholden to US-led Western and Saudi-led foreign powers – committed to war, instability and chaos, wanting Syrian sovereignty replace by caliphate tyranny.
Talks scheduled to begin on January 26 never began. US/Saudi-backed terrorist groups made unacceptable demands designed for rejection. They intended abandoning Geneva III and returning home Thursday. Mistura tried saving face for himself and foreign backers by announcing failed talks were suspended.
Both sides have intractable positions. Nothing ahead will change in a month, year or longer. Syria’s delegation wants peace, stability, a chance to begin rebuilding, its sovereignty protected, and the right of its people alone to decide who’ll govern them, free from outside interference – mandated under international law.
US-led Western nations, Saudi Arabia, other Gulf States and Israel want the Syrian Arab Republic destroyed, its resources plundered, its people exploited – a formula for endless conflict. At the same time, they want Iran isolated. Its turn awaits. Washington and rogue partners want the Islamic Republic returned to its bad old days, run by a tyrannical US-controlled puppet.
Syria’s UN envoy/chief negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari explained opposition terrorist groups intended subverting talks before they began, wanting them to fail, intending to walk out, then wrongfully blame Assad and Russia for their duplicity.
“(W)e know that the (US/Saudi-backed) delegation had the intention to withdraw,” he explained. De Mistura gave them “diplomatic cover (on) orders from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar,” as well as Washington, mostly responsible for orchestrating failure.
Notably, after years of ISIS and other terrorist groups’ control of strategically important Nubl and Al-Zahra in northern Aleppo province, Syrian ground forces aided by Russian air power liberated them. At the same time, most terrorists in Ma’arasa, al-Khan, As Sin and al-Uweinat were eliminated. Most important, the strategic supply line from Turkey to Aleppo was severed.
Another tenuously operates from Turkey to Idlib (37 miles southwest of Aleppo) and Aleppo province. Expect Russian air power to let Syrian ground forces control the area in the days or weeks ahead.
According to Sergey Lavrov, conflict resolution depends heavily on “blocking illegal trafficking across the Turkish/Syrian border,” supplying terrorist groups with weapons, munitions and other supplies. Northern Syria near Turkey’s border is being incrementally liberated, a slow process, a key strategic aim vital to achieve overall victory.
Syrian forces greatly aided by Russian air power have ISIS and other terrorist groups on the back foot – another reason why US-Saudi-backed opposition delegates withdrew. Negotiating from weakness defeats them.
STEPHEN LENDMAN lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." ( http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html ) Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.