Kerry Seeks Syria Answers In New Call With Russian FM

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry has made his third phone call to his Russian counterpart in the last 10 days, a State Department official said, seeking to clarify the intent of Moscow's military buildup in Syria, and warning that continued support for President Bashar Assad will only prolong the Syrian conflict.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry called Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the call was about Syria.

Kerry's call came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his military assistance to Assad's government and said it's impossible to defeat the Islamic State group without cooperating with Damascus and urged other countries to join the cause.

Kerry will travel to London later this week for talks to include the situation in Syria with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Kirby said.
At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama might reach out to Putin by phone in the coming days and would not rule out a meeting of the two leaders later this month at the United Nations General Assembly. However, administration officials made clear that Kerry was in the lead on conversations with Russia about the Syria.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Kerry-seeks-Syria-answers-in-new-call-with-6506148.php

[leveymg]

1. The Ruskies have been in Syria longer than they were in Poland. Not leaving or trading this one away

Unrealistic to expect or demand that, considering the appalling lack of moral credibility that the US, NATO and the Saudis have shown.

The Europeans are just going back to fence themselves off again. This offensive is over, but is still as offensive as ever.

Decent pocket history of Russia in the Mideast/Gulf here: http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/10/to-russia-syria-is-key-in-history-of-seeking-mideast-allies

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

2. This is what gets me.....

"warning that continued support for President Bashar Assad will only prolong the Syrian conflict."

What would our plan be to fill the vacuum if we were to oust Assad?
We saw what happened in Libya: We came, We conquered, We left. And look at the chaos there now......

[ozone_man]

3. And we saw what happened in Iraq.

We came, we saw, we conquered. I'm sure they are all better off now.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

4. Yup, can't change the past but try to not do it again. [nt]

[Baclava]

5. Russia was willing to remove Assad years ago and they declined the offer.

The West dismissed Russian offer to help remove Assad in 2012, says top diplomat

Finnish diplomat and Nobel laureate Martti Ahtisaari suggested that there was a moment early on during Syria's hideous war when a political solution could have been thrashed out. Ahtisaari claims that in February 2012, when the conflict had claimed under 10,000 lives, Russia's envoy to the United Nations outlined a peace plan that could have led to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's exit from power

"Nothing happened because I think [the Western diplomats], and many others, were convinced that Assad would be thrown out of office in a few weeks so there was no need to do anything," Ahtisaari told the Guardian.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/15/the-west-dismissed-russian-offer-to-help-remove-assad-in-2012-says-top-diplomat/

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. The US's maximalist "Assad must go" line leaves us with plenty of Syrian blood on our hands.

Our half-baked strategy is to bleed Syria until Assad gives up. Really.