Leading Syrian Opposition Group Bails Out on Geneva-2 Talks.

[dipsydoodle]

MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – A major Syrian opposition group that has gained international recognition would not participate in the Moscow-backed Geneva-2 peace conference on Syria, the group’s leader told RIA Novosti on Sunday.

“Nothing useful will come out for Syrians from attending the meeting,” George Sabra of the Syrian National Council said.

“The decision [not to participate] was made yesterday by the general secretariat [of the council],” Sabra said by telephone from France.

The Geneva-2 talks were proposed by Moscow and Washington as a means of putting the Syrian government and the insurgency behind the negotiating table in hopes of ending the 2 1/2-year-long civil strife in the Middle Eastern country.

Sabra said his group bailed out due to the lackluster international response to the consequences of the Syrian war, among which he listed mass slaughter of civilians, food shortage and, recently, the use of chemical weapons.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20131013/184113772/Leading-Syrian-Opposition-Group-Bails-Out-on-Geneva-2-Talks.html

[Uncle Joe]

1. Who could've seen that coming?

http://en.ria.ru/world/20131013/184113772/Leading-Syrian-Opposition-Group-Bails-Out-on-Geneva-2-Talks.html

Sabra said the Syrian National Council will quit the Syrian National Coalition in case the latter goest through with its plan to participate in Geneva-2.

Eleven leading rebel armed groups, including representatives of the fractured Free Syrian Army as well as Islamists such as the al-Qaida linked al-Nusra Front, said in a joint statement last month they rejected the authority of the Syrian National Coalition, BBC said at the time.

Analysts said the move was backlash against the coalition’s willingness to participate in Geneva-2 talks, the date for which is not set.

The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad voiced willingness togo to the Geneva-2 conference without any preconditions.

Thanks for the thread, dipsydoodle.

[warrenswil]

2. Long term solution for Syria: break up the "country"

The trouble with the Geneva talks is that no one has proposed a serious long-term solution.
The slaughter continues by the day. The only way to stop it is to separate the warring factions.
We suggested this in
A long-term solution for Syria: 40-40-20 partition
It’s a possibility gaining traction abroad as I found out on my trip to the Middle East in September, but no one has begun debating it in the US yet.
Let the debate begin.