The time has come for a face to face summit between Obama and Assad.

[Pterodactyl]

I'm sick of all the military bluster and political machinations. The two leaders should get together and hammer out an agreement and resolve the crisis without violence.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Yep

Assad can come here and sit down with the President.

[Agschmid]

46. .

You've lost it.

[msongs]

2. they both kill innocent people by way of air strikes. they can compare experiences nt

[geek tragedy]

9. Maybe you should talk to Orly Taitz, since you both hate Obama

and consider him no better than a bloodthirsty dictator.

[JustAnotherGen]

25. +1

[delrem]

30. Have you ever heard of "double-tapping drone strikes"?

Of course. It doesn't count...

[geek tragedy]

44. Yes,yes, Obama=Assad and he supports al Qaeda.

He's pure evil, and he's destroyed America and is now threatening to destroy the planet.

You and your ilk have made those points over and over and over and over.

And then you wonder why we Democrats don't consider you to be on our side.

Well, I take back the part about you considering Obama to be equal to Assad. You don't oppose Assad. In fact, there isn't an anti-American dictator you'll bother to criticize.

But, boy do you hate the Democrat who's our President.

[delrem]

45. I asked, have you ever heard of "double-tapping drone strikes"

I didn't ask you to speculate about the supposed "meaning" of them in terms of equivalences, etc. You can go off on any rant you want, in that respect, but it doesn't answer my question.

[andlor]

58. +1

[MADem]

53. +1,000 nt

[LukeFL]

3. Where have you been? Obama and Kerry

Have tried diplomacy and possible negotiations for the past two years. This is nothing new.. Too bad now is when your paying attention..

[Pterodactyl]

8. I've been paying attention for a long time.

As you will recall, the 2008 Obama planned to meet with Assad in 2009. The 2013 Obama isn't working on diplomacy until it is a humanitarian disaster.

[JI7]

11. they were trying for years, the US has been sending millions in humanitarian

aid during that time.

this isn't something that just came out of nowhere.

[Pterodactyl]

12. And yet no meeting to resolve the situation.

[JI7]

14. John Kerry has met with him

[Pterodactyl]

15. But Obama has not.

[JI7]

16. this problem is not Obama , as it was said below, it would make more sense to sit down with the

rebels .

[Pterodactyl]

17. The current crisis is not between the US and the rebels.

[JI7]

18. i was saying it would make more sense for Assad to sit down with the Rebels

[Pterodactyl]

20. Possibly. But that would not resolve the crisis between Assad and Obama.

[JI7]

22. there is no Crisis between Assad and Obama

[JustAnotherGen]

26. +1

[Pterodactyl]

33. Really?!?! Then those warships steaming toward Syria are just a parade?

And all this talk of air strikes is about nothing!

[JI7]

35. the issue is Assad using Chemical weapons , it's pathetic you try to make this about Obama

as if there is no actual issue there. as if Obama is just angry someone said someone he didn't like.

[delrem]

31. "Friends of Syria" isn't "diplomacy".

[Cali_Democrat]

4. Umm...I don't know about that

How about a summit between Assad and the rebels?

Wouldn't that make more sense?

[Pterodactyl]

5. Too complicated. Remember Bush and his plan for multiparty talks on Korea? That was madness.

What was needed was direct talks. That's the only way. Now that would be smart diplomacy.

[Cali_Democrat]

6. Wouldn't it make sense to have a summit between the folks engaged in the conflict?

Obama doesn't speak for the rebels.

[Pterodactyl]

10. No, you have to get right to the real players.

It made no sense to involve South Korea, Russia, China and Japan with negotiations with North Korea. Why would other parties need to be involved?

Ask John Kerry. Back in 2004, he know that was the way to deal with the Norks.

[lumpy]

21. I think we should all flood Obama's administration on this wonderful idea. I bet they haven't

even thought about it yet. And why fool around with the rest of the world......

[JustAnotherGen]

28. I agree

As folks are saying around here - its not our fight.

Assad should be the bigger person, extend the olive branch, and sit down with the rebels.

[VanillaRhapsody]

38. the guy who just used chemical weapons on them.....should be the "bigger person" "olive branch"?

this is satire right??? please tell me this is satire....

[JustAnotherGen]

49. Nope smart assery

. I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable with this idea that Assad is being bullied by Obama and Obama should cater and pander to Assad's sensibilities. It's starting to morph into: If only President Obama was not so evil then none of this would have happened.

Uh - Assad did it. And for those who a complete hands off approach - then it needs to be hands off. Vanilla - how can they ask us to stand down and do nothing and at the same time want Obama prostate and shuffling his feet and saying "aw shucks, I'm sorry" to Assad when this guy has committed pure evil. Our drones (ours not Obama's) are a separate issue from Sarin gas.


If Assad is pissed off about our use of drones - he should have drawn a red line years ago. You don't play tit for tat with your own civilians. Ditto for the rebels.

[VanillaRhapsody]

60. I totally agree...

thank you!

[lumpy]

48. Yes, we desperately need his input.

n

[kentuck]

13. It's time to ask Assad to call for democratic elections.

They could be sanctioned by the United Nations.

Syria may need a new leader? At least, it might stop the killing for a while...?

[Pterodactyl]

19. That would be cool if it happened.

[lumpy]

24. New leader, that would be nice. Now how to go about getting that new leader. is the big question.

n

[kentuck]

27. Talk, talk, talk is better than war, war, war...

Syria is in a civil war and the parties involved have to call a cease fire. Someone needs to lead the UN to search for peace at this time. More violence will only beget more violence. It is better to work for peace, even if it is harder to do.

[JI7]

29. has Assad said he wants to talk ?

[MADem]

54. Hell, no--he's a dictator, way worse than his daddy.

He wants to kill all his enemies and their families.

That's why he has been having his brother, Maher, gas them all to death.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/assad-s-brother-seen-linked-to-syria-chemical-attack.html

[delrem]

32. Why should Assad have a "summit" with al-Qaeda leaders?

[JI7]

36. rebels include people besides Al Qaeda leaders

[delrem]

40. heh. well, al-Qaeda holds the "liberated" territory.

So your specially moral and non-al-Qaeda leaders, which change like musical chairs, don't seem to amount for much more than a false-front.
Meanwhile the reason why al-Qaeda holds the territory that gets "liberated", and is the powerful military front of the "rag tag army of freedom fighting rebels", is because they're the ones who get the $$ to purchase mercenaries and the weaponry to pursue the war.

[JI7]

41. what does that have to do with anyone who isn't al qaeda meeting Assad ?

and it's probably best not to view foreign policy as black/white

[delrem]

42. Hell, Assad can meet with Miley Cyrus for all I care.

Don't know what good it'd do...

[pinboy3niner]

7. Never happen

You do not sit down with a head of state you've accused of committing war crimes against his own people. A peace process can only be worked out between Assad and and the opposition groups.

[politicasista]

23. Interesting. Did not know how that works.

There was some talk that maybe a Syria peace process (something thought of by former President Carter?) might be a thought.

[pinboy3niner]

34. It's been the subject of multiple attempts for a long time

So far, one side or the other or both have balked at proposals for them to sit down together. But this is still on the table, and may be the best hope of stopping the carnage.

[politicasista]

37. Yep. We can remain hopeful

The situation is a mess.

[VanillaRhapsody]

39. Perhaps Obama is in the midst of "persuading him" to do just that...

[TwilightGardener]

43. Uh...the time for that was before he nerve-gassed Syrian civilians. Now he should just be waiting

for his trial...or hiding in a bunker. Not meeting with world leaders.

[Agschmid]

47. +1

[FSogol]

50. +1. n/t

[Democracyinkind]

51. Shouldn't that be Obama-Rohani, rather than Assad?

[MADem]

52. Yeah, because sitting down with people who gas little kids by the hundreds would

never end badly.



Resolve the crisis without violence? Tell that to the thousands al-Assad has slaughtered.

You don't legitimize people like that.

[KharmaTrain]

55. As Usual...

...everyone's an expert on something they probably knew nothing about a week ago. The definition of a "bright shiny object".

There have been years of attempts to reach out to Assad so what sense does it make than, as you say, to legitimize this butcher. The only person whose calls Assad answers right now is his buddy Vlad in Moscow...and ain't that somethin'...seems our President will be in Moscow next week. Maybe that's the person who needs the pressure applied...it's Putin whose supplied the helicopters that dropped the napalm on a school and without his support Assad is history.

While I'm saddened by yet another genocide of innocent people, I'm also saddened by the lack of any reaction from the Arab League (primarily since the Saudis are also up to their royal jewels in this proxy war), the Turks and others in the region who want the U.S. to do the dirty work. Sorry...that I can't and won't support. If the U.N. hesitates to act here, then the blood is on their hands.

Cheers...

[MADem]

56. Putin is having a blast with USA right now--he's getting the biggest kick out of fucking with us on

a number of fronts. I don't think he has a full appreciation of karma, though.

He has absolutely no interest in resolving this matter. He thinks he's the kitty cat, and we're his ball of string.

The Arab League actually has weighed in on this matter. They've tried to negotiate a Yemen Solution for two years now (which is what USA favors as well). They've sent the proposal to the UN, but that, as we know, will go nowhere.

This is from January...2012!

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jan-23/160759-league-urges-yemen-scenario-in-syria.ashx#axzz2dXuJjtbd

CAIRO: Arab league foreign ministers voting to extend their widely criticized Syria observer mission agreed Sunday on a new political road map that calls on President Bashar Assad to delegate power to his deputy and set up a unity government as a prelude to early parliamentary and presidential elections. The Arab League decided to extend the mission, a move that was rejected by opposition groups and Saudi Arabia, which said it was withdrawing its observers after the mission failed to end 10 months of bloodshed. Riyadh called on the international community to exert “all possible pressure” on Damascus.

Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference after the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that the Arab League would take the power handover initiative to the U.N. Security Council and ask for its endorsement.

The unity government would be responsible for setting up an independent commission of inquiry into violations committed against Syrian citizens during the 10 month uprising. The draft pledges Arab support for the unity government, as well as funds and support for a complete overhaul of the internal security forces in Syria.

The plan is reminiscent of an agreement for a transfer of power in Yemen.

Of course, al-Assad will have none of that, he has no interest in ceding power--nor does his monster of a brother, Maher, the guy with the gas and the guns, and Pootie has already said "He can't come HERE!" so there's no potential for Russian exile for Bashir and his family. Pootie's crew made that abundantly clear over one year ago:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j5xE3H7v2Saz_IPrC5OWMwin1T1Q?docId=CNG.ec5435576014bda3ebb7ee52727ac504.821

MOSCOW — Russia on Thursday confirmed receiving requests from its Western partners to help end the conflict in Syria by offering President Bashar al-Assad asylum, but said it had dismissed the idea as a joke.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the idea was first raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her June meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first trip to Europe since his election to a third term.
"Our side thought this was a joke and responded with a joke -- how about you, the Germans, take Mr Assad instead," Lavrov said at a joint press appearance with his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.
Lavrov said he was therefore "quite surprised" when the proposal was aired again during a meeting of Western and regional powers on the 16-month Syria crisis in Geneva on Saturday.

The UN cannot "act." Russia has a seat on the Security Council, and they will exercise their veto, and that's the end of that.

It would be nice if it was 'majority rule' there, but it ain't. A Big Wig can do a blocking maneuver, and it's Game Over from there on out.

Obama cancelled his Moscow visit with Putin. He will be in Saint Petersburg for the G20, Pootie will be there, too, so they will "see" each other, but a Pootie-POTUS sit-down is by no means a foregone conclusion.

See: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/26/us-usa-obama-putin-idUSBRE97P0U620130826

[KharmaTrain]

57. Excellent Info...

...thank you for sharing.

Putin is definitely playing games here for his own domestic political advantages. Embarassing the U.S. is good business and keeping the U.S. pre-occupied in Syria or Iran or Afghanistan means they're not able to expand influence further into the former Soviet states. He also knows that Obama is a "lame duck" and even moreso with the virulent domestic opposition; right and left, that President Obama is in a weakened position. I think Putin's end game is to restore the "Soviet hegemony" over weak former Soviet republics and be viewed as someone who restored "glory".

While relying on the U.N. to take action here is a folly...the report on use of CW is crucial in creating credibility for any further actions. It also places on Putin the onus of supporting the perpetrators of genocide. That may force his hand. While the Assads may not find a cozy dacha next to Snowden, my bets are they have lots of money stashed and could find a welcome exile in Iran or Sudan...especially if that expedites the end of the bloodletting. The situation is so fluid and unilateral U.S. action only muddies it further. The U.S. needs an independent verification of the use of chemical weapons and then, along with regional and NATO allies, to force a resolution.

One last thing...the longer the delay in a military strike, the possible less effective it will be. I was listening to a BBC report that said that a lot of the stockpiles of gas have been disbursed across the country in anticipation of a U.S. cruise missile strike....

[MADem]

59. France and USA will probably go to work sooner rather than later, with or without the UN.

I think, if Ban Ki Moon could override a veto, he'd give the targeted "punishment" a go, too.

The UN inspection team has left Damascus--they are over the border in Lebanon. They've already briefed the Secretary General, and he's already given an update to the ambassadors of the major world powers.

It's only a matter of a very short period of time, I think.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130831-un-chemical-weapons-inspectors-leave-syria

The UN experts will "expedite" a report on whether chemical weapons have been used in Syria's civil war, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

Ban is ready to brief the UN Security Council on the investigation into the suspected chemical weapons attack this weekend if needed, the spokesman told a briefing in New York.

The UN chief detailed progress made by the inspection team during a meeting with UN ambassadors from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.