Kerry To Meet Putin In Bid To Save Syria Peace Process

[Purveyor]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Washington (AFP) - A frustrated US Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back to Moscow once again to meet President Vladimir Putin and test his commitment to the stalled Syrian peace process.

Russia and the United States are nominally co-chairs of international efforts to bring Bashar al-Assad's regime to the negotiating table with armed opposition groups.

But ferocious bloodshed continues in defiance of a series of failed ceasefires, and the odd couple heading the peace effort appear increasingly at odds over the way forward.

Kerry told diners at a delayed Eid al-Fitr supper Tuesday that he would meet Putin "to see if we can somehow advance this in the important ways that people want us to."

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/kerry-meet-putin-bid-save-syria-peace-process-152724621.html

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Kerry Seeks Russian Cooperation Despite Deep Misgivings Within U.S. Administration

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Moscow on Thursday to again seek deeper Russian cooperation in the war against Islamic State in Syria, but he faces strong opposition from defense and intelligence officials who argue that Washington and Moscow have diametrically opposite objectives in the country.

Kerry's trip, which State Department officials say is his second to the Russian capital this year and his third in 12 months, takes place as U.S.-Russian relations have worsened with tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions, aggressive Russian maneuvers toward U.S. aircraft and vessels, and a disregard for a cessation of hostilities in Syria, where Russia has bombed U.S.-backed rebels.

Relations between Moscow and Washington also remain strained over the Ukraine crisis and what the Kremlin considers NATO’s unjustified activities along its borders, raising fears that disagreements could escalate into confrontations, either accidental in Syria or the result of miscalculations in the air and naval encounters from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

Yet Kerry, it seems, still hopes for closer collaboration with Russia, to the disbelief of many officials who say Washington has no strategy on how to deal with the challenges Russia poses in Europe and Syria.

more...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-idUSKCN0ZT2QZ?il=0

[uawchild]

1. Just curious

What exactly do we expect to emerge in Syria if the Assad regime crumbles?

[Cayenne]

2. A Sunni/Saudi order

Should the so called moderates win, those peppered in with al Nusra, then expect women to become property and a purge of all non Sunni. That's what we are trying to go. I suggest people look at pictures of FSA rallies (no women) compared to pro Assad rallies (immodest women). The US are backing the swivel eyed crazies.

[bemildred]

3. Unable to stop Syria’s war, US offers Russia new partnership

MOSCOW — The United States on Thursday offered Russia a broad new military partnership in Syria, hoping the attraction of a unified campaign against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida — and a Russian commitment to ground Syria’s bombers — could end five years of civil war. If finalized, the deal could dramatically alter America’s role in the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday to present him the new ideas. The eight-page proposal, which The Washington Post published on its website, shows the U.S. offering intelligence and targeting sharing, and even joint bombing operations. It is a pact Moscow long had wanted, but the Obama administration resisted.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to make some genuine progress that is measurable and implementable and that can make a difference in the course of events in Syria,” Kerry said.

Putin said he was looking for “tangible results.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/leaked-proposal-us-offering-russia-military-pact-in-syria/2016/07/14/b562e920-4998-11e6-8dac-0c6e4accc5b1_story.html

[bemildred]

4. Some earlier blather on this subject:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113318013

[ozone_man]

5. Good.

Obama, stop supplying the moderate rebels (terrorists) with arms. They are not viable, and ISIS gets the arms anyway. Not a 3D chess player after all.